Flickr photo by net efekt
A few weeks ago, my daughter's preschool sent a note home asking us to bring in junk or recyclable items for an art project. So my daughter and I scoured and turned up lots of things: shiny metal bolts, pink pieces of yarn, seashells, blue twisty ties, random other assorted household things that to me were truly nothing but ... junk.
When I picked her up at school a few days later, the teacher had organized all the "junk" into little plastic trays by color. It was the most beautiful collection of items I had ever seen, something out of a Martha Stewart magazine. I really wished I'd taken a picture. Turns out, the kids used those items for an art project on paper, and when they were finished, the recycled items were pulled off the paper and went right back into the bins for next time!
It was a great lesson for my daughter, and an excellent reminder for me to be more mindful of reusing to minimize our impact on the earth. Sometimes, like the art project, the simplest things make the biggest impact, if not on the landfills alone, but on our sensibilities to make a change. And that makes me feel happier -- the best kind of healthy there is!
Here are some ways I'm reusing "junk" around our home:
1. Composting. Tossing apple peels, dryer lint, coffee grinds, and assorted other natural leftovers into the pile has reduced my curbside garbage by about half each week and feeds my vegetables and herbs for lots of benefits later.
2. Water. My kids are famous for not finishing their water at lunch and dinner. I'm constantly finding day-old half-filled water bottles around the house, especially during sports season. So the leftover goes right into the watering can for my plants to drink up.
3. Plastic containers, like for yogurt, sugar, and rice, make great collect-alls for my daughter's art supplies.
4. Scrap wood. As fixer-uppers, we have an endless supply. It's amazing how many fun kid things you can make with the help of a saw, hammer, and few tacking nails: railroad bridges, tracks for cars, blocks for tracing on paper.
There are probably many more that I'm not even thinking of, but now it's your turn to add to the list ...
How do you help to lessen the impact on the Earth, either by recycling, using less energy, or changing your actions?
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Comments 41
I used to be so good at reusing things, then I got really lazy and busy and toss way more than I should. Thanks for the ideas.
I like all these ideas especially the water one!
I reuse and repurpose a lot of things. Any time I need an item, I will see if I can use something that I already have and make it work for my needs.
Just last month we were able to decrease the actual size of our waste container because we have made some major improvements in how effective our recycling efforts are here at home. Yay us. :)
These are so awesome and I really really wish I was able to compost right now.
thanks for the ideas
my building does not recycle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! could that even be possible, i still separate the recyclables but i think they end up in the same garbage bag =-( we are looking for a new place, which i hope does recycle!!
great suggestions - especially the water one! i am the queen of leaving water laying around so at least now it can be put to good use :)
I dump the leftover cups of water into the dog's bowl. She leaves her water sitting out anyway, so it's not like I'm being a meanie!
I also collect the water that was left over for watering my plants. My daughters use empty containers for their kitchen. Around Christmas we I found some mini bottles that had powdered sugar in them, we used a couple on the outside of our gingerbread house and my oldest daughter uses the others with her Barbies.