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I'm new to CU but a 25 year resident of Columbus. I would like everyone to share how they reuse different products at home to be more green. I'm always looking for new ways to reduce my waste.
Columbus Underground Messageboard » General Columbus Discussion
Ideas for reusing items
[15 posts] [8 contributors]
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Manatee
The eternal present
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My daughter currently uses most of the (cleaned) recycling for art supplies. I cut up all my old t-shirts and towels for rags. I make old sheets and shower curtains into the backs of quilts. I incorporate leftovers into new dishes. I make old sweaters into stuffed animals for my daughter. I keep twist ties and rubber bands and use them to close little snack bags in packed lunches. I use old jars and margarine tubs to mix paint in.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Ebeth
Merion Village
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I turn old tee shirts into shopping bags. Just sew straight across the bottom and cut the sleeves.
I use all my other old clothes as rags. I'm trying to eliminate paper towels completely. I also reuse old jars and other food containers for leftovers.
I never get rid of cardboard boxes. I use them to ship packages to friends and family that live far away.Posted 3 years ago # -
Rockmastermike
CORNspiracy HQ
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I saw this the other day. It's clever.
http://lifehacker.com/5139405/recycle-cardboard-boxes-into-a-durable-cat-scratching-padPosted 3 years ago # -
Beebe
Clintonville/Beechwold
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thanks for all the great ideas! I've been trying to eliminate paper towels too. I'm definitely going to start reusing glass jars for leftovers. Plus, glass is much better for you than the hard plastic stuff.
rockmastermike: thanks for the link. Its a great idea, and just happen to be thinking about getting a cat :)
Posted 3 years ago # -
Rockmastermike
CORNspiracy HQ
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I've started making one of those scratching pads for the cat. It takes a LOT of cardboard. So, it looks like I have a use for several more boxes as they come in.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Beebe
Clintonville/Beechwold
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I'll keep that in mind and start collecting now. Plus it'll save me some money do I can save up to buy one of these:
kitty tanning bedPosted 3 years ago # -
katieb
OSU
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Beebe wrote >>
I'm definitely going to start reusing glass jars for leftovers. Plus, glass is much better for you than the hard plastic stuff.also, sometimes plastic can absorb taste or odor from some foods and not get completely clean, like tomato sauce stains the plastic. but glass doesn't do that so it keeps the foods preserved better than plastic.
Posted 3 years ago # -
frozen twinkies
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In my last house I had an unfinished attic.
When we bought new carpeting, I took the old carpeting and nailed it across the joists in the floor of the attic. It made great insulation.
This month the company I work with is replacing all the carpeting. It's the typical 18" squares with a black hard foam backing. It's waterproof and fireproof. I'll be shredding it up and using it for insulation in my house, From joist spaces to the pipe runs. The squares that are good (those under cabinets or other areas people could not walk on) I'll be putting down in my basement floor, which is cold concrete right now.
Posted 3 years ago # -
alexs
Limestone bluffs of the Scioto
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I keep an assortment of glass jars for storing food, also metal tins, as they are mouse-proof. A shelf of jars full of various dried beans, etc., can look pretty.
My motto is "Make the crap work for you." I made that realization when cleaning old stuff out of the basement, and I was filling a trash bag with old bags I was finding - then it hit me, I could use those bags to hold trash, instead of taking up space as trash in another bag.
A lot of things are doomed to be thrown out sooner or later, but they can bounce around for a while like a tub that can hold leftovers, or bones that can be made into soup before they're tossed. Our paper grocery bags are filled with our recycled paper.
Sometimes you can buy food in a container designed to be re-used, like pop-top cheese jars that can live on as juice glasses. I like to save seasoning jars and hot sauce bottles, to de-label and give away filled with seasoning mixes I make.
The main thing I do is watch the waste stream I produce and think of ways to reduce it. Of course recycling takes away a huge part of it ... and I regret to say when I set the red tub out, there isn't another one anywhere in sight in this neighborhood...
Posted 3 years ago # -
Rockmastermike
CORNspiracy HQ
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true.
when the Franklin County landfill can't get another "airspace" upward expansion permit and we have to either ship everything somewhere else or build another landfill we'll see just how expensive it really is.Posted 3 years ago # -
alexs
Limestone bluffs of the Scioto
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My mother grew up in Lithuania in the 1930s, she said people would walk to the store just about every day and fill one basket or bag with one day's food and that was it.
The closest grocery I could walk to from here would be the Henderson Kroger, 2 - 3 miles one way.
Posted 3 years ago #
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