Recycling is good.  It has it’s place and it should be practised to save energy, raw materials and waste.  In the UK, it’s made so easy for most of us as the council will collect it from our doorsteps.  But there is an alternative to recycling that should be considered wherever possible before we throw our waste into the bin or our recyclables into our recycling bins, and that alternative is, reuse.

Here are some ideas for reusing things that we usually throw away/recycle.

Egg-boxes can be shredded and put in your compost, or use egg boxes to sow seeds into.  Once the seedlings are ready to be planted out the box will be starting to rot away, so you can plant it out egg box segment and all and won’t disturb the roots.

Greetings cards can be cut up and used to make new greetings cards or gift tags.

Paper can be used on both sides, so don’t recycle until you’ve used both sides.

Wrapping paper can be reused time and time again if you’re careful when opening gifts.

Envelopes can be reused as envelopes or as note paper.

Yoghurt pots are the bane of my life because the little devils can’t usually be recycled.  So reuse them as paint pots, seedling pots or to freeze small portions of food.

Spray bottles are perfect for using with home made cleaning products.

Tights that have ladders can be cut up to be used as hair ties, stuffing for soft toys or for tying up plants in the garden without damaging them.

Vegetable bags of the sort that oranges and lemons come in can be cut open and sewn together to make shade cloth for your garden, or use one of them as a bath toy bag for your children’s bath toys.  Hang over the tap for bath toys to drip dry.

String should always be saved and reused.

Glass jars can be used for storage in the kitchen (sugar, rice, flour, pasta, pulses) and the bathroom (cotton wool, soaps), or for preserving your garden produce.