Portland Recycling Guide – Batteries, Lights, Electronics, & More
Holidays can be a challenging time to be a home seller. If you’re looking around a post-celebratory mess, don’t despair. Portland has the resources to get everything taken care of in an environmentally friendly way.
Portland Christmas Tree Recycling
Don’t be the only home on the tour with a January Christmas tree! If you live in Portland and you still haven’t gotten rid if it, you can simply cut up the tree and place it in the green waste bin. If you don’t have a saw handy, they will pick up trees left curbside on your pickup day as long as they’re shorter than six feet. Because these trees are going to be chipped or turned into compost, they don’t want any stray tinsel or other ornaments left on the tree, and flocked trees (the ones coated in fake snow) are not allowed at all.
In the greater Portland area, rules about Christmas tree pickup vary; check the Metro website for more information.
Portland Recycling A to Z
Did you know you can recycle the following items in Portland and surrounding areas?
- Wine and champagne corks
- Christmas lights
- Power tools
- Fabric
- Musical instruments
If you’re sensing that those items shouldn’t go into your curbside recycling bin, though, you’re right. Instead, to keep them out of the landfill, go to Metro’s “Find a Recycler” page. It’s an easy search tool that allows you to input the items to be recycled and creates a list of places that will accept them. Some organizations even do pick-up!
Sell Your Home Faster; Keep Portland Weird
What about items that can be reused, not just recycled? If you’re preparing your home to sell this winter or spring, it’s time to de-clutter and get rid of things you don’t need anymore. Homes that are staged sell up to 73% faster, but what many homeowners don’t realize is that “staging” can be as simple is getting rid of 73% of the “stuff” obscuring the buyer’s view of your home.
But what to do with that old desktop computer, eighteen cans of paint, or the bike you don’t need anymore?
Portland is home to some great organizations that give old items new life, whether as part of an art project, educational program or even to build a home for a family in need. Here are some of our real estate agent favorites:
- Habitat for Humanity ReStore With four locations in the Portland Metro area, it’s not hard to bring your used building supplies, furniture and working appliances to the capable folks of Habitat for Humanity. They’ll give your stuff a second life through their store or by incorporating it into a home they build for someone else. They’ll even pick it up for you.
- Free Geek This innovative organization takes in old computer hardware, refurbishes it, and provides needed technology to everyone from Portland K-12 students to the homeless. Every item they accept goes through a strict “data destruction” process, and Free Geek offers free pickup.
- SCRAP PDX Creativity starts here — SCRAP accepts art supplies and then some. Got small containers, carpet samples, old CDs, or perhaps a collection of bottle caps or old postcards? They could be a future art project for a lucky Portland crafter.
- Next Adventure This quintessential Portland sporting goods store will not only take your used gear off your hands, they’ll buy it from you (or trade it for more gear)! Next Adventure accepts outdoor apparel, cycling equipment, kayaks and more.
Ready to take your Portland home from “clean” to “staged” to “sold”? We’ll help you with every step of the process. Meet with one of our top 1% Portland area seller’s agents today.
