April 24, 2009

Top Five List for Recycling

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

We hear those words evermore these days, not just for the sake of the environment, but also for the sake of our wallets.

I absolutely try to reuse anything and everything that is meant to be disposable.

And so here is my top five list for recycling items that you normally might just throw away: (In no particular order)

1. Empty cereal boxes, the kind that have an inner liner where the food is held. This is one of my favorites! What I like to do is carefully dis-assemble the box and re-assemble it inside out so that I have a box that I can either use for gift giving, shipping items in, or even just storage for small items. If you choose to use it as a shipment box, make sure you put a label over any writing that might be inside the box, otherwise that box is ready to be labeled and shipped.

2. If you don't already save them, the plastic container that your wonton soup arrived in would make an excellent storage container, and not just for food. They're great because they are see through and easily stacked.

3. Page-a-day desk calendars, the kind you rip off the comic or other with the day and probably crumple and toss. Not so fast! Collect those and use the non-printed side for scratch paper for your grocery list or other musing.

4. Lonesome sock, you know the kind, the one the dryer left lonely without a mate. Good news, our single sock now has a new life, as a dustrag, a puppet or sock monkey.

5. That pesky junk mail. Especially the kind with the envelopes for you to mail back applications and such. I use those envelopes to store receipts in, for different categories and write exactly what's in them.

What are some things that YOU give a second life to? Please share!

by Lorina Pellach-Ladrillono of http://www.beadscarf.com/ and http://beadscarf.etsy.com/

2 comments:

RedPanties said...

I save the blue foam plastic containers my mushrooms come in...our city won't recycled them, so I'm starting my garden seedlings in them! Green beans, yum!

Ashley Peak said...

Great post!! I like to fill old socks with rice, heat up in the micro and use for heat pads. Works great for end of the day aches. I also use newspaper for filling when shipping. We turn discarded suitcases into pet beds and old dishes into sculptural lamps at vintagerenaissance.etsy.com too. Ahh. I love repurposing. :) Thanks for the new ideas!