Some items are surplus to our home, others are garbage-picked or just found. Whatever the source, they inevitably get used. The larger the number of people that contribute to these stashes, the greater the variety and more money and material preserved. Consider catagories such as hardware, plumbing, garden, car etc. Paper being saved for recycling can be highly consolidated in a paper grocery bag by laying the bag on the floor, open side against a wall, and then carefully stepping on the bag to compress the material inside.
Video stores get hundreds of free preview tapes of short duration.
AOL sends us all the diskettes we ever need. Recycle the wrapping material and format the disk which allows reuse. Use them to transfer files etc. Consider donating them to a local school. Get your photo finishing lab to sell them for a token price of say 10 cents instead of dumping them.