Used infant/child carseats - what the heck to do with them?

But people will take it, and you can assure yourself that you are not
harming them since you know they are safe. It is a chance that people
on freecycle take, but some people are so needy that they don't seem to
heed the warnings of taking used car seats.

KR

Banty wrote:
In article , Nan says...

On 5 Sep 2006 13:47:13 -0700, Banty wrote:

OK, so we're not supposed to *take* used car seats, so I think it's not
responsible to give away used car seats, but then, what to do with them? I'm
clearing stuff out of my house, but I'd hate to put three perfectly good hunks
of plastic and foam and fabric into a landfill.

What do we do with these?

Banty

One we had was too old so I tossed it, but I've given away 2 on
Freecycle. It's okay for people to take them if they're not too old
and haven't been involved in an accident.

I dont' know anyone right now who needs an occassional carseat. I *could* put
it on Freecycle, but aren't folks not supposed to trust me to take it?

Also, how old is too old?

Banty

On Wed, 06 Sep 2006 20:51:13 +1000, Chookie wrote:
In article , Banty
wrote:

OK, so we're not supposed to *take* used car seats, so I think it's not
responsible to give away used car seats, but then, what to do with them? I'm
clearing stuff out of my house, but I'd hate to put three perfectly good hunks
of plastic and foam and fabric into a landfill.

What do we do with these?

Maybe your local government authority has a service to deal with them, or ring
the manufacturer. It's generally a bad idea to put them out for clean-up: I
see people scavenging them (eek!).


If you *know* that the car seat is in good condition, then I wouldn't cut
the straps, and just put them out on the curb. If the seat was too old,
damaged, etc, then of course I'd cut them.

I much prefer than anyone who needs a car seat enough to scavange one
is actually be able to get one that I know is in good condition. Much
better than having them get a bad one down the street, or not use one
at all.

- Rich


--
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam.

In article , user says...

On Wed, 06 Sep 2006 20:51:13 +1000, Chookie
wrote:
In article , Banty
wrote:

OK, so we're not supposed to *take* used car seats, so I think it's not
responsible to give away used car seats, but then, what to do with them? I'm
clearing stuff out of my house, but I'd hate to put three perfectly good hunks
of plastic and foam and fabric into a landfill.

What do we do with these?

Maybe your local government authority has a service to deal with them, or ring
the manufacturer. It's generally a bad idea to put them out for clean-up: I
see people scavenging them (eek!).


If you *know* that the car seat is in good condition, then I wouldn't cut
the straps, and just put them out on the curb. If the seat was too old,
damaged, etc, then of course I'd cut them.

I much prefer than anyone who needs a car seat enough to scavange one
is actually be able to get one that I know is in good condition. Much
better than having them get a bad one down the street, or not use one
at all.


Can't tell myself that, either - these are the carseats that were used for my
now almost-14 year old They're way old.

What would be nice to find out is if there is somewhere these are recycled.

Banty

I'm a day late here, but. . . You could donate them to a school (if
there's one in your area) for teenage mothers. I went to High School
with my daughter and still donate all our stuff to that school.

On 6 Sep 2006 08:35:04 -0700, Banty wrote:
In article , user says...

On Wed, 06 Sep 2006 20:51:13 +1000, Chookie
wrote:
In article , Banty
wrote:

OK, so we're not supposed to *take* used car seats, so I think it's not
responsible to give away used car seats, but then, what to do with them? I'm
clearing stuff out of my house, but I'd hate to put three perfectly good hunks
of plastic and foam and fabric into a landfill.

What do we do with these?

Maybe your local government authority has a service to deal with them, or ring
the manufacturer. It's generally a bad idea to put them out for clean-up: I
see people scavenging them (eek!).


If you *know* that the car seat is in good condition, then I wouldn't cut
the straps, and just put them out on the curb. If the seat was too old,
damaged, etc, then of course I'd cut them.

I much prefer than anyone who needs a car seat enough to scavange one
is actually be able to get one that I know is in good condition. Much
better than having them get a bad one down the street, or not use one
at all.


Can't tell myself that, either - these are the carseats that were used for my
now almost-14 year old They're way old.


And I thought *I* was a packrat. ;-)

In the last couple of months, we'd been attempting to donate - note the
"attempting" - lots of our unneeded baby things. For example - a 5 year old
crib in excellent condition. Two baby backpacks. Many toys in excellent
condition. Literally dozens of *totally unused* stuffed animals. Boxes upon
boxes of infant clothes in very good shape - no stains, etc.

The thing is - we found it is nigh unto impossible to get *anyone* to
take them. We started out with battered women's shelters - nope. Various
United Way affiliated organizations - nope. The local children's hospital
and hospices - nope. Churches - nope.

Why? Because they all want brand new things. Cribs must be completely
new. Clothes must be unworn. Stuffed animals must be new and wrapped.
( How often are stuffed animals even sold wrapped? Never, in my experience. )
And so on. It's like living in the twilight zone.

We *finally* found that Catholic Family Charities would take the stuff,
and they were very pleased with it all.

