Old car seats - what to do?

[bae]

I am in the midst of my once-a-century garage cleaning today.

I have 4 quite decent car seats for infants/toddlers. My daughter is 15 now, we have no use for these, they haven't been used in years.

Recycle, re-use, repurpose, ...?

I've heard "old" car seats are not good, but these *appear* perfect, and it seems so wasteful to junk them.

Any thoughts?

[CathyA]

I think old car seats and strollers are hard to get rid of........at least at places like Goodwill. I know our local Caring Center doesn't take strollers any older than 5 years, because of safety concerns. I found this out after I had taken a hardly ever used/strong double stroller there. I hope they didn't just throw it out. I'm sure there are lots of people who would like to have these things, but businesses don't want the liability.
How about Craig's list, or a garage sale?

[Mrs-M]

This is a tough one, and a PITA one, too! Standards regarding, are forever changing, making for outdated, unsafe, and not-legal seats at the same rate (so it seems) as new computers (bought today) are already obsolete (tomorrow), rendering perfectly good child car-seats all but useless, other than for recycled material.

We've been lucky so far, and have passed our old ones down to several needy families, but there really needs to be a better program introduced and put into place regarding.

[Zoebird]

You'll have to take it to recycling.

Here in NZ, they actually have a process where they don't really care about age (just origins) and will give them to families for free as a "rental."

It's great, honestly. Nice reuse.

But, otherwise, recycling is your only option. See if the company from which you purchased them will take them for recycling.

[bae]

"Taking it to recycling" here, unless it is raw-material recycling, involves an entire day's journey, and $60 in ferry fares, so we try to avoid that :-)

[Zoebird]

know that feeling.

[lhamo]

bae,

Is there a car rental place or B&B on the island that might take them as backups for people who come to visit and need an extra seat? Or a church/social service agency that might be able to redistribute them to families in need?

I believe in East King County they have stopped taking them at recycling and second hand places because of the liability issues.

Maybe a piece of commemorative sculpture? Too bad the deer probably won't eat them...

lhamo

[razz]

So much stuff has to be tossed due to new standards. I sometimes wonder if the standards really have changed or ? Had some high quality ( read expensive) riding helmets from our horseback riding days, standards had changed on them as well but found someone who could use them in an emergency.

[CathyA]

bae.......can you somehow incorporate it into your living room furniture? :~)
lhamo's idea was a good one......about giving it to a car rental place/b and b. Although, again, they probably worry about liability.