How to Recycle Metal Trophy Figures

Recycle old metal trophy figures.

Almost every child receives at least one, if not many, metal trophies throughout the course of their childhood. As an adult, however, these once beloved metal trophy figures suddenly become tacky pieces of unwanted decor. Although most people end up tossing such figures into the garbage and polluting our landfills, recycling is a better option. Instead of throwing away your old metal trophy figures, look for ways to recycle them. With a little research, you can easily recycle your old metal trophy figures, thereby saving the environment from unnecessary waste.

Instructions

1. Send your metal trophy figures to Lamb Awards and Engraving. This award and engraving company provides a trophy-recycling program to the public. Although you are not required to make a purchase in order to recycle your old trophy figures, you are required to pay the shipping costs. They also request that you send an email to [e-mail] with "Recycling" in the subject line before sending a donation.

2. Donate your old metal trophies to Total Awards & Promotions, Inc., an awards company with a trophy-recycling program that supports non-profit organizations. After sending in your old metal trophies, Total Awards will recycle, reuse and donate the trophies to a variety of non-profit charities. Though they prefer gently used trophy figures, Total Awards will accept trophies in bad shape, recycling the parts as best as possible.

3. Contact your local thrift stores to see if they accept old metal trophy figures. Most large thrift stores, such as Goodwill, St. Vincent de Paul and the Salvation Army, will gladly accept them and provide you with a tax-deduction receipt in return for your donation.

4. Donate your old trophy figures to your local public school, library or park. All of these community establishments love to reuse old trophy donations to make new trophies or to keep the figures on hand to use for children's craft projects.

5. Find creative ways to reuse your old trophy figures, such as replacing your existing car hood ornament with your favorite metal trophy figure. Use them as cake toppers or place them in your garden for decoration.

6. Search Earth911.com for metal trophy-recycling centers in your area. Earth911.com provides a comprehensive list of various recycling centers located throughout the United States.

Tips & Warnings

• Be sure to call ahead to ensure that the organization will accept metal trophy figures before heading to a recycling center, thrift store or any other donation center. Make sure to check online before sending your old trophy figures to ensure that the company is accepting donations at that particular time, since many trophy-recycling programs only accept donations at specified times of the year.

References

• Lamb Awards and Engraving: Recycle Trophies
• Total Awards & Promotions, Inc.: Trophy Recycling.
• Goodwill Industries International: Locator
• Earth911

Resources

• Earth 911; Businesses Score With Trophy Recycling Programs; Terry Granger; 2009
• Planet Green: Where to Donate Old Trophies; Josh Peterson; Feb., 2009
• About My Planet; Old Trophies Don't Belong in the Trash; Marina Hanes; June, 2009