Saratoga Recycles Day: Saturday, October 18, 2025
9 am until 12 pm
Sponsored by Adirondack Trust Company

Located at the SPAC Parking Lot, west side of Route 50

Repurpose unwanted household items. Protect the environment. Help the community.

We are excited to host our eighth annual Saratoga Recycles Day this October. This popular community event is planned and run by Sustainable Saratoga’s amazing volunteers, and we thank them for their dedication to this effort, which keeps tons of items out of the landfill every year.

Start saving your unwanted items for us!

GENERAL INFORMATION:

  • Event will be located at the SPAC Parking Lot, west side of Route 50
  • There will be a $5 entrance fee per vehicle (cash or check only) for RECYCLES DAY, plus $20 fee per TV.
  • Please bring exact change or a check

 

WE ARE COLLECTING THE FOLLOWING ITEMS ON SATURDAY OCTOBER 18:

Please sort your items according to the drop-off stations listed below.

Eyeglasses & Hearing Aids for the Saratoga Lions Club: sunglasses & eyeglasses (prescription or nonprescription), hearing aids in any condition. NO cases please.

Cell Phones (working and broken) and Chargers for Wellspring

Musical Instruments for We Are Instrumental: CANCELLED. No instruments will be collected.

Saratoga Children’s Literacy League & Bulk Book Warehouse: Gently used children, young adult, adult books and textbooks, audiobooks, DVDs, CDs, video games. No religious or holiday books.

Clothing & Household Textiles for American Clothing Company (any condition): clothes, coats, shoes, belts, hats, gloves, sleeping bags, backpacks, sheets, quilts, comforters, towels, rags, etc. NO pillows, carpeting, or rugs.

Metal Objects and Refrigerants by Scrapster: All scrap metal and freon bearing devices – air conditioners, humidifiers and mini-fridges

Electronics & Appliances by Capital Region Electronics Recycling: televisions ($20 fee), monitors, microwaves, toasters, blenders, coffee machines, hot plates, cable or satellite receivers, audio/visual equipment, phones, computers & accessories, printers, VCRs, DVD players, video game systems, wiring & cables, etc. NO alkaline batteries, smoke detectors, or thermostats.

WE CANNOT ACCEPT THE FOLLOWING ITEMS:

Alkaline Batteries

Pillows

Carpeting

Rugs

Thermostats

Smoke detectors

Fluorescent light bulbs

Toxic/hazardous materials

Paint (paint will only be accepted at Paint Collection Day on September 21)

 

OTHER WAYS TO RESPONSIBLY DISPOSE OF MATERIALS

Got household hazardous waste? For residents of the City of Saratoga Springs, the City typically holds a Household Hazardous Waste Day every two years. You can call 518-587-3550, ext. 2623 for more information about future events.

Got tires? The Saratoga County Soil & Water Conservation District typically holds an annual tire recycling event every spring. This event will be on June 3rd and is open to Saratoga County residents. Registration in advance is required by May 30, 2025.

Click here to see our online Reuse, Repair, Recycle directory of local donation, recycling, and repair options.

Saratoga Recycles Day Frequently Asked Questions:

We’re collecting the following items:

  • Eyeglasses & Hearing Aids for the Saratoga Lions Club: sunglasses & eyeglasses (prescription or nonprescription), hearing aids in any condition. NO cases please.Cell Phones (any condition) and Chargers for Wellspring (they need the chargers too)Musical Instruments for We Are Instrumental (any condition): Woodwind and brass instruments: flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, saxophones, trumpets french horns, trombones, baritones and tubas. String instruments: violins, violas, cellos, basses. Any condition. No pianos or drum sets.Saratoga Children’s Literacy League & Bulk Book Warehouse: Gently used children, young adult, adult books and textbooks, audiobooks, DVDs, CDs, video games. No religious or holiday books.Clothing & Household Textiles for American Clothing Company (any condition): clothes, coats, shoes, belts, hats, gloves, sleeping bags, backpacks, sheets, quilts, comforters, towels, rags, etc. NO pillows, carpeting, or rugs.Metal Objects and Refrigerants by Scrapster: All scrap metal and freon bearing devices – air conditioners, humidifiers and mini-fridgesElectronics & Appliances by Capital Region Electronics Recycling: televisions ($20 fee), monitors, microwaves, toasters, blenders, coffee machines, hot plates, cable or satellite receivers, audio/visual equipment, phones, computers & accessories, printers, VCRs, DVD players, video game systems, wiring & cables, etc. NO alkaline batteries, smoke detectors, or thermostats.

