What to do with old coffee mugs?

[spyrosmom]

I just ordered a Cathe coffee mug BTW, all the zazzle stuff is 17.76% off this weekend. The code is at the top of the zazzle page.

I/we have a zillion coffee mugs, and I have no more space in the cabinet. I have 2 or 3 faves that I use regularly and DH has 1 that he uses. That leaves us about a dozen we don't use. Most of them are older, some with chipped, worn off designs. Others from who knows where or from gift packs. A couple vacation ones we won't get rid of.

Can they be recycled? You can recycle glass, but dishware porcelain? Anybody? If our recycle guys come by and they see one non-recyclable in the bin, they leave the whole thing for the regular garbage man. I guess it takes too much of their time to sort stuff out at each house. So if they spy one thing in the box that doesn't belong, the whole thing goes in the trash.

Any other uses for old dishes? I know you can smash them up for mosaics, but there's really nothing interesting about them, and that's not really my schtick. I've also heard you can use broken dish bits for drainage in flower pots, but they're all planted long ago. I thought about the goodwill, but like I said they're just mismatched whatever coffee mugs collected over time. I suppose someone can use them, though.

I hate just to toss them in the garbage if something better can be done. Putting them in a box in my basement doesn't get me anywhere, either.

Nan

 

[Thumper]

Another suggestion is to give them to a thrift store if they aren't in really bad shape.

Also I don't see why you couldn't put them in your recycling. I am assuming that you are allowed to recycle glass jars so I would think that coffee mugs would also be permitted.

Cheryl

 

[RunninTeach]

Our students create mosaics every year in art class. Perhaps one of your local schools could use the materials.

 

[Davidj]

Charities might need them

I agree with Cheryl and Cathy about donating the mugs (or other unused items) to charity or schools. What I do is to keep a box, and collect useful items over the entire year, and give them to churches or other groups for yard sales. One can obtain a list of yard sales (going on right now in the summer) in the local newspaper.
-- David

 

[bceogirl]

Nan,

Funny you posted this because we cleaned out our garage yesterday and I have a box of mugs that I told DH I want to take to Goodwill. I just assumed they couldn't go in recycling, but I'm not 100% sure.

Thanks for the tip about the Zazzle sale. Does anyone know if we can use our Cathe gift certificates on Zazzle ??

Thanks!
Becky

 

[Katerchen]

Our students create mosaics every year in art class. Perhaps one of your local schools could use the materials.

Your students still have hands on art class, cool! Art was the first to go as they cut the budget a few years ago. Even the art class in high school is just art history.

 

[RunninTeach]

Your students still have hands on art class, cool! Art was the first to go as they cut the budget a few years ago. Even the art class in high school is just art history.

Oh no, what a shame! We are fortunate to be in a district where the arts are highly valued and have been mostly preserved. But I don't know how long that will last. The statewide budget crisis is such that even we are starting to chip away some in that department, and elementary band programming was cut. We also saw losses in general elementary, technology, and media departments.

 

[sme702]

How about donating them to your local rehab/assisted living/nursing home? Can't hurt to call these places and see if they could use them for their clients. (I know when my grandpa was at his nursing home he used a regular mug -- until he dropped it)
Good luck.