Gaining trophies for your exemplary efforts is a significant achievement. Congratulations on everything you’ve earned with your hard work. But are you trying to get rid of the unnecessary clutter in your house? If you want to declutter your home and/or office and want to part with some of your old trophies, you can, so don’t toss them away in the garbage. The landfills are overflowing with stuff, and there are better ways to part with your cups and give them a new purpose. Recycling experts have some great ideas to consider.
A Long History
Trophies date back to the ancient times of Greece, but the traditional form of being awarded a chalice for winning a sporting event came about in the 17th century. You only have to look at The Stanley Cup as one iconic and very large trophy made of silver and nickel alloy that just about everyone on the planet has seen on television and if lucky, in person.
At almost 35 pounds, the Stanley Cup is awarded to the National Hockey League championship winner. And all of the past winners are recorded as engraving on the trophy directly.
Today’s trophies come in a variety of materials that can create stunning awards for deserving recipients such as beautiful glass trophies. It delivers a modern and elegant appearance to the trophy and looks sleek wherever it is placed.
Donate To Organizations
Maybe you won several sports trophies in your youth and would like someone else to enjoy these awards. You can donate them to worthy organizations such as local schools, where the trophies will be repurposed and given to pupils during competitive events or special recognition moments.
Some hospitals in your community may also want the trophies to hand out to their young patients. Kids love getting awards, and it would be a kind gesture on your part.
If your old trophies have removable plaques, just take them off and keep the engraved pieces for sentimental value.
Call the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and other fine organizations to see if they may want old trophies to collect and repurpose or bring to recycling centers.
Recycle For Cash
Another option is to recycle your old trophies for extra money, especially if these awards are made of materials that scrap metal companies are looking for.
Trophies from the 1950s were made with gold plating and could be worth a pretty penny today. Also, if you or a family member have silver trophies from before 1970, you may luck out because those older cups and awards were designed with solid sterling silver or silverplate, which are both worth recycling.
Bronze trophies will not fetch a lot of money, even when made of solid bronze. It’s just not a valuable metal these days.
Create Cool Objects
You can also use your artistic side and make some fabulous home decor items with parts of your old trophies, and you could sell some of these crafts on eBay or Etsy.
For instance, a lot of folks enjoy creating bottle tops with original trophy toppers. Maybe you have a baseball or bowling figurine. All you need is to get a tapered cork and a drill with a tiny bit.
According to the directions, you will use a 9/64 drill bit to drill a hole in the center of your cork. Next, you will insert the drill bit about halfway into the cork. Line the screw of the trophy topper up with your hole, and screw the cork onto the trophy.
Now you have an attractive bottle topper to place into your favorite wine or liquor bottle.
Here’s another idea. Some trophies have enough weight to them to make for excellent bookends. Again, a couple of striking trophy figurines would look great and have a new purpose in your library case as home decor.
Just remove the trophy figurine from its pedestal base, and use it alone to act as a bookend.
Trophies can be a wonderful sentiment, but maybe you and yours have collected dozens of them over the years. It’s okay to declutter and donate, recycle or recraft. It’s good for the planet! So, either look for an organization willing to take these trophies. Or find companies that can be creative to redesign and sell them to new customers.
AUTHOR: Written by ALISON LURIE
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