As my little one is quickly approaching the weight limit for his infant carseat, I began to think about these gigantic masses of plastic, foam and fabric that are taking up the entire backseat in my car. Until recently, carseats, if you happened to have one, were made of fabric and metal and could be placed anywhere in the car, front seat, back seat, no one really cared. I have plenty of friends who don’t even recall riding in them at all.

These days carseats weigh 10lbs or more, are usually tethered to the frame of the car and every state has some pretty tough laws enforcing their use. In Washington state, all kids under eight or under 4’9” must be in a child restraint system or the driver faces a fine of $112. Now, I am all for child safety, but I started to wonder, where do used carseats go?



Most all baby books warn parents not to put their kids in used carseats for one of two reasons. First, if you are getting a used carseat you do not know that the seat has no been involved in an accident which could have weakened it in some way. Second, carseats expire. Yeh, just like milk. The general accepted lifetime of a carseat is 6 years. Due to the degradation of the plastic shell and the ever changing regulations, most manufacturers give their carseats only six years.

Ok, Ok. So I am saddled with these things. But I can eventually recycle them, right? Nope. I contacted the cities of Seattle, Tacoma and Portland and none of them take the plastic shells. I couldn’t believe it. All that plastic just sitting around in our dumps. If you live near Portland, you can take your used carseat plastic shell (stripped of the foam, fabric and harnesses) to FarWestFibers . They are the only place I found that will take these omni-present baby items. Not great news on the green baby front, but at least there is one solution. I just have to burn more fossil fuels driving to Portland to drop off the thing!