Ask An Educator: How to Dispose of Toys

“Paper goes in the green bin, plastic drink containers go in the blue bin and my Rabbit Habit goooooooes … where?” It’s a common question in this age of recycling and environmental consciousness. How does one dispose of a dead vibrator? Well, depending on what kind it is, there are a few things you can do with it.

Plastic or metal battery operated vibe – Remove the batteries and recycle those at a battery center. The rest of the toy can be put in your plastic / metal recycling bin for collection.

Silicone or elastomer battery operated vibe – Some communities recycle rubber materials. If this is the case in your neighborhood, go ahead and take the batteries out and then drop the vibe in your rubber recycling bin. If your community doesn’t accept rubber for recycling, call your local department of health to see if they know where it should go (you need not tell them WHAT you are recycling).

Plug in vibes – Vibes like the Hitatchi and the Wahl should be put with your electronics recycling. Dump them in with your old DVD player if you don’t want anyone to see!

Rechargeable vibes – Nearly all rechargeable vibes contain lithium ion batteries and must be handled by a company that specifically handles battery recycling. Call 2 Recycle has many drop off points and drives to collect all kinds of batteries, including items containing lithium ion batteries. Check out their website (http://www.call2recycle.org/)  to find a drop off point near you. You can also call the company who made your vibe – often times they have buy back programs where they take the toy back to recycle them in bulk and give you a credit in return.

Last, but not least, you could surrender your toy to Rabbit Amnesty! This initiative was started by the folks at Love Honey UK to offer customers a way to recycle their toys. Hop on their website (http://www.lovehoney.co.uk/rabbit-amnesty/), enter in the number of vibes you want to send back and then ship them out. Bonus – you get points to spend on their site! Love Honey is UK based so shipping may cost a bit but if you have a lot of stuff to get rid of, it may be worth it!