The most important part of living your life green is following the three R’s: reduce, reuse and recycle.

And there are ways all over Northeast Georgia to follow the three R’s, especially ways to reuse old items for new uses. One of those is to put building materials to a new use in your own home.

"Basically, our goal is to keep good, usable, building materials out from the landfills and put into homes to be reused," said Dennis Machida, director of retail sales for ReStore, which is run by Habitat for Humanity in Hall County. "We just take donations from anyone — manufacturers, home owners. Some of it is gently used, some of it is brand new stuff."

Some of the new items at ReStore could be items that are out of season, "there may be a change in the model or just overstocks of materials," Machida added.

ReStore has been operating in Hall County for almost two years now and is open Thursdays through Saturdays.

"We save over one or two times that could have gone to the landfill," Machida said. "We have been able to recycle or reuse, try to get away from the idea that building materials are commodities that can be easily thrown away."

Popular items at ReStore include windows, doors, counter tops, "cabinets, flooring and appliances are our biggest items that people request," Machida said.

The Hall County Recycling Center also has a program called EnviroShare, which helps local businesses reuse and share products with other businesses.

"If you go to www.enviroshare.org, that is where we promote the use within the business-to-business community," said Rick Foote, natural resources coordinator at the Hall County Recycling Center. "An individual from one of our businesses said he had some wire bins and he wanted to see if another business could use them. He can approach that on our EnviroShare X-change program, which is e-mail based ... He can post what materials he has available and maybe another business out there can make use of these items instead of throwing them away."

According to www.enviroshare.org, the EnviroShare team is a cross-section of business types, including industrial, manufacturing, metal products, food, hazardous wastes, wood products and hospitality.

Greg Sandoval, a 26-year veteran of the computer industry and owner of GSAN Inc. in Gainesville, is a part of the EnviroShare program by offering computer and electronic equipment recycling to businesses and locals.

"I decided to change the focus of the company to recycling and dismantling in 1999, so we have been doing that predominantly," Sandoval said. "We are EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) registered. We offer certificates of destruction for liability purposes (and) all the hard drives are wiped clean."

Sandoval’s company typically provides electronic recycling to businesses like hospitals and schools, but residents also can drop off old electronics like hard drives or computer monitors.

"We charge for monitors, and we don’t accept any TVs, anything else electrical — wires, cables, anything from the power cord on up."

Dropping off computer parts is free, although there is a 35 cent-per-pound charge for monitors. Sandoval asks that people call first to drop off items and not to bring televisions.

Along with recycling your electronic equipment at GSAN, there are many other places around Hall County that offer recycling services, including the Hall County Recycling Center. Folks can bring newspaper, glass (clear, green, brown), aluminum cans, aluminum foil, tins cans, corrugated cardboard, magazines, bound books, used motor oil and plastics to one of 15 recycling centers around the county.

For information on recycling antifreeze, batteries, gasoline, motor oil, transmission fluid or paint, contact the Hall County Recycling Center.

In White and Lumpkin Counties, there are two locations to drop off recyclables, including paper, aluminum and newspapers.