A car seat is arguably one of the most important pieces of baby equipment you’ll purchase and use daily, but what do you do with your car seat after it has expired or you no longer need it? How do you know if your car seat is expired or not? What do you do with an expired car seat? While you’ll want to check with the recommendations for your specific car seat, the average life span of a car seat is 6 years.  A website run by the Academy of American Pediatrics, healthychildren.org, is an excellent resource for all things related to pediatric health and safety. In this article they recommend never using a car seat if it is:

• Too old
• Visibly Damaged
• Missing Labels, Instructions, or Parts
• Has been in an accident
• Has been recalled
• Has an unknown history

Okay, so now that you know your beloved expired car seat’s days are done the most important thing is to stop using it and dispose of your car seat in a way that ensures no one attempts to reuse it. Of course, we at First Time Mom are about all about the three R’s: reduce, reuse, and recycle, but when it comes to car seat safety trumps it all. Thankfully for our Minnesota readers, there is a great option for recycling your car seat. Between September 1 and 11, Minnesota residents can recycle used car seats! 56 Target stores across Minnesota are hosting a car seat collection program to help residents reduce household clutter without sending waste to landfills. All car seats collected through this program will be recycled through TerraCycle so that each component will see a second life.

Residents should bring their car seats to any Target store and look for Target’s car seat collection box in the front of the store or in the baby/kids floor pad section.