1. Rechargeable Batteries – All batteries that are rechargeable are accepted at Call to Recycle, which only excludes alkaline and wet-cell batteries. Recycling is free, and there are over 30,000 drop-off centers at retailers nationwide (US) for your convenience. It is illegal in many states to throw away rechargeable batteries because of the levels of metals that can poison the environment, so look around for appropriate batteries in old cell phones, laptops, digital cameras, and cordless phones. All reclaimed metals and materials are re-used and never end up in a landfill.
2. Unused Medication – Every year thousands of pills are flushed into the sewer system, and scientists have yet to determine the long-term impacts of medicines in our drinking water. Unexpired anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, pain relievers, and HIV/AIDS medication are desperately needed by the Health Equity Project for shipment to those suffering from disease in Africa. Donation is free, minus shipping costs, though they ask that you make a small donation to cover shipment overseas. Unfortunately, few other charities can accept expired medication due to national and local restrictions, so the most environmentally-friendly approach to medicine disposal is mixing the individual tablets with used coffee grounds or clean cat litter and packing the mix into a disposable container such as a butter carton, and throwing the container away.
3. Clothing, Household Goods, and Furniture – The Salvation Army accepts most common items around your house, excluding consumer electronics such as mp3 players and DVD players, though they will gladly take washing machines and air conditioners, among other household appliances. For a complete list of what they accept, along with a useful valuation guide for tax deduction purposes, click here. The Salvation Army has a pickup service that covers most major metropolitan areas in the US, so you don’t even need a truck to donate your old items.
4. Consumer Electronics – Best Buy offers electronics donation areas in all of their retail centers. Two items are accepted per household for day free of charge, excluding CRTs, laptops, monitors, and TVs smaller than 32″, which involve a $10 fee that is offset by a $10 Best Buy gift card for each of the excluded items you donate. Hard drives, and appliances containing freon are not accepted. Large TVs and other big electronics can be picked up at your home by the Best Buy pickup service for recycling for $100.
5. Holiday Lights – If you have broken or unwanted holiday lights lying around from this just-passed Yuletide season, ship them to The Christmas Light Source, who will recycle them and use the proceeds to make a donation to the Toys for Tots charity next Christmas.

This is by no means a complete list of items you have lying around, but it’s a start. Remember to tackle all cleaning and de-cluttering projects a little at a time, and check back in a week or so for another list of recycling options.

1. Use Solar-Powered Chargers. Solar-powered chargers for portable electronic devices are constantly getting less expensive and more efficient at transforming sunlight into electricity to charge your cell phones, mp3 players, and laptops. You’ll never have to plug in your electronics again, plus these panels are portable, meaning you can use them wherever you can get a few hours of sunlight. Many reviewers have suggested charging your gadgets while you’re driving, so that you can still have easy access to them while they’re charging.
2. Collect Rainwater. You can buy a rain barrel designed especially for the purpose of catching rain water (usually placed under a gutter), or you can just put out empty containers before it rains. Of course, you don’t want to drink rainwater, but it can be used perfectly well for watering plants, washing off outdoor furniture, and even for flushing toilets. Cover the containers once there is water in them, because otherwise the stagnant water will draw mosquitoes.
3. Grow Your Own Food. Some edible plants are more suited than others to be grown in small spaces, but herbs, tomatoes, and strawberries are among the most popular foods to grow if you have access to at least a small balcony. If you only have a window, most herbs will receive enough sunlight there to survive, and you might want to consider buying an indoor gardening device that makes the process completely automated and helps the plants flourish under grow lights. I have the AeroGrow indoor garden, and have grown the herbs pack with it with great success, and I know they also have a tomato and a strawberry pack, among others. I have written an extensive post about choosing and growing herbs in containers.
4. Use Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs. You’ve probably heard about these energy-efficient light bulbs in the media. They use 75% less energy than normal light bulbs will providing the same amount of light. I prefer them not only because of the fossil fuels and energy costs saved, but because their light is warm and white, not yellow like most light bulbs. They are made to last about five years, and you can save hundreds on your energy bill if you replace all bulbs in your house with these when they burn out.
5. Insulate Your Home. Most homes in the US that are as young as ten years old are under-insulated, meaning that heat is transferring much faster than it should, increasing your heating and cooling bills more than it should. Proper insulation will lower your bills as well as reducing fossil fuel-based energy used in generating them, and extends the life of your air conditioners and home heating devices, so you have to buy them less often. For more on insulating your home, Lowe’s has a great article on insulating your home and what materials you will need.

