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.

For the greener gadget lovers amongst us, here are some excellent green gadgets that will lighten the load on the planet and on your pocket.

USBcell rechargeable batteries

These revolutionary NiMH AA rechargeable batteries are only £5 from Robert Dyas and can be recharged from your computer’s USB port. You can recharge them up to 500 times and each battery saves 7kg CO2 and 3kg of toxic waste. Cool.

Water Powered Digital Clock

This little digital clock doesn’t need any batteries.  No electricity either.  Just add water.   It incorporates dependable water powered technology with conventional digital technology to allow you the freedom of not having to buy batteries again! £8.99 from allthingsgreen.

Water Powered Calculator

A basic calculator that runs on the same technology as the Water Powered Clock.  £9.99 from allthingsgreen.

Eco-Button

Eco-Button is a computer power saving device that can save you £££’s off your electricity bills and shave tonnes off your carbon footprint every year.  The Eco-Button acts as a strong visual reminder for you to save electricity each time your computer is left idle. £13.90 from GadgetPages.

Dryer Balls

Not exactly the most glamorous eco-gadget, but an important one if you’re a tumble-dryer user.   This will reduce the time that your clothes spend in the dryer by 25%, and cut out the need for a fabric softener. £8.99 from Amazon.

It’s all good and well that new homes are being built to greener standards, but what about the millions of old houses that are as leaky as sieves when it comes to keeping the heat in (or out in the middle of summer).  So there’s a new campaign, headed up by Grand Design’s Kevin McCloud that’s going to be having a go at persuading the government to help home-owners green up their currently un-energy saving houses and flats, countrywide.

It’s called the Great British Refurb campaign and you can support the campaign by signing a petition asking the government “to offer households new ways to pay for green refurbishment, which would significantly reduce upfront costs and instead spread them over a longer period of time.  It also asks for better financial incentives for householders to refurbish their homes to make them greener and more energy efficient, through substantial government grants, subsidies or tax rebates. Its final demand is to ensure installers are qualified and approved to undertake the work.” [edie]

In the meantime, there are plenty of smaller things that we can do to improve our energy efficiency.  Find out how to run a greener fridge, choose an energy efficient washing machine, or put together your own DIY energy efficiency kit for your home.

Around 20 to 25% of our household energy bills are spent on lighting.  So it stands to reason that by cutting our energy use for lighting we’ll be saving a whole lot of money.  Here are some ideas for cutting back on energy used for lighting in your home.

1. Replace all incandescent lightbulbs with CFLs.

2. Switch off lights when you leave the room.

3. Open curtains and use daylight during the day.

4. Use solar lights where possible.

5. Make your own lamp out of an empty bottle like this:

Earth Day is just a few days away, and I’ve been thinking about what I can do to mark the day.

Here are some of the ideas I’ve come up with:

1. Take a hike with my children.

2. Buy a composter and water-butt for my new house.

3. Change all the lightbulbs in our new house to CFLs.

4. Plant a tree.

5.  Make a recycled cardboard laptop case.

Tell us what you’re doing for Earth Day.  And if you’re a Twitter-bug, be sure to add the #earthtweet hash tag to your Earth Day Tweets.

Photo credit: woodleywonderworks

If you’ve been putting off going green because it’s too expensive, now’s your chance to save BIG and get onto that greener path.  Pricegrabber is offering FREE DELIVERY on everything.

Cut your carbon footprint with a bicycle.

Charge your electronic devices with a solar charger.

Switch to energy saving bulbs.

Buy organic whenever possible.

Buy recycled to close the recycling loop.

Nothing says springtime like flowers, and these hi-tech solar flowers will brighten up your garden, even after the sun has set.  In fact, they’re at their best after the sun has set.  The flowers magically transform into a spectacular lighting display, with the fibre optic strands fading from one colour to another.   Lovely for garden parties and powered by the sun, so there is no extra strain on your electric bill.

The flower does not have to be in direct sunlight to function because it has a moveable solar panel.  And it’s durable, made from materials that can withstand all weather conditions.   So once summer is over again, you can enjoy the display all through the winter too.

Available in Pink and Red, at £7.99 from Amazon.

So you’ve bought a green fridge.  Now what?  It will only be the energy saving wonder that you want it to be if you keep it well stocked.  I’m not talking stuffed to the seams.  Just reasonably full, but so that air can still circulate between your food and drink.

Here’s an idea: how about doing a big monthly or weekly shop to save petrol and time, it will also mean that your fridge is fuller.

If you don’t have enough food in your fridge, fill carrier bags with scrunched up newpaper and put it in the fridge.  Put plastic bottles filled with water in your freezer for the same energy saving effect.

These are very sexy little gadgets and will make a great gift for both women and men who like their gadgets and wish to save energy, money and the planet.    The Wattson shows how much electricity you are using and helps you work out how to reduce it and it’s super easy to use - no electrician required.

To get the Wattson up and running, all that is needed is to clip a sensor to the outside of your mains electricity cable.  The sensor then tells the Wattson how much electricity you are using.  The Wattson shows this to you using colours and numbers. Switch something off and watch them change!  You can also connect Wattson to your computer to download energy usage and compare with fellow Wattson users.  Around £100.

As part of a series of posts on reducing waste in 2009, here’s a look at how to cut down on bathroom waste.

1.  Instead of tubs, bottles and tubes of scrubs, try using a loofah or natural fibre wash mitt.  It will last longer than scrub in a container and so reduce waste.  Another advantage of natural fibre mitts is that they’ll biodegrade, making them a good green choice.

2.  As soon as you’ve showered, hang your towel out over the bannister or on a radiator to dry.  Towels dried like this don’t get smelly, so you don’t have to wash them as often, saving electricity and detergent.

3.  Look at and smell your clothes before throwing them into the washing basket.  Wearing something for an afternoon doesn’t mean it needs washing.  Use your common sense and save energy, water and detergent.

4. Have an organic waste bin in the bathroom.  Hair, loo roll tubes, tissues and light paper packaging can all go into your compost.

5.  For the ladies: forget disposable tampons and pads and give the Mooncup a go.  I’m happy to recommend them to all of my friends (or buy them as gifts for my friends) and haven’t met someone who doesn’t love this hygienic and waste-free alternative.

Photo credit: cote