Old keys are easy to forget, but give each one a final check before clearing it out. Work out what it opened and remove identifying tags.
Then ask your local scrap program whether it accepts loose keys.
Check the Key First
Try the key in any lock it may still fit. Return keys from a landlord, employer, storage company, hotel, or car-share service to the issuer.
Remove labels showing an address, unit number, vehicle, or alarm code. Take off membership tags and scannable account cards too.
Electronic car keys, fobs, and battery-powered keys are not plain scrap. Follow the issuer’s return instructions, or ask an electronics program where they belong.
- Confirm the key is yours to discard.
- Test it before deciding it is obsolete.
- Remove anything linking it to a person or place.
- Separate fobs and electronics from plain metal keys.
Recycle Plain Metal Keys Locally
Many keys are brass or steel, but curbside programs do not all accept small loose metal. Ask whether yours belong at a scrap-metal drop-off or in household-metal collection.
Nantucket’s municipal guide, for example, lists keys as scrap metal. That is one local rule, so check yours before making the trip.
Remove plastic covers and nonmetal keychains when they come off easily. Do not put a sharp bundle in curbside recycling unless your collector approves it.
Reuse or Discard Them
A locksmith, school art room, theater group, or local artist may want clean decorative keys. Ask before donating them.
Skip ideas that use keys as bottle openers, cutting tools, or shoe scrapers. They can slip, snap, or leave sharp edges.
If no program accepts the keys, follow your trash collector’s rule for small metal. Keep them together if containment is required, and never label them with the old lock.