What to Do With a Used Child Car Seat

Trade in, donate, or recycle your child's old seat.

Sami Haj-Assaad | 

Jun 28, 2024 | 3 min read

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It's often said in tones of wistfulness that kids grow up so quickly, and they're adults before we know it. When they outgrow their car seats, though, you may be happy to gain more travel flexibility. But it's not always clear what the best thing is to do with the old car seat. Selling it could seem like a good bet, but many parents are encouraged to avoid a secondhand car seat due to safety concerns.

Just because you aren't going to sell the seat, however, doesn't mean you're out of options for getting rid of old child seats. There are programs out there to help you find a new purpose for your old seat.

You Can Trade In a Used Child Car Seat

One of the most productive things to do with a used car seat is to trade it in. Retailer Target has a seasonal promotion for car seats, allowing customers to trade in their car seats for a 20% discount on new baby merchandise at the store.

First introduced in 2016, the program involves Target partnering with recycling organizations to create new products from the car seat material. These new items include pallets, plastic buckets, and construction materials. Since the program's introduction, the retailer said, 2.6 million car seats have been recycled, resulting in 39 million pounds of car-seat material.

Target has few restrictions about which seats qualify for the program. Infant or baby car seats, convertible car seats, car seat bases, and harness or booster car seats are accepted. Even seats that have expired or been in an accident qualify for the discount.

Many Target stores have a drop-off box for used car seats, though customers need a Target Circle Account to get the discount for future merchandise.

Target isn't the only company that accepts used car seats. If you have a Clek car seat, you can take advantage of the manufacturer's recycling program to get a 10% discount on a future Clek purchase. That said, Clek does ask customers to box up and ship the box back to them and pay for a $49.99 recycling kit, which makes this program less convenient than the Target trade-in.

You Can Donate a Used Child Car Seat

Some prenatal classes may accept older car seats to use as demonstrators for soon-to-be parents. Also, some children's hospitals and hospitals with a maternity ward might accept car seats as donations — provided that your car seat is in good working order — as may certain women's shelters, local charities, churches, and child-passenger-safety technicians.

If you plan to donate, ensure your car seat hasn't expired, hasn't been in an accident, is in good condition, and is clean. Parents-to-be are typically advised not to acquire used child car seats, in part because it can be tough to determine if those seats have been involved in a car crash or are expired.

Recycling a Used Child Car Seat

You can also recycle a child seat. Contact your local recycling center, as they can likely instruct you on how they'd prefer to receive the seat.

Generally, you have to strip the seat and remove things such as fabric, padding, and straps, as these items aren't typically recycled. You can toss these nonrecyclable items in the trash.

If for any reason recycling the car seat isn't an option, you can throw it in the trash. There are a few important steps to doing so. You should remove the extra padding and foam parts, cut off the straps, remove metal pieces from the seat, and mark the frame as "unsafe" or "expired" so no one is tempted to use it.