YES, PLEASE! To keep traffic flowing please sort your item by the major collection stations. There will be “stations” set up in the parking lot:

1. The Saratoga Lions Club: sunglasses, eyeglasses, hearing aids in any condition. (NO cases)
2. Wellspring: cell phones with chargers
3. We Are Instrumental (any condition): Woodwind and brass instruments: flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, saxophones, trumpets french horns, trombones, baritones and tubas. String instruments: violins, violas, cellos, basses. Any condition. (NO pianos or drum sets)
4. Saratoga Children’s Literacy League & Bulk Book Warehouse: children, young adult, adult books and textbooks, audiobooks, DVDs, CDs, video games
5. RISE: camping items in good condition (tents, stoves, backpacks, sleeping bags and pads)
6. American Clothing Company (any condition clothing and textiles): clothes, coats, shoes, belts, hats, gloves, sleeping bags, backpacks, sheets, quilts, comforters, towels, rags, etc. (NO pillows, carpeting, or rugs)
7. Bikeatoga: Adult bicycles, 20- and 24-inch mountain bikes (no helmets; no kids’ bikes)
8. Scrapster: Refrigerants & Scrap Metal – basketball hoops, grills, unusable bikes, metal lawn care equipment, etc. for scrap metal recycling and refrigerators, dehumidifiers, and AC units.
9. Capital Region Electronics Recycling: Electronics & Small Appliances – Microwaves, toasters, blenders, coffee machines, hot plates, cable or satellite receivers, audio/visual equipment, phones, computers & accessories, printers, VCRs, DVD players, video game systems, wiring, cables, etc. NO smoke detectors or thermostats.
* Televisions: We WILL be accepting TVs again this year, for an additional fee of $20 per item.

As you enter the parking lot, a greeter will direct you to the appropriate station(s), and then volunteers will unload your vehicle at each station. PLEASE STAY IN YOUR VEHICLE Please group your items by station to facilitate unloading, but you do NOT need to sort items further. For example, you can drop off a bag that contains wearable clothing, shoes, sheets and towels. To keep traffic flowing, our partners and volunteers will handle additional sorting after the event.

  • It’s convenient. We’ll take your items that usually don’t get recycled, in any condition, with no sorting required. You won’t even get out of your car!
  • Recycling is good for the environment and human health. We produce more than 254 million tons of trash every year in the U.S., which gets dumped in over 2,000 landfills that are leaking toxins into the surrounding environment and producing the greenhouse gas methane. Not to mention transporting trash creates pollution. No one wants that in their backyard!
  • Your unwanted items still have value. Unwanted items like clothing, shoes and backpacks will be donated to local organizations who distribute these items to people in need. Appliances and electronics contain valuable components that require energy to mine and manufacture; recycling them conserves our natural resources and avoids pollution, while helping private companies source materials sustainably.
  • You’ll be contributing to programs that make our community more environmentally-conscious and sustainable. All funds raised will support our local initiatives, like our Tree Toga tree planting events, our backyard composting program, our advocacy work for affordable housing, and more!

We want to recycle electronics that are at the end of their useful life.

  • If you have working electronics, please look for places where you can donate them. Consider selling them on an online website or listing them as “free & it works” on the curb or post it on Freecycle.org, Buy Nothing or NextDoor.
  • If you have a broken electronic that you think could be repaired, save it for our next Repair Cafe at the Saratoga Springs Public Library. We will have handy repair people who can take a look and try to fix it.
  • If it is broken beyond repair, then please bring it to Saratoga Recycles Day and we will make sure that it gets recycled.

We are collecting TVs again this year. In the last two years, we have collected over 1000 TVs, so we know this fits a need in our community and we want to be able to offer this service. However, TVs are costly to recycle, and the cost to our organization increases every year. Our recycler is willing to collect and recycle these items at a cost, by weight, to Sustainable Saratoga. We are a non-profit organization that depends almost exclusively on generous donations from the community, so we need to offset this cost. 

Sustainable Saratoga pays for the electronic items that are brought in for recycling. We have a nominal charge to offset this cost, but that model only works for households. If we accept materials from businesses, it also slows down the traffic flow and overburdens the people collecting materials.

Please check in with us ahead of time if you are unsure about whether your item is acceptable. If we cannot accept an item, you will be responsible for taking it with you. We will provide you with any information we can about alternative ways for you to recycle/repurpose any items we cannot accept.

We are working with several local organizations and businesses to reuse/recycle donated items:

  • Eyeglasses and Hearing Aids: Items will be donated to the Saratoga Springs Lions Club.
  • Cell phones and Chargers: Donated phones will be used by Wellspring.
  • Musical instruments will be used repaired and given new life by We Are Instrumental.
  • Children’s books, young adult books, adult books and textbooks, audiobooks, DVDs, CDs, video games will be donated to Saratoga Children’s Literacy League & Bulk Book Warehouse.
  • Clothing & Textiles: Clothing and textiles will be processed by the American Clothing Company (Glens Falls, NY) and redistributed globally for reuse. Textiles can be repurposed into products like dog bed filling or rug pads.
  • Adult Bicycles: Bikes in decent condition will be refurbished by Bikeatoga. Any unrepairable bikes will be recycled as scrap metal.
  • Refrigerants & Scrap Metal: basketball hoops, grills, unusable bikes, metal lawn care equipment, etc. for scrap metal recycling and refrigerators, dehumidifiers, and AC units will be processed by Scrapster.
  • Appliances, Electronics and Scrap Metal: Donated items will be recycled/repurposed by Capital Region Electronics Recycling.

No! Anyone is welcome to donate items, there are no residency restrictions.

We’ll be collecting items rain or shine! We’ll have volunteers helping to unload vehicles, so you can stay dry even if it’s raining.