How to dispose of an old child car seat

Car seats are an essential part of owning a car when you have a child. When your child is an infant or small child, they should always be placed in a car seat when you are driving. A car seat protects the small body of a small child in the event of an accident to a much greater extent than a conventional seat and seat belt.

However, every child sooner or later outgrows their car seat, and then it's time to get rid of it. Even if your child hasn't outgrown their child seat yet, there are many reasons why you might need to get rid of it. If the car has been in an accident or the seat is out of date, it should be disposed of immediately. If the child is no longer comfortable in it, it may be time to look for a new car seat, and say goodbye to the old one. You should never simply dispose of your car seats by throwing them away or leaving them on the street. It's incredibly wasteful to throw out a still usable car seat when an unusable one can be dug up by a parent diving into the trash can to save a few bucks and they won't know the seat is a hazard. Thus, it is important to always dispose of your car seats responsibly.

Method 1 of 2: Dispose of your reusable car seat

Step 1: Reach out to parents you know. Contact parents you know to see if they need a car seat.

Many people are hesitant to buy used car seats if they are no longer in a safe condition. As a result, it's a good idea to find people you know who need car seats, as they're more likely to believe you when you tell them the seat is still safe to use.

Email or call parents you know with young children, or drop a car seat flyer at your child's preschool or daycare.

• FunctionsA: Since car seats can be very expensive, you may find a friend willing to pay you some change for your used car seat.

Step 2: Donate a seat. Donate a car seat to a shelter or donation center.

Contact local shelters as well as donation centers such as Goodwill and see if any of them are interested in a safe old car seat.

Some of these places may not accept donations for car seats if they are no longer safe, but others will accept donations to help parents who cannot afford car seats.

Step 3: List Your Spot on Craigslist. Try selling your car seat on Craigslist.

If you can't find anyone you know who needs your car seat, and local shelters or charity centers won't accept it as a donation, try selling it on Craigslist.

Be sure to indicate that your car seat hasn't been in an accident and hasn't expired yet, otherwise people might not be interested in buying it.

• FunctionsA: If no one buys your car seat on Craigslist, you can try listing it on Craigslist's free classifieds page.

Method 2 of 2: Disposing of an Unusable Car Seat

Step 1: Take your car seats to a recycling center.. Take your used car seat to a used car seat recycling center.

In the United States, there are many programs responsible for recycling car seats to minimize waste.

You can find a list of available car seat recycling centers at Recycle Your Car Seat. If you are near one of the listed locations, take your car seat there as they will be the best at recycling the seat.

Step 2: Contact your local recycling center. Try recycling your car seat at your local recycling center.

Most recycling centers do not recycle entire car seats, but they do recycle most of the components.

Call your local recycling center to find out if your car seat model can be recycled. If this is the case, follow the recycling center's instructions and disassemble the car seat into its individual components so that the center can recycle it.

If the recycling center cannot recycle all components of the car seat, discard the rest.

• FunctionsA: If you can't break the car seat yourself, someone at the recycling center can help you through the process.

Step 3: Ruin the seat and throw it away. As a last resort, render the car seat unusable and throw it in the trash.

You should not throw the car seat in the trash unless absolutely necessary. However, if an unusable car seat or its components cannot be recycled for whatever reason, you have no choice but to throw the seat away.

If you are going to throw away the seat, you must first ruin it so that no one else tries to reuse it, which can be deadly.

To ruin an unusable car seat, try damaging and breaking it with whatever tools you have. Power tools work best if you feel comfortable and safe with them.

• Functions: If you can't damage an unusable car seat, put a "Damaged - Do Not Use" sign on it to prevent other people from taking the seat out of the dumpster.

Whether you recycle or sell your old car seat, getting rid of it is easy. Just make sure that neither you nor anyone else uses the car seat after it has expired or been in an accident and you can be sure that you are disposing of your old car seat in the safest and most responsible way.