I found it incredibly annoying that not only was it nearly impossible
to offer the goods to people who could really use it, but it set a horrible
example for my kids. We try to emphasise conservation and re-use, and had
been explaining that we would be able to help others in need, only to have
the implicit point made that all of these perfectly good items were inferior
to something bought straight from the store.

- Rich

--
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam.

Hi,
the other thing you could have done was gone to www.freecycle.org and gaven
them out yourself to people who are in need of these items as well. You can
also find great stuff there as well.

Jennifer

"user" wrote in message
...
On 6 Sep 2006 08:35:04 -0700, Banty wrote:
In article , user says...

On Wed, 06 Sep 2006 20:51:13 +1000, Chookie

wrote:
In article , Banty

wrote:

OK, so we're not supposed to *take* used car seats, so I think it's
not
responsible to give away used car seats, but then, what to do with
them? I'm
clearing stuff out of my house, but I'd hate to put three perfectly
good hunks
of plastic and foam and fabric into a landfill.

What do we do with these?

Maybe your local government authority has a service to deal with them,
or ring
the manufacturer. It's generally a bad idea to put them out for
clean-up: I
see people scavenging them (eek!).


If you *know* that the car seat is in good condition, then I wouldn't
cut
the straps, and just put them out on the curb. If the seat was too old,
damaged, etc, then of course I'd cut them.

I much prefer than anyone who needs a car seat enough to scavange one
is actually be able to get one that I know is in good condition. Much
better than having them get a bad one down the street, or not use one
at all.


Can't tell myself that, either - these are the carseats that were used
for my
now almost-14 year old They're way old.


And I thought *I* was a packrat. ;-)

In the last couple of months, we'd been attempting to donate - note the
"attempting" - lots of our unneeded baby things. For example - a 5 year
old
crib in excellent condition. Two baby backpacks. Many toys in excellent
condition. Literally dozens of *totally unused* stuffed animals. Boxes
upon
boxes of infant clothes in very good shape - no stains, etc.

The thing is - we found it is nigh unto impossible to get *anyone* to
take them. We started out with battered women's shelters - nope. Various
United Way affiliated organizations - nope. The local children's hospital
and hospices - nope. Churches - nope.

Why? Because they all want brand new things. Cribs must be completely
new. Clothes must be unworn. Stuffed animals must be new and wrapped.
( How often are stuffed animals even sold wrapped? Never, in my
experience. )
And so on. It's like living in the twilight zone.

We *finally* found that Catholic Family Charities would take the stuff,
and they were very pleased with it all.

I found it incredibly annoying that not only was it nearly impossible
to offer the goods to people who could really use it, but it set a
horrible
example for my kids. We try to emphasise conservation and re-use, and had
been explaining that we would be able to help others in need, only to have
the implicit point made that all of these perfectly good items were
inferior
to something bought straight from the store.

- Rich

--
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum
immane mittam.

On Thu, 07 Sep 2006 14:01:27 GMT, Jennifer Massey-Howe wrote:
Hi,
the other thing you could have done was gone to www.freecycle.org and gaven
them out yourself to people who are in need of these items as well. You can
also find great stuff there as well.


We'd been on the local Freecycle list a year or so ago, but were totally
turned off by the moderator, and the number of people who seemed to be using
it to collect way, way more stuff than was reasonable - like they were
getting things free just to turn around and re-sell them. The moderation
that was supposed to prevent that sort of thing was totally missing.

- Rich

--
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam.

I have had baby stuff go extremely quickly on freecycle, even things which
weren't in pristine, but were still usable condition.

--
Donna DeVore Metler
Orff Music Specialist/Kindermusik
Mother to Angel Brian Anthony 1/1/2002, 22 weeks, severe PE/HELLP
And Allison Joy, 11/25/04 (35 weeks, PIH, Pre-term labor)

In article , Donna Metler says...

I have had baby stuff go extremely quickly on freecycle, even things which
weren't in pristine, but were still usable condition.


My local freecycle seems to work well, and baby stuff gets taken. I just
offloaded some really old appliances this week, as a matter of fact. So far I
don't see evidence of scroungers picking up stuff just for resale.

My son wants us to do a garage sale next year for certain things like some of
his toys from elementary school years.

Doesn't help for something that's actually not to be used, though...

Banty

user wrote:


In the last couple of months, we'd been attempting to donate - note the
"attempting" - lots of our unneeded baby things. For example - a 5 year old
crib in excellent condition. Two baby backpacks. Many toys in excellent
condition. Literally dozens of *totally unused* stuffed animals. Boxes upon
boxes of infant clothes in very good shape - no stains, etc.

snip
Why? Because they all want brand new things. Cribs must be completely
new. Clothes must be unworn. Stuffed animals must be new and wrapped.
( How often are stuffed animals even sold wrapped? Never, in my experience. )
And so on. It's like living in the twilight zone.

We *finally* found that Catholic Family Charities would take the stuff,
and they were very pleased with it all.

I've had good luck donating to the St. Vincent de Paul society
and I get calls from the American kidney fund asking if we've
got stuff to donate. They have a truck that comes by and picks
it up! Looks like they do this in only a few states:
http://www.kidneyfund.org/stf_thrift.asp#donations

Mary W.