Ideas? Recycling?

Question

What neat ideas do you have to cut down on the amount of household wastage? Have you come up with any little tricky ways of recycling things in your home?
Here are a few i thought of....
Gardening Pillows......Use those plastic bags you inevitably end up bringing home when you forget to take your cloth ones shopping by stuffing an old pillow case full of them ( overstuffing works best) and stich it shut...this creates ideal pillows to cushion your knees when working in the garden.
Old records....place the record atop a heat proof bowl and heat at full in the oven, the record will melt and create a cool bowl for any use..( under pot plants, fruit bowl, etc..)
Paper....pulp and set in brick molds use in the fireplace....
Wogga Rugs...use old woolen clothes to make big thick blankets( 2-3) layers all darned together and put in doona cover...
Rag mats...
I have heaps more..if you are interested email me...
Can you share anything you do?
Thanking you!

Answer 1

I do all the usuals. I also pick up garbage when I walk my dog, and I make sure my husband and son don't throw away anything in the garbage if it cand be recycles. I teach my adult ESL students the word "recycle" right away, we recycle in the classroom, I am proactive in stores, teaching anyone who will listen to look for the little triangle on the bottom of bottles of soaps and prescription bottles, etc, because that means it is recyclable (it is amazing how many people don't know that), I guess my main thing, other than the usual active recycling, is being a teacher. I can't help it, I talk a lot when it is something important!

Great Question sis! BB, LM )0(

Answer 2

All those are creative good ideas. I am kinda lazy, we just take the plastic bags to the recycling bin at our local Walmart and other recyclable things to the recycling place. There is an iron and metal place that pays cash for some items while others are just dropped off to be recycled. There is also a paper recycling place here and a bottle recycling place.
BB

Answer 3

Actually, instead of bringing home those plastic shopping bags, or even the paper ones, I bring reusable cloth bags with me when I go shopping.
Another thing I try to do is any old fruit or vegetables or bread, if it hasn't gone moldy but is just not fit for human consumption, I feed it to the birds and other animals out by the pond by my home. Even the pits and peels make fine food for the animals. You have to make sure they find it in their habitat so they don't start to think they can find easy food right at your back door. You don't want to domesticate wild animals.

Answer 4

I use ceramic dishes and glass cups instead of paper plates and plastic silverware. Used cardboard boxes and paper towels make good fireplace kindling to get the fireplace going. Some food and drink containers I reuse to start plants in.

Answer 5

COOOL idea about the records. That is such a cool thing for a party, too.

The only thing I can think of is that a lot of people throw away receipts from gas stations, etc. when that is easily recyclable paper. i with gas stations could have a box specifically for receipts and not trash.

Good suggestions!! I will share them.

Answer 6

In my college we have special bins purely for plastic bottles/paper etc. Seeing how many plastic bottles are just chucked into normal rubbish bins out on the streets, I think it would be a good idea to place more recycle bins on the streets in towns and cities. Sorted!

Answer 7

ART- An old record makes one cool clock when you get a cheap time kit at a craft store and glue it on.

Old Bed sheets make fab art when cut into swatches and put under glass.

Greeting cards: I have loads from all occasions that people graciously gave me, I cut them and paste them onto card board to create cool art, o r you can cut off the signature and re-use them again!

Answer 8

I like to garden and have special blends of fertilizer for different plants. I reuse cleaned out plastic laundry bottles and fabric softener bottles for fertilizer for my fruits, flowers., herbs, shrubs and trees. Some I use to cut into plant name markers with the needed fertilizer on the back.
Also use veggie cans with the labels taken off as organizers for our desks or clutter areas.

Answer 9

Use freecycle.org to recycle in your area. Don't buy books get them out of the library and donate any books you don't want to the library. I have the clothe bags for grocery shopping. Any supplements I don't use I give to my Naturopath to give to those that can use some help so they can save some money, she also has given me supplements from others as well.

Diane

Answer 10

My wife came across this crochet pattern to convert plastic bags into pot scrubbers