Everything You Need to Know About Recycling Old Lawn Mowers

Figuring out how to dispose of an old lawn mower is difficult, but finding a safe way to take care of lawn mower recycling can take up a Saturday that should be spent relaxing and enjoy your personal time.

Luckily you’ve come to the right place to learn about recycling old lawn mowers. From the best ways to recycle old lawn mowers and where to bring lawn mowers for recycling, to donating your lawn mower and how to dispose of the old gas, keep reading to learn everything about easily recycling your old lawn mower and other lawn equipment.

But first, can you recycle a lawn mower? It’s hard to know since recycling anything other than everyday paper, plastic, metal, and (sometimes) glass can be a bit of a mystery.

Because lawn mowers are generally made of metal and rigid plastic components, they are, essentially, recyclable. But, put simply, having an old lawn mower recycled is a little more complicated than chucking it in the blue curbside bin.

⚠️ Before we go any further into lawn mower recycling, it’s important that no matter what you do with your old lawn mower, you must make sure it is completely drained of oil and gasoline.

There are more ways to recycle an old lawn mower than hauling it over to Home Depot or your local recycling center. When we usually think of recycling, what comes to mind is the municipal recycling facility with all of its crushing, ripping machines and giant equipment.

The truth is, sending stuff off to someplace we equate with recycling isn’t the only way to recycle, and it’s actually usually the least effective form of recycling out there.

Instead, consider these alternative forms of lawn equipment recycling first when looking for used lawn mower recycling in your area:

• give it to a neighbor
• give it to a friend or family member
• donate it to charity or a nonprofit organization
• sell it on Facebook, Craigslist, LetGo, etc.
• sell it for parts or scrap at a junkyard

Obviously, if your old lawn mower is pretty beat up or doesn’t work anymore, you don’t want to choose any of the first four options in that list. If you decide to donate your used lawn mower, it is important that it is still in good, working condition.

As mentioned before, no matter how you decide to get rid of your old lawn mower, you have to remove the gas and oil from it before going any further.

If you’re wondering where to take old lawn mowers to be drained, visit a mechanic or a repair shop to pay them to drain the gas and oil if you don’t feel good doing it yourself.

However, this is a fairly simple process that you can do yourself if you’re handy.

Here’s how to drain oil from a lawn mower:

1. Use a siphon hose to drain the gas out of the tank and into a clean container. It’s best to use a siphon hose with a hand pump attached.
2. Next, unplug the spark plug wire and tilt the lawnmower on its side with the carburetor facing up in the air. Remove the center bolt or bolts that hold the blade in place and carefully slide the blade off the lawnmower.
3. Position an oil catch pan under the mower and remove the oil reservoir plug to drain the oil into the pan. The oil reservoir plug location can differ from mower to mower, but it’s usually found under the blade at the center of the deck on a push mower.

⛽ Pro Tip: Never use your mouth to siphon gasoline out of a lawn mower.

If you have a riding lawn mower, the plug should be located on the side of the engine block. You can then take the used oil to an auto parts store or mechanic who can recycle the oil and do small engine disposal for you for a small fee.

However, you will need to dispose of the gas as well, so it’s probably best to take the gasoline and the oil to your municipal household hazardous waste (HHW) disposal facility.

If you don’t know where your HHW facility is, you can find out by checking your city or municipality’s website or by giving them a call.

You can call around to different charities in your area to see if they’ll accept donations of lawn mowers, big or small, whether they offer pickup services, and what rules and restrictions they have for donating a lawn mower, such as if they accept riding lawn mowers or even old lawn tractors.

While some charities do offer pickup (for a fee) of donated items that are difficult to haul in a car, chances are you will likely need to haul your old lawn mower to a donation center to drop it off.

In fact, no matter how you decide to go about recycling your old lawn mower, it’s highly likely that there will be some hauling involved on your part.

Because most people don’t own a truck or other hauling equipment, it’s a great idea to consider having a junk removal company pick up their your lawn mower to safely dispose of it for you instead.

If you’re still looking for where to take old lawn mowers to you and end up bringing the mower in one piece to a scrap metal yard near you, they’ll most likely only pay you the price of aluminum breakage, or dirty aluminum that’s contaminated with steel.

The value of your used lawn mower increases greatly if you disassemble it and separate the different metal and plastic parts from the components that can’t be scrapped. This is because the scrap yard will pay more if they don’t have to spend the money buying used lawn mowers and then also the time taking it apart and cleaning it themselves.

If all else fails, you can always haul your old lawn mower to your nearest recycling facility and drop it off there for you.

Deciding to get rid of your old lawn mower is one thing, but actually figuring out how to do it in a responsible way can be a headache.

Most people aren’t able to leave their old or broken lawn mowers on the curb for their municipal trash removal service to haul away, because most trash services won’t pick them up. Plus, not everyone has the vehicle needed to haul these items to the local recycling center if there is one.

If you just want to be done with your old lawn mower but don’t want to add it to the already overflowing waste stream, having a professional junk removal company pick it up can be a truly eco-friendly option.

More From the Trash Talk Blog: How Does Junk Removal Work?

Lawn mowers and other landscaping equipment can be cleaned of any fuel residue, broken down into its metal and plastic components, and the materials used in the production of new lawn equipment or other products.

When you call the junk removal pros at LoadUp to pick up and recycle lawn mowers, we’ll also take any yard equipment and you’ll save you tons of time and energy. LoadUp offers easy haul-away and eco-friendly disposal for all kinds of lawn equipment and just about anything else you need to get rid of around the house.

LoadUp recycles everything we pick up that we possibly can after hauling it away by taking everything to local recycling facilities, donating it to local charities, or disposing of it in other environmentally-friendly ways.

We’re also proud to offer exceptional customer service in addition to being the greenest junk haulers we can be. LoadUp is trusted by over 47,000 customers across the US, and it’s easy to see why from our customer reviews.

Pro Tip: Got an old grill to recycle? Have it picked up and recycled by a junk removal service.

Loaders are fast, friendly, professional, and incredibly efficient. If you want licensed junk removal experts who are completely insured and background checked, then you’re going to want to book your lawn mower removal appointment with LoadUp.

Other junk removal companies provide an estimate but will require you to let them come on-site and show them the mower and any other junk you want disposed of, and they quote you based on the volume of space your junk takes up on their truck.

Not only is this a waste of your time, but it also gives the junk removal service a chance to overcharge you and to increase the price even further with fees and surcharges once it’s time for them to haul your junk away.

LoadUp provides you with an honest, all-inclusive price upfront online or over the phone without having to come out and take a look because their pricing is fairly based on item count. That’s because LoadUp not only values your time but also believes you should be charged fairly and treated with transparency and respect.

As long as it is drained of oil and gas, we’ll take your old lawn mower off your hands and make sure it gets recycled or disposed of in the most environmentally responsible way possible.

So the next time you find yourself not only wondering where to find lawn mower recycling near me or or where to get rid of old lawn mowers, but also what to do with old mattresses and old furniture, you can always depend on LoadUp’s easy, online booking system.

♻️ Make disposal easy. Peek at your upfront, affordable price by entering your zip code here.

Just give LoadUp a call at 844-239-7711 or visit us online to get an upfront, guaranteed quote for lawn mower removal and recycling in your area with LoadUp.

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