How to Recycle Non-Stick Cookware

I think know that I have issues with throwing things in the trash. This pan is no longer useful (unless you like rust in your food) and has caused great trauma and wastefulness. It needs to go! I really hate adding to the trash pile, though, and my husband is the same way. That's why in addition to our yucky pan pictured above, we also have these guys:

These are two additional non-stick pans that have started to flake. We no no longer use them for cooking, but we couldn't bring ourselves to throw them away, either. So, they sit in our house collecting dust and taking up space.

It's time for these items to find a new home! I have been trying to find a way to recycle them. I read an article on Teflon recycling and was feeling discouraged. Apparently one way to recycle Teflon pans is to get them recovered in Teflon. Or you could get the Teflon coating 'blasted' off and be left with a basic steel pan. They also mentioned that Caphalon has a cookware recycling program here. The catch is that you must purchase an 8 or 10 piece cookware set from them in order to receive a cookware recycling box.

At that point, the trail seemed bleak and I had to get creative. I called Caphalon Customer Service and they said they would recycle my cookware if I mailed it myself (and paid to ship it). I thought this was what I was going to do, but then I thought to check my local recycling center to see if they would accept them, and the web site says that they do!

They are now in the car waiting to be delivered (do I recycle the glass lid with them???) and there are three fewer useless items taking up space in my house. I hope these pans get recycled into something useful.