Mend and Make Do!
Today it seems that life is all about having the latest fashions and gadgets. But what happens to the things we throw away and where exactly is away? Re-using items saves on valuable resources, energy and usually money! It also means that less of what we buy ends up going to landfill. Not everything we throw away is broken; many items have plenty of life left in them so why not give items a new lease of life by following some of the helpful tips below.
- Repair things instead of throwing them away. Many electrical items can be repaired easily – investigate getting them repaired by a professional instead of just replacing them. If your electrical items are beyond repair, they should be taken to your local civic amenity site and not placed in your bin. Under European legislation, all electrical items must be disposed of properly. Civic amenity sites will often strip down electrical equipment into useful components that can be reused.
- Give old furniture a new lease of life and be creative; give items an update with a lick of paint or reupholstering.
- Donate items to charity or jumble sales, post them on Freecycle or sell them on eBay and at car boot sales.
- Some charity shops and dry cleaners are happy to accept coat hangers.
- Re-use envelopes and jiffy bags by sticking a label over the address.
- Donate magazines to dentists, doctors, hospitals and residential homes.
- With Summer coming up and the picnic season nearly here, think about packing items that can be reused. Pack food in reusable containers instead of clingfilm or foil, use washable plastic plates rather than paper ones, plastic beakers rather than paper cups and cutlery rather than plastic knifes and forks - although these can always be washed as reused too!
- Re-use carrier bags or cloth bags. The average lifespan of a plastic bag is 3 minutes. After this time it usually gets thrown away!
- Cut up old clothing and bedding to use as cleaning cloths.
- Christmas and birthday cards can be turned into gift tags.
- Re-use gift bags you’ve been given or find alternatives to wrap presents in such as scraps of material, wallpaper, newspaper or even tin foil!
- Broken china can be re-used in mosaics.
- Re-use plastic drinks bottles or buy drinks in glass bottles where possible rather than plastic. Support your local milkman and use returnable bottles.
- See our charities page for more details of charities and other groups who will accept donations of clothing, books and many other items for re-sale, re-use or recycling.
- Parents can save several hundred pounds a year by choosing reusable cotton nappies. Disposable nappies are also expensive for Councils to collect and for you as taxpayers. Eight million of them are collected and disposed of by local authorities in the UK each day.
- Help a child or grandchild’s creative imagination go wild making ‘Blue Peter’ style creations from:
- Cardboard boxes, tubes, plastic bottles and yoghurt pots, plastic bottle tops, string and foil.
- Pieces of material, cord, ribbons and wire for fastening things.
- Paper that has been only used on one side is ideal for budding artists to start their masterpieces on.
- Magazines and catalogues can be cut up for collages.
- Keep some old clothing to use as a dressing up box for children to play with.
- Re-use plastic containers for leftovers, storage, as pet food dishes, seed trays or for craft activities.
- Re-use the bottoms of plastic milk or juice cartons, old yoghurt and cottage cheese pots, plastic microwave bowls and polystyrene cups to make seed trays. Just remember to clean them out thoroughly and punch drainage holes through the bottom of them before using.
- Some microwave or takeaway meal containers come with clear plastic lids, which make excellent propagators to keep seeds warm and moist during germination.
- Egg boxes are ideal for plug plants and toilet roll tubes can be used for plants which need a longer root base such as sweet peas, parsnips and carrots. Plus they can go straight into the soil, as they’ll naturally biodegrade meaning you wont have to disturb the plant.
- Bottles can be made into protective mini cloches or watering systems.
- Car tyres can be re-used to grow potatoes in!
- Polystyrene can be used to help new plants to grow. Break the polystyrene up in to small pieces and place them in the bottom of window boxes, pots, tubs, and hanging baskets then add compost on top and plant as usual. The polystyrene will work as a good liner and has the added advantage that it will act as additional insulation, which will not only prevent plants from becoming waterlogged, but will also reduce the risk of roots being frozen in winter. Polystyrene can also be added directly into new flower beds by breaking it up into very small pieces and mixing it in with the soil/compost. The benefits of this include an improvement in the aeration of the soil/compost and lighter soil, with better drainage.
- To keep birds occupied and away from your seedlings, bird scarers can be made by stringing together old CD’s or milk bottle tops.
