Recycling is something we all should be doing. It reduces the amount of refuse that ends up in the landfills, is beneficial for the environment, and feeds the growing recycling industry. Taking or sending cans and glass for recycling is great, but it's even better if you can find a way to re-use things in your home. Extending the life of certain items saves the energy that would be spent on reprocessing. It also saves time and money for you, and frees up a bit of space in your garbage cans and recycle bin.
Used books, clothing, and furniture can be 'recycled' through secondhand or consignment shops. You can also hold a garage sale or donate the items to a community yard sale. It's also a good idea to look for products with less packaging. Many products offer refills or larger sizes to cut down on packaging. Take your own shopping bags to the market and you'll have fewer of those plastic bags to contend with.
Old clothes and fabric that aren't worthy of resale can be cut into rags for cleaning. Old sheets and voile panels are just the things to drape over flowers, shrubs, rose bushes, and vegetable plants to spare them from the frost. A collection of old sheets and old clothes is great for kids to play dress-up or build a fort.
Newsprint (the paper that is used to print the newspaper) has a multitude of uses. Because of its odor and moisture absorbing qualities, it's an excellent liner for kitty-litter trays, bird cages and rabbit hutches. Newspaper makes excellent plant mulch instead of bark, to prevent weeds. Spread sheets of newspaper around plants and then cover with topsoil.
You can make seed pots out of newspaper. Use existing plug pots, and shape the newspaper into the pot. Fill with soil, and the seed. When the seedling is ready to transplant outdoors, simply lift the 'newspaper pot' out of the plug pot, and plant it, paper and all, in the ground. As the plant matures, the newspaper disintegrates.
Cans, jars, and tins have countless uses for recycling around the house. Small, colored glass bottles, like the ones mineral water is sold in, make lovely single-stem vases. Screw-cap bottles are excellent for making and storing your own salad dressings. Metal boxes are perfect for storing cookies, tea, coffee and spices. They also make great containers for holding nails, screws, paperclips, and other small items that might otherwise be easily lost. You can also recycle your individual spring water bottles by refilling them from a larger container of spring water.
Small jars can be turned into summer lanterns and hung in the trees. Tie a string securely around the rim, and add a tea light. Be sure the glass cools before you handle it to replace the tea light, or remove the lantern.
Collect old toothbrushes for scrubbing small, fragile items, or cleaning in hard-to-reach areas, especially in the kitchen or baths.
Paper that's printed on one side is perfectly fine for using in most printers. Make sure the paper is in good shape, not crinkled or folded to allow smooth passage through the printer. Print out rough drafts, a recipe from the Internet, lists, and notes, and anything that doesn't need to be presented on new paper.
By thinking twice about the items tossed out or recycled, you might come up with some clever ways to extend the life of an item, and save a little money in the meantime. Recycling inside your home also contributes to the efforts to be kinder to the environment.
