As a Keep America Beautiful initiative, America Recycles Day is celebrated each Nov. 15 to promote the benefits of recycling and encourage people to cut back on the amount of waste they produce. (The average American generates about 4.5 pounds of solid waste a day.)

At Oncor, we make an effort year-round to leave this planet a little bit better than we found it. Thanks to the company’s commitment to recycling, Oncor diverted nearly 59 million pounds of waste in 2018, including more than 35,600 pounds of cardboard and plastic and almost 30 million pounds of scrap metal. Additionally, some 210,600 pounds of batteries were recycled last year alone by Oncor.

With America Recycles Day approaching, we decided to round up 10 unique ways to recycle that you may not have realized in your day-to-day life.

1. Follow the three R’s: Reduce your waste, reuse materials and items before buying something new and recycle properly. Remember if it’s broken, fix it instead of replacing it.
2. Use recyclable bags: Instead of using plastic shopping bags, use the recyclable bags at grocery stores and keep them for every visit. It helps you take fewer trips into the house and helps the planet!
3. Reach out to your recycling vendor: Find out what items your local vendor allows to ensure you are recycling appropriately. Some materials may not be allowed, such as Styrofoam.
4. Donate items: Make a rule in your home that nothing useable goes in the trash until you’ve given the community a fair shot. Take reusable items to your local Goodwill or Salvation Army.
5. Use reusable straws: Try buying silicon or metal reusable straws, they are easy to clean and planet-friendly!
6. Use plastic or glass storage containers: When storing food use Tupperware to reuse for your lunch or leftovers instead of plastic bags.
7. Drink out of reusable water bottles/coffee mugs: Reduce your usage of plastic water bottles by using reusable water bottles, travel containers and coffee mugs everywhere you go.
8. Coffee grounds and filters: Need your second wind? Get inspired by this trick: Coffee grounds can be recycled to feed your plants, while coffee filters can be used to make compost.
9. Foam peanuts: Local pack-and-ship stores like UPS will often accept these squeaky packing essentials for reuse once you’re done with them. 
10. Holiday lights: Instead of throwing out your old strands of holiday lights, send them to Holiday LEDs, an online retailer of LED lights. Not only will the company accept any type of lights (not just LEDs) year-round, but they’ll also give you a 15 percent off coupon for anything on their site.

Looking for more ways to recycle? Take a look at these ways to make a difference this America Recycles Day. And while there’s no better time to start recycling than Nov. 15, consider turning your efforts into a year-round pattern, reducing your carbon footprint one day at a time.