There was a time when the fax machine was one of the most technologically advanced pieces of equipment you could own. Those days are long gone, but many of us still have that clunky machine gathering dust. Take your fax machine to any Staples store, which will accept it for free and recycle it. Your old fax will get stripped apart, and the recyclable parts will be kept out of landfills. No Staples near you? No problem: Find out when your local e-waste recycling day is, and drop it off there.

The primary material used to make toilets is porcelain, which is easily recyclable. When it's time to replace your antiquated loo for a more water-efficient one, contact your waste hauler or municipality to find out how to recycle it. Old toilets get pulverized and are used in concrete in roads and sidewalks. Another option is to donate clean and usable toilets to Habitat for Humanity's ReStore, which sells gently used home items; the proceeds go toward building projects.

Do you have piles of magazines and comic books at home that you're not sure what to do with? First, they are recyclable, so if you have a recycling center that takes old paper, take them there. But the nonprofit Magazine Harvest also wants them. The charity takes your clean and lightly used magazines and comics and works with literacy organizations to distribute them. Titles for every age, interest and language are accepted. Learn more at magazineliteracy.org.