Do you save and reuse "disposable" things?

Pretty much the same as you. I'm currently collecting aluminum cans to use in a solar heat project.

I also save coffee cans and cardboard paper towel rolls for crafts. Every year I make Christmas napkin rings out of the paper towel rolls.

Yeah - I do that a lot - plastics can always be reused, if they are not too gross or greasy or whatever. I save some of the plastic bowls from microwave meals to use as dishes - they are white plastic. Sometimes I'll re-use the ziploc bags, they are still clean. I save all the grocery and produce bags I get and use them for trash or whatever I need. I save plastic tubs sometimes from food items - the ones with tight lids - that way if I want to share some food I made with a friend or relative, I can just put it in there and they don't have to return the container. I save the envelopes from junk mail and use the back of them for when I need to make lists or write something down. I always save old clothing that is not good enuf to be passed along to someone else to use as scraps for patching or other purposes when I need fabric - I find it comes in handy often. Egg shells can be dried and crushed up for my garden to give calcium to the soil. There's so many useful things in our homes.

We have a recycling dumpster now at our complex, and I put every paper, cardboard, and plastic item I can in there, plus I recycle all my own cans and glass and plastic at the recycling center. I can't stand to see people throw recycling in the trash. I wish more places put out recycling bins - if they don't want to take it in - give it to homeless people - that is how some of them survive day to day.

Oh yea, I never throw out coffee cans either, they make awesome storage!

Tell me more about your solar heat project, sounds interesting!

Oh yea, I save plastic tubs too, and all the plastic grocery bags and use them for trash, same as you!

Good idea on the envelopes, I might try that one!

I don't throw out clothes unless they have holes. Anything decent that I don't wear anymore gets donated.

Recycling is awesome, and fun!

Some of us just can't seem to waste all our money throwing everything away.

Yep, and it's fun seeing how far you can make just one disposable item go!

"Simply Orange" orange juice bottles are the best. Make your own iced tea, lemonade or cool aid and pour it into one of those to store in the fridge!

Tuna cans or cat food cans can be used for heat in a pinch. Wash them out and line with corrugated type cardboard. Save your leftover candles, melt, pour into can. Here's one youtube video, I think there's a few on the subject



Good thread LisaLisa! 5 Stars!

What I don't re-use, I recycle. I save coffee cans for storing dry goods like rice and beans, and use some for grease and oil from cooking.I save glass jars for my husbands workshop, for nails, screws, fasteners, etc. I save all grocery bags. The plastic ones I use to line the smaller garbage cans, and use some of them for "doggie" bags when I walk Sheba. The paper ones we save and donate to the local food pantry. They always need bags to pack the food for the poor.I use all newspapers to line the duck cages. All old bath towels are used for beds for the ducks. When they get too worn for the ducks, they are cut up into throw-away rags for icky jobs.

Umm yeah! I wash my Red Solo Cups-those things are expensive.

PET bottles have many uses after empty. Really a lot of things to be done to recycle them.

Freaking awesome! I NEVER would have thought of that!!!!

Awesome! I cut up old towels into squares and use them for cleaning rags!

I save all those too and fill them with water.

I'm still throwing away egg cartons, wish I could find a use for them too, but since I dont grow anything, don't know what i need them for.

Just rubbers, all you have to do is turn them inside out and shake the fuck out of them...

Well, there's a lot more you can do:

Light:
[link to cleantechnica.com]

Self-explanatory images:
[link to makezineblog.files.wordpress.com]

[link to assets.inhabitat.com]

My house recycles at least 75 percent of our trash. We compost vegetable scraps and egg shells.

We also reuse kindness. Seems to be a renewable resource as well.

I saw a clip about on tv a while back, amazing how something so simple can help so many people.

Guilty.

Sandwich bags- I actually use a baby bottle rack to dry them on.

Foil. Hand-iron it flat and fold it for next time.

Same with tissue wrap and ALL gift wrap items.

Plastic containers from take-out. Use them for packing lunches.

I shred old papers for compost.

ALL outgrown clothes go into the fabric Tupperware for quilt-making.

Dryer lint-we throw those wads of lint into the back garden for birds to pull into their nests.

Same with hair we clean off hairbrushes.

There's so much.

Right now, I have to go pop glass out of an old window to put mirrors in.

Ingenious idea on the dryer lint and hair!

Do the birds really use it?

Grease from cooking = soap also.

YES to all the above. Very good.

Toilet paper and tampons.

Some more uses:
[link to www.bestpsdtohtml.com]

[link to blog.artlivo.com]

[link to www.arteblog.net]

[link to farm9.staticflickr.com]

The hair DEFINITELY. Our new dryer lint for the past month, since we went back to perfumy detergent, not so much.

Before, when we only used soap nuts, yes, they snatched it up.

Also, before I go, this is pretty good.

In the warm weather, we use our wash tubs and drying line out back. Start with the whites, use the same water for the darks.

Then dump the soapy water into the roses.

No waste.

Hang dry, so no electricity used.

It's pretty good.

OH WOW! Bird feeders and hanging plant baskets, awesome ideas!