It's a brand-new year.
You've just finished watching back-to-back episodes of "Clean House" and "Hoarders" and, chastened, have written "Get organized" atop your New Year's resolutions.
You got new stuff during the holidays and are puzzling over what to do with all the old stuff.
Fear not, clutterbug. There are plenty of places in Lancaster County that'll take all your detritus for recycling or reuse.
Once the cans, bottles and newspapers have been carted away from the curb by your recycling company, you can head to the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority's transfer station and Household Hazardous Waste Facility, 1299 Harrisburg Pike, with some of your other disposable junk.
At no charge to county residents, the hazardous-waste facility accepts a wide range of items that shouldn't be disposed of at home, from computer equipment and televisions to cellphones and automotive and household batteries. Leftover paint, pesticides, motor oil and fluorescent bulbs can be recycled there, as well. (The HHW facility does not, however, handle VCR or DVD players or external speakers.)
Tires, large appliances, mattresses, large furniture and other junk not accepted at the HHW facility can be disposed of at the transfer station for a fee, ranging from $3 for a car tire to $30 for up to 820 pounds of stuff.
Kathryn Sandoe, communications manager for the waste authority, said the organization's website offers plenty of information on how to prepare your items for recycling or disposal at the transfer station. Further, she said, the authority recommends visiting Earth911.com to find out where to recycle just about anything.
At the Earth911 site, by typing in the items you want to recycle and your ZIP code, you can find addresses and contact information for scads of recycling firms and charities that accept what you need to get rid of — from cellphones to old telephone books.
If you've got something to get rid of that someone else might be able to use, or if you're looking for a particular item, consider visiting The Freecycle Network at freecycle.org. The nationwide organization helps people give away items to those who need them — for free.
The network maintains a Lancaster Web page with local moderators, who say items posted on the Freecycle message board must be offered free of charge. Yard-sale posts are not allowed on the board, and neither are posts offering items such as pets, alcohol, firearms or illegal property.
Freecycle members must negotiate their own time and place for items to be picked up. Recent items offered free on the local site included a boy's coat, a snowblower spark plug, DVD jewel cases and a coffee-maker carafe.
Charities and nonprofits
Lots of charities and nonprofit agencies around the county could also benefit from the stuff lying around your house.
• Used magazines and glossy advertising circulars can help raise money for the Ronald McDonald House of Central Pennsylvania, the nonprofit that provides temporary housing to families of children treated at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center.
Debra Barry, marketing and communications manager for the Ronald McDonald House, said the Hershey facility earns money toward its operating budget by selling the glossy material to a regional recycling company.
• Free Geek Penn, which provides computers to people in need, accepts used computer equipment and other electronics at its facility at 400 W. Main St., Suite 6, Ephrata. The organization raises money for its operating budget by recycling donated items.
"We take everything electronic except for appliances," Free Geek Penn president Geoff Hess said. "And the other thing we can't take is TVs. Anything else you can think of, we can recycle: computers, laptops, stereos, DVD players."
The group will pick up loads of more than 10 items for free.
Free Geek Penn refurbishes some of the computers they collect and sells them at a low cost. The group also allows people to put in volunteer hours toward earning a used computer.
• Dale Vega, director of the nonprofit Community Clearinghouse Agency in Lancaster, said his organization collects gently used furniture for use by abused women and families in need who are referred to CCA by various county agencies.
Vega said his nonprofit, located in temporary quarters on Centerville Road until a new, affordable warehouse can be found, raises money by collecting and recycling used computer equipment and other items.
Volunteers will pick up your junk for $69 per van load (or a smaller donation for individual items) and dispose of the items for you, Vega said, though the agency won't pick up tires or books. Money earned from its junk-haul service and the recycling businesses supports the agency.
Vega said anyone disposing of a computer should clear it of personal data by removing the hard drive and smashing it with a hammer, or by using scrubbing software to erase all data.
Leftover building materials, from tools to plumbing and roofing supplies to three-quarters-full paint cans, can be donated for sale in the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, 155 Independence Court, in Greenfield Corporate Center.
Store manager Tim Hellberg said the shop also recently began accepting upholstered furniture that's in good condition.
The materials are sold in the store, and the proceeds fund Habitat's home-building program for low- and moderate-income families.
Hellberg said folks should take their mauve-colored toilets elsewhere, however. Toilets donated to the ReStore must be white, off-white or black.Those are the only colors that sell well, he said.
• If you can't figure out why you bought all those craft or office supplies that are busting out of your cabinets and cluttering your work tables, the nonprofit Lancaster Creative Reuse is happy to rescue you from yourself.
"Just think of us as a thrift store for craft supplies," said Andrea Stoner Leaman, director of Lancaster Creative Reuse. The organization collects all sorts of flotsam and jetsam that crafters and artists can use in their work, and sells it at a low price to meet its operating expenses.
The store, on the lower level of the Stahr Center, 438 N. Queen St., accepts and carries everything from baskets and beads to yarn and zippers, Stoner Leaman said. The store even takes games and puzzles that are missing pieces.
Thrift stores
A variety of local thrift stores raise money for their sponsoring organizations' programs by selling gently used donated items to the public.
Representatives of charity thrift stores in the area said they do not accept washers, dryers, refrigerators or other large appliances. Most also won't take large exercise equipment, baby cribs, strollers, highchairs or car seats because of past product-safety recalls.
• Jennifer Ross, senior director of marketing and public relations for the Goodwill Industries Keystone Area, said Goodwill stores and donation trailers throughout Lancaster County accept gently used items including clothing, furniture and small appliances.
Goodwill stores also collect and recycle used computer equipment.
Clothing that's missing a button or that has a small tear might be offered at a discount in Goodwill's outlet-store sections, Ross said. Goodwill also raises money by selling badly damaged clothing to the commercial recycling market.
• Linda Geissinger, the East Coast thrift-shop coordinator for Mennonite Central Committee, said MCC's Re-Uzit stores and thrift shops around the county accept "just about anything."
If you're not donating your used books to a library for a book sale, Geissinger said, your tomes — particularly textbooks — can be donated to MCC's Ephrata Booksavers in the Ephrata Re-Uzit store, 1054 S. State St., Ephrata.
Store employees sell used books both in the shop and online, Geissinger said. They also recycle damaged books by cutting them up and recycling the paper and cardboard.
• If something is in such bad condition that no one would want to buy it, don't donate it, said Jen Trinh, manager of the Salvation Army Thrift Store at 1244 Manheim Pike. Items to be sold in the store "have to be in reasonable, good condition," she said.
Trinh said the Salvation Army prefers that people bring items to the thrift store for donation. However, if someone can't drive or has donation items that are too big to handle, the organization will pick them up.
• You can even recycle old eyeglasses through Lions Club chapters across the county. The eyeglasses are repaired and sent to people in other countries who have trouble getting glasses.
Brad Lauderman, president of Ephrata Lions Club, said the club accepts old eyeglasses and hearing aids in any condition.
Barry Caldwell, a spokesman for Manheim Township Lions Club, said glasses can be dropped in the Lions Recycle for Sight collection boxes around the county. Many are located at eye doctors' offices and stores.
