Target’s car seat trade-in for April/Earth Month is happening next week. The event starts Sunday April 16 – Saturday April 29, 2023. Take any old car seat that is expired or damaged to your local participating Target to be recycled and get a 20% off coupon for a new car seat, stroller or select baby gear.
More information including participating locations as well as the other “select baby gear” can be found at https://corporate.target.com/sustainability-esg/environment/waste-and-circular-economy/car-seat-trade-in.
This is a great way to recycle car seats. Your local recycler probably doesn’t take these at their facility and they are trashed during City of Austin bulk pickup because of the mix of items.
Car seats and mattresses are always big items in my neighborhood’s bulk collection since so much can be recycled here in curbside or at local facilities.
If you don’t need an upgrade, post to your local parents group or Buy Nothing group to let someone who does need an upgrade get a coupon.
Target Reminders
Car seat trade-in events are not officially on a recurring schedule. Target tends to host these in April and September.
- April is Earth Month (it includes Earth Day)
- September is Baby Safety Month
- 2.19 million car seats recycled since 2016
- 32.9 million pounds of car seat materials recycled since 2016
I try to post about this every April and September so set your ticklers on your calendar if you are expecting or know someone who is.
Safety Reminder
Please check your current car seat(s) or any donated car seats or boosters, etc. for expiration dates. Car seats have expiration dates for your protection. The plastic degrades over time and can be a potential safety risk. The date of expiration or manufacture is usually on a sticker on the base of the item.
Where to Look for the Car Seat Expiration Date
“Some manufacturers have a specific expiration date on the seat,” Dr. Hoffman says. Major brands like Graco and Britax are known to display that information.
But if you don’t see a date listed, you can assume that the expiration date is 6 years from the date of manufacture, Dr. Hoffman advises. [Do check with your manufacturer. If you can’t find it on the seat, try their website or call them. If it’s not easy to locate, definitely encourage them to do better and make it easy on parents and caregivers.]
https://www.parents.com/baby/gear/car-seats/car-seats-expire-heres-why/
You’ll also want to replace your car seat if it’s been in a wreck. I’ve been sharing about the Target Trade-in event with my neighbors since 2019. It was great to see an article in this month’s Live Grow Play Austin. Their article has helpful data on expiration, replacements, ages and upgrades. Please share this concept with as many people as you can. It’s a blessing for parents and family; a safety issue: I had no idea car seats expired until I researched for my first article on this topic, and it is a wonderful way to keep very large, recyclable items out of the landfill, they just take a little work to take them apart for processing.
If you do want to recycle these (garage is packed, you’re moving asap, etc.) please try to take them apart if you can for the different stations at the Recycle & Reuse Drop-off Center (an appointment is still required at this point). If disassembly is hard, you’re time-strapped, etc., then please put it in the Hard Plastics station. When choosing a station between Hard Plastic and Scrap Metal, go with the majority material. Most of a car seat is a plastic frame, with polyester (plastic) fabric, polyester straps, and a little bit of metal hardware. The contractor for hard plastics will separate and sort the items further for recycle processing, it just is more effective if done up front by the donor.
The featured image car seat is a Graco Extend2Fit Convertible Car Seat in Gotham. Its footrest extends up to four different lengths.
Have a great green month!
#target #carseat #momlife #dadlife #coupon #neighborshelpingneighbors #grandparentlife #caregiver #recycle #lesslandfill