Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Recycle/Reuse

On a recycle/reuse scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being a person who dries and re-uses toilet tissue), I think I fall at about a 7. My husband, on the other hand, is about a 3. I don't understand why he insists on throwing beer cans in the trash when the recycle tub is RIGHT THERE! So I pick through the trash a couple days a week and redistribute the recycling.

I also have this thing about saving containers for "craft projects" that I never do. I can not throw out a coffee can to save my life. I had about 15 of them stacked up when I got notice from the school that the art teacher wanted them. I sent a box full of coffee cans, peanut butter jars, and oatmeal canisters, with a note that said, "I thought you'd never ask!" I'd been collecting these things in my garage for 2, maybe 3 years! Of course I didn't get rid of all of them. We still need jars to collect lady bugs, grand-daddy-long-legs, and worms in!

So, I have "reuse" for all you green thumbs out there. You know how we put rocks in the bottom of house plant pots to help with drainage? Well, use packing peanuts instead. They work just as well and you won't add weight to your pots.

What is your best/most creative "reuse" tip?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

To continue the gardening theme - I use little balls of left-over wool and cotton to tie up my veggies (peas, beans, etc). Then it can go straight into the compost box at the end of the season.

Like you, I figure I'm about a 7.

Oh, and take all your meat trays and toilet paper rolls to the school, too. Meat trays make awesome paint trays and picture backgrounds, and toilet paper rolls make, well, everything!!

5elementknitr said...

I use plastic shopping bags as small trash can liners, packing material in packages and to put over my head when I can't take it anymore.

I'm about a 7, also.

Olga said...

I just had a vision of you in the future in a house thats stacked with newspapers and magazines and empty butter tubs and we can't find you because you got buried in there 5 years before.......

Anonymous said...

I'm still working on turning off the water while I brush my teeth. Thanks for the recipe.