What do I do with expired car seats?

So many of my clients have old infant car or booster seats taking up valuable space in the garage or attic because they don't know what to do once they've expired. By law, you can't sell or even donate them at that point. It may seem like a racket, but over time the molded plastic loses strength from being in all temperatures over the years and can't be guaranteed to hold up in the impact of a crash. And if the seat has ever been involved in a crash, even if no child was in it at the time, it should also be discarded.

How do you know if it's expired? Many seats have a printed expiration on the bottom, the back, or on a manufacturing sticker. If not, you may need to call the company with the serial number. Here's a great, detailed explanation.

If it's not expired, has not been in a crash, and still meets safety standards (check your model here for recalls), you might be able to donate it to a local charity or hospital or you might be able to sell it via Goodbuygear.

If you know it's expired, what can you do? You have a few options:

1) Certain stores have trade-in events, often around Earth Day in April and Child Passenger Safety Week in September. You might even get a store coupon or gift card for your trade in. Check Target here, which is the only program I can find currently going.

2) Every February, the Hampton Roads area has a car seat round up, with dropoffs at many locations. Find out more here.

3) This website lists car seat recycling programs nationwide (sadly, none in VA as of now).

These are fantastic options since they will responsibly recycle and dispose of the materials for free and you might even get a coupon.

Otherwise, you must dispose of seats yourself. Cut the straps, dismantle and recycle the parts you can. Then the rest of the seat goes in the garbage or to a dump. It's a shame, but that's about all that can be done responsibly.

If you have other solutions, please let us know!

#carseats #howtodiscard