Tips on Reusing Items

We all hear about recycling and its importance in our world. However not everything can be recycled and even those items that can, it may be more eco-efficient to reuse them in some new form.

Clear Plastic Bottles
These make great clotches for smaller plants in the garden, especially the larger plastic bottles. Cut off the label, take off the bottom and press into the soil around the plant. Be aware that on a hot day, the lid should be left off so the plant doesn’t over heat.

I have a wonderful and extremely active Can-o-Worms Wormery in my garden that generates a large amount of “worm juice”, a liquid cast off that is great as plant food. I use any plastic bottles that come my way to drain the wormery and then offer up the juice to my gardening friends and neighbours.

Create a "funnel" by cutting off the top of a plastic bottle and turning it upside down. 

Bubble-wrap
As well as using this as normal for sending parcels or keeping ornaments safe when packing, it is a great insulator for the winter. If you have a large amount wrap it around your compost bin / wormery, they will keep working throughout winter. The worms especially will appreciate the protection against frost. It is also good for wrapping around plant pots that hold bulbs such as tulips during the winter.

If you're moving house, wrap bubblewrap around your bannister so that it doesn't get banged or bumped during the furniture move.

Egg-boxes
Perfect for starting seedlings in. If the eggbox is cardboard you can even plant out the cardboard cups directly when the seeds are grown enough.

If it’s polystyrene they can be used for mixing paints for any of you artists! If you like to grow your own food, they are excellent for storing seed potatoes before planting.

They can even be used for organising / storing smaller baubles when you pack away your Xmas decorations.

Yoghurt pots
They can be used to organize a messy drawer, mixing paint (especially the ones with two compartments – great for paint in one and water in the other) and my favourite, using them as candle moulds.

Please note: before using any plastic container as a candle mould, test that it can withstand the heat by sitting it in the sink and pouring boiling water from the kettle into it. If it warps, don’t use it.

Lightbulbs
This works better with the old nasty types of bulbs, so if you have any that have died they can make great tree decorations. Twist some craft wire around the metal end and dip the glass part into paint (metallic paint works well) and add beads / sequins to brighten it up. Once it’s dry hang it up!

Always make sure glass ornaments are fixed firmly to the tree so they don’t fall and break where children or pets might be.

Tin foil trays
Another one for starting plants or for growing plants that don’t need as much root space. These trays are the ones you get with takeaways and are great for growing mushrooms, cress, cat-grass etc.

Old Washing Up / Toothbrushes
Washing up brushes - When they get a little old and tatty, keep them, add a piece of coloured electrical tape around the handle to designate it to a new job. Whether it’s scrubbing the bath or toilet, cleaning plant pots and garden tools or for using to scrub out the cat litter tray there are many uses!

Toothbrushes – Great for cleaning around tapes and in small areas as well as for crafty purposes such as splatter paint pictures. Dip the brush in paint and then drag a lolli-stick down the bristles to create a splattering on plain paper to make your own unique wrapping paper!

Plastic Bottle Lids
A great piece of advise for these that I heard was to make two holes in the top of each cap and using some cord (old shoelaces if you want to add another item to reuse) thread them all together.

Make sure bottles can still be screwed onto them and take this “chain” of caps with you when you’re out walking/hiking. Then when you find a bottle littering the woods, paths etc pick it up, attach it to the chain and for easy carrying to be recycling when you get home. This works great if you have different sized bottle caps.

CDs
Perfect for those "free" CDs you get through the post that you didn't request and will never use.  They make funky coasters or if you have a veg patch string them up above your crops to keep the birds from having a nibble

Old Tights
Cut off the legs and stuff with newspaper balls tightly and tie at the end makes a draft excluder. Storing garden bulbs in the legs and hang them somewhere warm and dry for the next planting season.

Tie them in tight thick knots for a stretchy dog toy or if you want to keep the flies and leaves from getting into your waterbutt, stretch part of the tights over the mouth so that water can enter but nothing else


Guitar Strings
Snapped guitar strings are pretty strong and can be great for "stringing" pictures.  Be careful with the metal strings as they can have sharp ends.


Rice & Balloons
Not normally put together however we had some rice that was out of date and some balloons I salvaged from an office party.

Take an old balloon and fill with dry rice until its the size of your palm. Stretch the second and third balloon over the first to make it a secure "ball". 

Make three and you have a homemade set of juggling balls :)

Before you put something in for recycling, consider if it could have another life first :)