What do I do with…?

Furniture & Appliances

Why is furniture and appliance waste a problem? When unwanted furniture is thrown away, valuable resources such as wood, fabric, and metal are wasted. The same holds true for appliances. Large appliance repair services are still available. However, small appliances are more often replaced than repaired as evidenced by the global right to repair movement and the grassroots gatherings such as Repair Cafes and Fixit Clinics aiming to change that. Valuable resources could be kept out of landfills, more jobs could be created, and ecological harm due to resource extraction could be reduced if more furniture and appliances were either repaired, refurbished, repurposed, or dismantled in order to reuse or recycle the parts.

Examples: refrigerators, stoves, ovens, ranges, microwaves, small kitchen appliances (toaster, toaster oven, blender, mixer, crock pot, pressure cooker, food processor, etc.) kitchen utensils, washing machines and dryers, dishwashers, air conditioners, sofas and chairs, tables, dressers, filing cabinets, bookshelves, desks, mattress, box springs, bed frames

Reduce

• Be purposeful with your home furnishings – avoid filling your home with furniture that is rarely used.

• Consider multipurpose or energy-efficient appliances

Reuse

• Just because the upholstery is damaged, doesn’t mean it’s a lost cause

• Furniture and appliances can be repaired, instead of replaced

  • Attend a Fixit Clinic at Home ReSource and exercise your right to repair

• Donation Warehouse takes gently-used furniture and appliances

  • Check their website for full list of accepted items.

• Thrift stores take gently-used furniture and functional appliances. (Call beforehand to confirm acceptance policies)

  • Bargain Corner

  • Missoula Goodwill

  • Missoula Senior Center Underground Thrift Store

  • YWCA Secret Seconds South

  • YWCA Secret Seconds North

  • Teen Challenge Thrift Store

  • Zootown Thrift

Recycle

• If your appliance or piece of furniture is made mostly of metal, it is possible to recycle it as scrap metal

  • Pacific Steel accepts appliances, tin, ferrous and non ferrous metals

  • Axmen Recycling – call for current acceptance policy