If you’re like me, you probably feel quite bad about all of the rubbish you throw away on a day to day basis. Food scraps, plastic bottles, cartons and packaging just gets thrown away.  At best, recycled – and becomes someone else’s problem to deal with. At the risk of sounding a bit hoarder-like, I’m going to suggest we do something different with our trash. We can reuse or recycle it ourselves to be put to good use. Reducing our waste output is good for the planet.  We should try to manage as much of it as we can, at home. Here are a few tips you can implement to reduce the amount you consume at the same time as you reuse your waste.

Composting

This is the biggest and most important tip of all. If you are not composting already, start now even if you don’t have a garden. Perhaps you have a friendly neighbour with a gorgeous garden you’d like to contribute to.  Compost would make a great addition. This might not work in a flat, but keep your organic waste in a small outdoor container. When it’s full, empty it into a larger container that you mix around from time to time. Voila! In a few months you’ll have compost. All organic waste can go on there (aside from meat).

Gardening help

If you do have a little gardening streak inside of you, there are plenty of uses to be found in common rubbish items like egg cartons – which are perfect for growing seedlings in. Yogurt pots are also perfect for this. Nice big clear plastic bottles can also be re-used to make two mini greenhouses when you cut them in half down the middle.  Perfect for a little veggie patch. Old CDs (come on, what are you ever going to use them for now?) are good bird deterrents if you hang them up.  The bright lights confuse them.

Garden waste

The gardeners amongst us know the trials and tribulations of producing a whole load of waste each year, and having to pay to dispose of it. You can reuse a lot of it to decorate! For instance, spray-paint branches and turn them into a modern wall-piece for your home. Decorate your garden too, by trimming and refurbishing tree-stumps to make seats, sundials or sculptures. There are also many examples online of broken pots being put to good use by being turned into a multi-level planter for small plants like succulents. The garden’s your oyster when you get creative!

Refurbish

If you’re happy with doing a tad of DIY work.  Perhaps refurbishing is right for you. Look online for examples of window frames that have been turned into attractive mirrors or earring holders with a fairly minimal amount of work. It can also be a fun project to transform an old bench, chair, dresser or other furniture that sits, unloved, in the garage. This can be done by stripping and painting wooden parts until they look good as new! Adding new parts to repair broken bits can often add charm to a previously unused household item. If there’s something you’d really like to keep, doing some research online and being creative could bring it back into your life on a permanent basis.

There are so many ways you can reuse and refurbish rubbish to enhance your life.  Find a new hobby or reduce waste. It’s good to be conscious of these things.  Even if you don’t put them all into practice straightaway.

There are small steps you can take to reduce the amount of waste you produce, and improve your life and the lives of others in the process. So don’t fret if you can’t do all of these.  Just think about little ways you can reuse the waste you produce!