Recycling
In our effort to reduce waste going into our landfills, we use whenever it's possible recyled cardboard boxes for our shipping. A big thank you to all our local grocery stores here in Columbus, Ohio who have been so enthusiastic in sharing their boxes with us instead of them going in the trash. We encourage each of you as you start into the holiday season and may be shipping gifts around the country or even packaging gifts at home, please ask your local grocery for their boxes instead of buying new. It not only keeps trash out of the landfills but saves trees from being destroyed. If you have a strong interest in recycling please check back here from time to time as I offer tips on reusing items in your home instead of throwing it in the trash. Help save the planet, one baby step at a time.
Recycled Items:
Plastic Coffee Containers with Handles: These make nice storage containers for sugar, dry dog food, cereal and dry beans to name a few. They are also nice scoopers for dirt when you need a little dirt in a flower pot or container gardening.
Plastic Shortening Tubs: Punch holes in the bottom with a phillips screw driver, fill with dirt and put young starter plants in them. We have used ours this summer for planting leaf lettuce and jelapenos. Next year I'll be planting flower seeds outside for some of my perenials like lavender and my annuals like petunias. They don't need a huge flower pot and it keeps these tubs out of the landfill. I also use these when I'm making big batches of soup, all leftovers go in the containers and into the freezer for later use. I wouldn't try microwaving your soups in them but when you know you are planning to have them for a meal, just take out of the freezer and thaw.
Plastic Milk Jugs: I recruited my family,friends and neighbors this summer to save their milk jugs for me. I have a plastic tote that I have under a downspout so when it rains I get many gallons of free rain water which I then use to fill up my milk jugs and water my plants when it's dry weather. I have saved so much water doing this it was unbelieveable! I'll be saving those jugs this winter in my storage shed to reuse again next summer. I also filled about 10 gallons with water and created a barrier around my new Bee Balm starters I planted last week to prevent my dogs from trampling the ground or digging up the starters. I left a little head room so that this winter when the jugs freeze the caps don't pop off. I would also think this will work somewhat to prevent land erosion. I also donate some of my jugs to my farming friends who provide me with goat milk instead of using freezer bags.
Egg Cartons: We don't eat many eggs but when I do buy them, I save the egg cartons for my farming friends to store their eggs in instead of them having to buy new ones. Of course I only give nice clean ones. If they are the cardboard ones you can also use those in your compost bin.
Newspapers: 3 of my neighbors save their newspapers for me which we use for a variety of things. My dogs are paper trained so we use those for that. I also use them to clean my windows, my floors and counter tops with instead of buying paper towels. I have not bought a roll of paper towels in a year. I also shred some of my newspapers by hand of course and add to my compost bins, not the shiny stuff though. The shiny stuff, crinkle and use as packing material when shipping a item nice balls of this work great as dividers and cushioning. We also donate some of this material to our local candle supplier along with the plastic sleeves that our newspapers and weekly ads are delivered in for them to use for packaging.
Use Cloth Napkins instead of Paper Napkins: I find them in the thrift stores at 25 cents a piece, they can be used over and over instead of using and throwing away paper napkins.
We support the efforts of the Clean The World Organization which collects soap scraps from hotels and soap makers such as our company and recycles them to those in need. Here is the link to their website to learn more about their organization.
