How much time do you spend searching, sorting and recycling plastic? It’s easy enough to do at home, all it takes is a small change on your part to make a difference to the environment. You can also turn it into a game to get your kids involved and educate them about the importance of a ‘green’ approach to cleaning up your house. Read on for 4 great tips.
The Good, Bad & Ugly
One of the first things you must do is separate the plastics you can re-use from the plastic you can’t. To get started today, find all the plastic items in your house you can wash – these will often be items you can use again. Think about yoghurt containers, feta tubs, and plastic bottles. Perfect examples of plastic items you can re-use; yoghurt containers are great lunchboxes, pencil holders and storage opportunities.
Get Creative
Use your old, unwanted plastics to make amazing arts and crafts! There is an incredible array of opportunities for you and your family to turn trash and other ‘junk’ into something fun. Old CDs are an interesting example because most people don’t think to re-use them, but with a little bit of effort, they make amazing mobiles and more. If you really want to be creative, you can also turn a bedroom room into a night sky by turning CDs into stars and sticking them to the roof.
Practically Perfect
Another strange and wonderful recyclable is empty toilet paper rolls. For something supposedly useless, there are a wide variety of new uses for something so undervalued. Our favourite is the sock organiser; ideal for single socks and pairs, you can easily organise your sock draw by pulling socks through the empty loo roll and stacking them beside each other. Now it’s up to you! Use this idea to work out your own perfectly practical use for them too.
Go Green!
An awesome idea for old plastic bottles. Not sure what to do with those old water bottles lying around? Turn them into your very own herb garden. It’s simple to do and quite a lot of fun. Cut roughly two-thirds from the top – where you would hold and drink from – off the bottle to create a tiny little spot where you can lay down some soil and plant whatever you want to. They’ll look amazing above your sink and possibly inspire you to be a little more creative with your food too.
After working in your garden, your clothes may have a few stains on them. Use a good quality laundry detergent to get rid of stains and leave your clothes looking as good as new.