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I recently switched to a safety razor because

  1. It's cheaper in the long run, even if I change blades more often
  2. disposables are a recycling nightmare - (metal bonded to plastic)

Of course eventually blades will dull and not be usable anymore, so I'd like to consider how to recycle them. Unfortunately all i'm finding is "put them in a commercially available sharps container and throw them away" which doesn't seem very green at all. I wouldn't mind mailing them in a sharps container if there is a mail in program -- I can't imagine I'd need to send a package more than once a year.

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    The answer might lie with what happens with the contents of sharps containers from hospitals & intravenous drug user centers. If the metal components from needles, etc. is recycled, then placing safety razor blades in such sharps containers would be a way to have them recycled.
    – Fred
    Nov 21, 2019 at 18:19
  • @Fred disposal of medically- or chemically-contaminated sharps bins generally involves incineration, with the remains going to landfill. When they're known not to be contaminated (some light industrial uses), they go to landfill.
    – Chris H
    Dec 1, 2019 at 7:33

4 Answers 4

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A stainless-steel scrap-metal recycler can handle razor blades but they would need a very large load to be interested.

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  • After two months of doing this I've accumulated about 8 used blades -- which don't make a dent in the glass bottle under my sink they're sitting in. Guess I'll just fill the thing up until I die :)
    – Sidney
    Dec 2, 2019 at 16:57
  • Most community recyclers just collect material until they have enough to truck to an industrial operation.
    – S Spring
    Dec 3, 2019 at 0:48
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If I were you I would collect them in a tin (or some container which doesn't take up big space), and the first time I go to some waste collector to get rid of something special (even if that might be in 3 years from now), I would just take them too. Might be less of an effort than making individual trips to get rid of a few blades.

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Gillette has a Razor Recycling Program: Participants who wanna recycle their razors from home are invited to sign up on the program page thru "Terracycle" You merely Ship your stockpile of razor blades when it's big enough, hold on to your razors in a soap box til you have it filled.

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Wherever unlike materials are bonded it becomes a recyclable nightmare and everyone should avoid bonded materials of any kind wherever possible. It doesn't matter if your tiny sliver of steel is thrown away. Iron is a very common metal, and that tiny amount of steel discarded is negligible compared to the nightmare of reclaiming anything that's half plastic.

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    This is very true, as pointed out by the second reason I stopped using disposable razors. Safety razor blades are simple iron though.
    – Sidney
    Oct 31, 2019 at 19:25

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