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Going Green: Upcycle at Home

You likely have many of these everyday household products in your home right now.

You likely have many of these everyday household products in your home right now.

Instead of just tossing them in the trash or recycle bin, why not up-cycle? Here are just a few ideas.

If you are a coffee drinker, you may have a Keurig machine. You likely just toss them into the trash can.

Instead, use them as a plant starter.

  • Take off the foil lid and throw it away. It’s not recyclable.
  • Dump the coffee grounds and filter into the potting soil and mix it in. Fill the cups with the mixture of the soil and coffee grounds.
  • Poke a hole in the middle, about a quarter inch deep.
  • Place 2 to 3 seeds in the cup.
  • Cover it up with the soil.
  • Water each cup with a little water.
  • Place them in an area where they stay warm and with light.

I’m planting Zinnia’s so it will take one to two weeks for the seedlings to emerge and then they will be ready to put them outside in about 4 to 5 weeks.

When replanting, you will need to discard or reuse the K-cup for seed starting.

plants

Creamer bottles are great to reuse. They are sturdy and have a great lid.

Clean them out, tear off the label and then use a funnel to put food items, like popcorn, trail mix, cereal or even kitty litter.

bottle

Don’t just throw away your bread clips, reuse them.

Use them to label extra keys in the house. Use bread clips to label your electronics to help keep them organized. You can even use them on your tape roll, so you can always find the end.

bread_clips

Instead of buying organizing containers, use an egg carton instead.

They are great for small items, like paper clips, rubber bands, push pins or even hair supplies.

carton

How about an old Pringles can? Yep, it can be re-purposed too.

Make it into a bag dispenser. Decorate the can with wrapping paper. Put a slit in the lid. Roll the bags together. Put the bags in the container.

can

Reuse laundry detergent bottles. One way you could use it: to collect needles. Drop them in the bottle after using. When its full, put the lid back on and take it to a proper disposal according to your communities guidelines.

There are many ways to reuse tin cans.

A tin-can can become a wine rack, a pen and pencil holder, or even a candle holder.

You can also reuse the lids. You can hand stamp the lids to create garden markers.

Stamp the lids with metal stamping letters. Now, you can put the markers out in your garden.

lids

There are countless ways to reuse items in your home instead of just throwing them away.

Next time you toss, think about how you might be able to re-purpose it!

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