How to Repurpose Everyday Household Items
Posted by Jenni Barnett on Wednesday, November 30th, 2016 at 7:51am.
In general, most people have become more aware of the importance of recycling materials that are accepted by recycling companies. Taking a few moments to learn about the ever-expanding size of the landfills in the United States is all it takes to get more serious about recycling plastics, paper, glass and more.
Sometimes, rather than tossing used containers and other items into the recycling bin after you’ve used them, you can potentially repurpose them to use them again in a different way! Doing so means you don’t have to purchase a new item (because you can make it from materials you already own). Getting more than one use out of a single item is even more environmentally friendly than traditional recycling. The more uses you can get out of an item before sending it off to the recycling plant, the better.
You might think of some of the following tips as ‘life hacks,’ but we simply see them as fantastic and creative ways to get more bang for your buck:
- Mesh fruit and vegetable bags – You typically tote home a bunch of oranges in a nylon mesh bag. These types of bags are extremely dangerous to wildlife – especially sea life – because animals can become entangled in the bags. Keep yours and use them as scrubbers to clean your kitchens and bathrooms!
- Old disposable razors – If your disposable razor has reached the end of its life, don’t toss it in the trash or recycling bin just yet. Use it to easily remove sweater pills that form when certain materials are laundered. You should be able to get several more uses out of your razor this way before you actually need to throw it away.
- Disposable plastic powdered coffee creamer containers – Because of the way these particular plastic containers close (with a flip down flap), they make the perfect sugar dispensers. They close tightly, keeping sugar dry and protected, and they were made for pouring powdered creamer, so they’ll pour sugar just as easily!
- Empty tissue boxes – When you reach the end of the tissues in a box, don’t throw it away so fast! These empty boxes have a multitude of interesting uses. They’re great for keeping all of your plastic grocery bags that you can also reuse as trash can liners around the house. In fact, an empty tissue box also makes a good mini trash can for use in your car or at your desk, if you have limited space.
- Empty toilet paper and paper towel tubes – These cardboard rolls come in handy when organizing your extension cords, charging cords, holiday lights and any other cords or wires that you want to keep untangled while they’re being stored.
- Old suntan or other lotion containers – Once empty and cleaned out, you can use these sturdy plastic lotion bottles as a great place to store your cell phone, keys, money and other small valuable items when you go to the beach or pool. You can also use an empty lotion bottle to make a very creative holder for your cell phone while it charges.
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