What Do I Do With My Old Car Seat?

Car seats for infants and toddler now expire in six years, mainly because the plastic might degrade. North Americans buy millions of car seats a year.  So–at 15 pounds per seat–that is a lot of "expired" plastic, as well as some metal, foam, and fabric that is becoming landfill. 

Before this year, you could 'recycle' your car seat by (a) doing a hand-me-down to someone when your kids outgrew the need for a car seat, but that option won't work on an "expired" seat, or (b) put it out on trash collection day, even though it was perfectly suitable, except for the melted ice cream stains on the cushion. 

If you live in Westchester County, there is good news now. Most of the car seats have plastic bases that are probably manufactured from #5 plastic. 

Until this year, that kind of plastic was not eligible for recycling pick up. But, now it is! All the plastics from #1 through # 7 are recyclable in Westchester County.  

The county bought a nifty new optical scanning sorter for its recyling center that will sort out all the plastics from number 1 through 7. Not for nothing, the County is able to recover considerable revenue from the plastics. The County says that #5 plastic is particularly valuable.

So, selling these recovered materials back into the material stream for plastics manufacturers puts dollars back into the County program that–in turn–help defray the cost of the whole recycling operation.  The theme here is "There's-dollars-in- that-trash."   

If your municipality participates in the County's Solid Waste Program, your municipality pays $25 per ton to dispose of municipal solid waste, $15 per ton to dispose of organic yard waste, and $0–zero–dollars per ton to dispose of recyclables that the County can recover and resell. 

So, if you child outgrows your car seat or it "expires" in Westchester, you now have a third option: (c) put out the big plastic base on recycling day. Just take off the cushion and belt and clasp.

I am pleased to tip my hat to Umbra at grist.org for this recycling tip. 

PS Want to see how your town rates on recycling in the County? Check out page 12-13 here. Hint: Bedford and Scarsdale had the highest recycling rates in 2010.