Recycling in the Home

nicki_2 · 15 August 2005 at 8:40AM

Yesterday I cut the top off two 5-litre cordial bottles, covered the cut edge with masking tape, made a label and now they sit in my undersink cupboard - one holds clean clothes, another holds dirty ones which can't be bleached like microfibre ones. Dish/cleaning clothes that will be bleached get chucked in a storage box with a soda crystal solution outside the back door.

I've also rescued a pallet from the alleyway at the back of the house. I'm going to break this down and use the wood to divide up the large sloping "flower" (read: begetable) bed where the soil is being eroded away at the top of the bed everytime I water/it rains. I can then level the different areas off, created individual beds for different crops AND create a much needed path

nicki_2 · 15 August 2005 at 8:48AM

Forgot to add that I am also recycling my large egg boxes (trays of 30 - saving them up first - only use one every 2-3 weeks) by filling them with compost and using them as seed trays only instead of transplanting the little bit of soil/seedling, I'll just bury the whole thing in the bed as the cardboard base will just rot away anyway. This means :

I'm recycling something that would otherwise just go in the bin
I get "free" seed trays, especially as I also recycle the egg shells as slug repellant and rose feed so the £2.30ish outlay goes along way if you include the meals/cakes made with the eggs
The crops will be in fairly straight rows so it will be easier to weed / harvest and it will look neater.
I can use the plastic top as a mini closh until the seedlings are too big to fit under it.

Sarahsaver · 15 August 2005 at 9:12AM

This is better than putting things in the recycling bin. Does anyone really believe that all the plastic/paper/card/tins... ALL gets recycled? Seen any recycling depots lately :rolleyes:
i have an egg box which i refil from my hens, plastic tubs from the chinese restaurant are perfect for storing stuff in the freezer, jars for pickles and storing screws and nails and HM stain remover, cardboard drinks trays can be used for planting in...
most of my son's clothes are recycled;)

AussieLass · 15 August 2005 at 10:33AM

You can cut down juice containers. You know the waxed cardboard type. Put them near your kettle and use it to pop in used tea bags.

Cut the top of an egg carton off it can be used in your drawer to hold pens etc in.

squeaky · 15 August 2005 at 11:02AM

I'd started saving cut down plastic milk containers for soups and stocks and things when I realised that I could also use them as sorting trays in my "oddments" kitchen drawer.

Matches lighter and flints (an ex smoker me) handy for the gas cooker if the ignition goes awkward in one... plasters and headache tablets in another (easier than raiding the full first aid box)... fuses, small light bulbs, torch spares in another...

..gotta drink more milk!!!!

1sttimer_2 · 15 August 2005 at 1:11PM

All these ideas are great :T

I don't find that labels stay on tubs when frozen and writing over with perm ink pens looks messy. What does everyone else do? I've re-used marg tubs to freeze left overs/single portions but the label has come off and now I have a freezer full of odds and ends that I'm not sure what's in them

.

Aril · 15 August 2005 at 1:17PM

Got a couple more here following on from going to a wildlife day locally a couple of weeks ago
Take an plastic bottle and cut the bottom third off. Screw the lid on and make a hole in it so you can put string through to hang it - fill with loosely rolled up bubblewrap and hang in the garden so the insects can hibernate in it. You should put it in a garage or somewhere dry between October and March and then hang back out in the garden.
Bee Hotel:
Take an old food can and wash out. Use strips of newspaper and wrap round a pencil until you have a 8mm wide tube. Fix end of the tube with flour and water glue and repeat until you have 30. Cut all these tubes so they are about 1cm shorter than the length of the tin. Put some flour and water glue in the tin bottom and pack the tin with the tubes until full. Leave to dry for 2 days. Attach string so you can hang the tin up sideways under an eave so it'll stay dry and you should find solitary bees like mason bees take up residence in it.
Regards
Aril

squeaky · 15 August 2005 at 1:37PM

1sttimer wrote:

All these ideas are great :T

I don't find that labels stay on tubs when frozen and writing over with perm ink pens looks messy. What does everyone else do? I've re-used marg tubs to freeze left overs/single portions but the label has come off and now I have a freezer full of odds and ends that I'm not sure what's in them .

I got a roll of 500 labels from the kitchen department of www.daxon.co.uk for a fiver and they mostly stay on

I also cut them into 2 or even 4 depending on how much I have to write.

SuiDreams · 15 August 2005 at 2:03PM

Just to say, that Brita Filters can be sent back 6 at a time to a freepost address to be recycled. (Was on the Instruction Leaflet of my new filter). Let me know if anyone needs the address.

gritts · 15 August 2005 at 9:32PM

SuiDreams wrote:

Just to say, that Brita Filters can be sent back 6 at a time to a freepost address to be recycled. (Was on the Instruction Leaflet of my new filter). Let me know if anyone needs the address.

Is that just Brita or all water filters ie Boots own brand etc?

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Recycling in the Home

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