| Recycling things is important to cut down the | | | | "shoulders") and using this top as a funnel for |
| waste, but it's only one of the three Rs of living | | | | changing the oil or for children to play with in a |
| sustainably. The other two are Reducing and | | | | sandpit or the bath; (b) cutting the top off at the |
| Reusing. Reusing can often take a bit of creativity | | | | shoulders and using the bottom as a mini-cloche |
| and lateral thinking. But if you don't have a | | | | for giving young plants a head start in early spring. |
| Depression/WWII era granny to get ideas for | | | | * Bottles with handles: cut them on the diagonal |
| reusing things from, then try these to start you | | | | and use them as scoops for sugar, flour, etc. |
| off: | | | | * Old sheets and towels. Rip or cut them up and |
| * Pizza boxes (for large pizzas) are the perfect | | | | use them for dishcloths or anywhere you'd use a |
| size for fitting A4 papers and they stack together | | | | tissue (apart from as a handkerchief in public, of |
| easily. Blot the grease out and use them as a filing | | | | course - but for removing makeup, they're great). |
| system. They're easy to label, too. Cover them | | | | You can also use them as cloths for domestic |
| with newspaper or old wrapping paper if you don't | | | | cleaning and polishing. |
| want the number of your local pizza joint staring | | | | * Screw-top jars (glass or plastic). Wash them |
| you in the face. They stack much better than | | | | out and keep them for your own home-made |
| arch lever files. | | | | jams and pickles. Or for storing things like |
| * Ice cream containers are ideal for freezing | | | | cornflour and cocoa. Or for storing home-made |
| soups and casseroles for later use, and also for | | | | natural cleaning products and bath salts. |
| freezing a surplus of stewed fruit. They also are | | | | * Zip-lock bags. Does anyone throw these useful |
| something of a staple at many schools for holding | | | | things away? Use them for smaller batches of |
| crayons and other large groups of bits (counters, | | | | frozen food, and for school lunches. |
| rubber bands, milk tokens, drawing pins). One-litre | | | | * Rubber gloves. Once they've got holes in the |
| yoghurt pottles have the same uses. | | | | fingers, cut the wrist parts up for extra thick, |
| * Thick cardboard of any type can be used to | | | | strong rubber bands. |
| protect CD(-ROMs) in the post instead of bubble | | | | The big thing to remember when you are keeping |
| wrap. Keep a small supply on hand, but don't | | | | things to reuse is not to be a hoarder. Only keep |
| hoard it - it can build up to excess if you're not | | | | as much as you will actually need. If you have |
| careful. | | | | already got scoops for your sugar, your salt, your |
| * Large clear plastic bottles. If you don't want to | | | | flour and the cat kibble, then don't make another |
| re-use these as drink bottles (if you're going out | | | | scoop. If your freezer is full up with frozen goods, |
| for a long time, then they take a lot more water | | | | don't hoard any more containers for freezing. Just |
| than the little sip-top bottles), then try (a) cutting | | | | recycle the items instead! |
| the top off just below the neck (at the | | | | |