These are all suggestions that you can take action on today. Make the decision today to leave less of a carbon footprint on our world, and you will not regret it.

In general, the more sun, the more options you have for what to plant. You can always make shade if it’s too sunny; you can’t create more sunshine on your balcony. Root vegetables such as carrots and onions, and fruiting vegetables including eggplants, peppers, and tomatoes, are ideal vegetables to grow on your balcony. Root crops will need medium amounts of sun to thrive; fruiting vegetables will need full sun as much as possible. Tomatoes are one of the most useful and most popular of the container-grown vegetables, and you will find plenty of help and tips online, such as this compilation of tomato container gardening tips from Thrifty Fun.

Fruits, in general will be a little more difficult to grow in containers. Many fruits grow on trees, and would take up too much space on a balcony to be practical, and many others take years, or even decades, to produce edible fruit. These two restrictions eliminate most fruits from our list, as well as some smaller fruit trees that are often grown in containers and would be good options for readers who have some sort of backyard area (figs, oranges, lemons, grapes). As far as balcony gardening goes, however, we are left with berries as a good container gardening, small space fruit crop. Strawberries are far and away the most popular container-grown fruit, with raspberries and gooseberries also popular options. Strawberries need soil with a lot of organic material in it, lots of fertilizer, and continual watering through a well-drained container. To read more about growing strawberries in pots, check out this “How I Did It” article.

If you want more information about growing herbs in containers, check out this post about the best types to grow in containers. And to read more about container gardening in general, as well as good flowers and vegetables to grow, check out this Gardening Guides article.

Herbs are probably the best starting ground for container gardening newbies, as they are easy to grow, don’t take up much space, and can be used in the kitchen in just a few weeks. What’s more, this is the season ideal for planting most herbs! The herbs you should look at are, thyme, basil, oregano, dill, lemon balm, and mint. These plants are both versatile and easy to grow, and it’s hard to imagine a dish you could make that wouldn’t benefit from the addition of at least one of these seasonings. If you want a complete list of all herbs that will survive in containers, visit Container Gardening.

Thyme can withstand a little neglect as well as poorer soil than most herbs can survive in, and thrives in direct sunlight. You will probably need to buy it as a seedling from a nursery, however, as it can be tricky to grow from a seed. Thyme is a popular ingredient in many meat, poultry, soup, and vegetable dishes.

Basil is a hardy herb present in almost any Italian dish. “Sweet Basil” is the most popular variety, and the most useful type to purchase. Unlike thyme, basil is easily and cheaply grown from seeds. Basil also likes strong sun, but keep the soil moist, too. The more you harvest basil, the bushier and fuller it will grow back, so no need to worry about running out of it. To read more about growing basil, among other herbs, check out Lori Kimball’s article on Associated Content.

Oregano is another herb well-adapted to many environments, though it needs well-drained soil to grow well. It is known as the “pizza herb” because of the Italian dish in which it is such a prominent feature, but you may also recognize it in Mexican and Spanish meals. It is best grown from a nursery cutting. Oregano can survive the winter if you bring it inside and place it near a well-lit window.

Dill is another sun-loving herb, and grows best if planted in the early spring. You can easily grow it from seeds, and dill will usually reseed itself, so your first dill seed purchase will hopefully also be your last. It can grow several feet high, so make sure that, once fully grown, your dill won’t block the sunlight of your other herbs. Dill is a common flavoring in potato and fish dishes.

Lemon Balm is a, not surprisingly, lemon-flavored herb used in flavoring teas, salads, and sauces. It can grow in most climates, and will usually survive the winter, especially if you mulch it in the fall. It tends to be invasive, so container gardening is actually ideal to control lemon balm, and many people with traditional gardens will still choose to pot lemon balm. You can grow it fairly easily from seeds. Keep the soil moist but well drained, and harvest and prune it often for best results.

Mint is available in hundreds of varieties, but the same general concepts apply to all of these: containers for mints, like lemon balm, are ideal for control the herb’s weed-like tendencies. It grows best in fertile soil and partial, and sprouts easily from seeds. Keep the soil moist but not soggy. During the winter it will usually survive indoors by a window, if you take care of it well.

For more cooking with herbs advice, visit this article on Googobits. For more thorough planting and growing advice, visit this excellent herb gardening website categorized by the most popular herbs. Some of the information, however, you will need to adapt to a container gardening situation.