Sex-Toy Recycling: Yes, There Are Companies That Do That E-mail
Tuesday, 18 May 2010  |  Tonya Kay | Blog Entry

Recycling Bins photo by Neubie modified by TheisThe death of a relationship is the death of its dildos, a gay woman knows. Even straight men know better than to break out that old strap-on with their new paramour. I do not advocate tossing a perfectly good item prematurely, but in some situations it really is appropriate to replace your collection of sex toys. Maybe your gung-ho style left a vibrator cracked, or maybe you've discovered, as we did in last week's article, that your pocket rocket may contain the endocrine-interrupting, baby-genitalia-disfiguring, sperm-count-lowering plasticizer: phthalate.   Sometimes you just need a new dong.

Unfortunately, phthalates wreak as much havoc to our health by leaching into our groundwater from landfills as they do from direct skin friction. But really, what are we going to do—put our sex toys into the city recycling container? What if our downstairs neighbor kid sees last year's anal beads in the single-stream bin? And I have to be honest here, no recycling facility knows what to do with that unmarked plastic # ….? So what are our Earth-friendly dildo-disposal options?

Believe it or not, you have some. Several specialty companies will accept your sterilized sex toys via postal mail. After a secondary sterilization, they are sorted by material and composition (like hard plastics, silicone, electronics, etc.). The mechanical guts, circuitry and batteries, if any, are removed. The plastics are ground up to be reused in consumer products. The electronics are melted down and sold off, and any hazardous waste (like batteries) is disposed of properly.

Companies providing this honorable sex-toy recycling service, like Recycle Your Sex Toy in Florida, Scarlet Girl in Oregon and Love Honey in the UK, also offer huge incentives in the way of discounts toward future purchases.

And one company I found, Sex Toy Recycling, actually manufactures new toys from your recycled ones. Yes, you can purchase a 95% post-consumer recycled sex toy that is guaranteed with a nontoxic silicon outer, so your body does not come into contact with even recycled phthalates. They are guaranteed "Made in the USA" as well, for the USAmericans among us who take the social as well as environmental responsibility of their purchases to heart.

From acquisition through use to disposal, your sex toys no longer need to be a dirty little secret.

Additional resources:
Safe Sex? Not If Your Sex Toys Aren't Green

Finding Eco Love: What Are the Best Green Dating Sites?

[Sign up to be notified each time Tonya publishes a new Clean and Green Everyday blog entry on EcoHearth.– Ed.]

[See a complete list of writing by Tonya Kay on EcoHearth.com or visit her Clean and Green Everyday blog. – Ed.]

Comments (8)add
Written by True Pleasures , January 14, 2012
Unfortunately, Sex Toys Recycling has been up for years and their site has never been updated. It's said "coming soon" on the recycled sex toys for sale for ages, and I've never seen them put anything up for sale. I've used their contact form numerous times to get the special Tyvek bag they want you to send the toys in, but I've never received a response.

It's sad to say, but it seems like it's either a dead site or just something to gain traffic, it's not an active program. I say this after checking it again today. The page with their contact form still says: "Look for our new online store and expanded selection of recycled products, coming soon!" That page has said that for probably 2 years or so.
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Written by Vibrators , July 28, 2010
thats a good idea it's better to recycle than to throw it.
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Written by AmyS , May 25, 2010
The recycling of sex toys is definitely the way forward. If you can recycle ordinary everyday objects then why should sex toys be any different.
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Written by Tonya Kay , May 22, 2010
Portland is a cooler city for Scarlet Girl, a bus system and you, Kate. I hope to visit that wonderful city soon!
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Written by Kate Mura , May 22, 2010
Excellent! And Scarlet Girl is in Portland so I can box up and bus over! No added gas consumed for my sex toy recycling.
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Written by Tonya Kay , May 18, 2010
These environmental recycling niches make me wish I was cool and had a recycling niche of my own! At least a I know about them now, though. At home, I'll continue to work on not accumulating items that need to be recycled. Just reused or composted.
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Written by Beth , May 18, 2010
Glad to hear that there are companies out there that will recycle them for us.
Just have to find one in my area.
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Written by Steve the Kaleidoscope Guy , May 18, 2010
Wow,who knew? The recyling site you recommended has quite a few home made ideas. I repeat who knew?
Informative and titilating.
Can't wait to see next weeks topic......
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