Easy Ways To Recycle More & Spend Less
Us humans are a wasteful bunch! We live in a disposable society. Wherever you go, you see the outfall of consumerism – rubbish in the seas, plastic in the countryside, all of it impacting on our environment and wildlife.
The average UK resident produces more than 400kg of household waste every year. Much of this is now recycled; we’re familiar with recycling schemes for glass, cardboard, garden waste etc. Many of us are also advocates of reusable bottles, grocery bags and unpackaged fruit and vegetables. We have moved online for our daily news and some of us are now opting out of junk mail to help eliminate paper waste. Yet, there is always more we can do to repurpose, recycle and salvage our waste, with the added benefit of saving money too!
Cap Your Consumption
By far the biggest change we can implement is to consciously try to reduce our consumption, subsequently minimising waste. We need to purposefully think about reusing, upcycling and reprocessing as much as we possibly can. There is a second use for almost everything we consume. Even items we may not have previously considered…
Compost Your Coffee
We are a nation of coffee lovers. We drink gallons of the stuff and many of us enjoy making our own ‘proper coffee’. The resulting ‘grounds’ can often go straight in the bin. Instead, why not recycle them? Add them to your compost bin or they can even be sprinkled directly onto your flower beds as a fertiliser. Coffee grounds are also good at neutralising odours; place some in a bowl in the fridge or in a sock which can be strategically situated wherever unpleasant odours may linger. Maybe near a dog bed or overnight in hubby’s malodorous sports bag….
Teabag Treatments
Tea is another British favourite. We normally drink around 2 cups a day, but this has doubled during lockdown. However, the humble teabag is not a single use product! Again they can be composted or loose tea leaves can be dug in around your borders. Cool used teabags in the fridge and place them on the eyes as an effective treatment for under eye circles and bags. You can apply weak tea (steep the used bag in some warm water for a while) as a polish for wooden surfaces. The tea helps bring out the natural shine of the wood. A cooled damp teabag is also an effective anti-inflammatory and can be applied to bites and stings to reduce swelling.
Take Liberties With Your Loo Rolls
Who knew that the inside of a common or garden toilet roll could be so useful?! Loo rolls be artfully adapted to make little planters for seedlings. These can then be transferred straight into the ground as they’re fully biodegradable. Use your artistic skills to decorate and colour them. They can then be used as pen holders or to hold rolls of wrapping paper together; a great rainy day activity for the children. You can also smear them in peanut butter and bird seed (fun but messy) and hang them in the garden as a great alternative bird feeder.
Toothbrush Tips
Old toothbrushes are handy little blighters for scrubbing grout in the bathroom with the help of a little bleach or baking soda. They are great for cleaning electronic items which have some hard to reach places. Use them to clean your fish tank or they can even be used to help dye the roots of your hair!
These are but a few ideas to recycle day to day items in your home that would normally just be binned. In being more mindful of our waste and ensuring we repurpose as much as we can, we can do our bit to help eliminate waste and save ourselves a bit of cash in the process.
