creative recycling: repurposing junk

They say that one man’s junk is another man’s treasure. And when you think about it, we throw out a whole lot of ‘junk’. But what if instead of constantly buying ‘new junk’ we repurposed what we had and kept it out of landfill. Not only would we be reducing our environmental impact, we’d be saving a whole heap of money as well.

While regular recycling is a great thing to do and we should be recycling as much as possible, it’s not the perfect solution. Of course, not buying waste in the first place is a good start, but not always very practical. Repurposing things keeps them out of the waste cycle for longer.

As well as the repurposing that we can do ourselves, one of the great things about the repurposing movement is that commercial companies are getting into it. As consumers, we can be making the decision to not only reduce waste in the first place, but to buy recycled where possible. Here are just a couple of good commercial recycling ideas:

This pencil case was once a car tyre. You can find the website for this and other products here.

Looking for a way to reuse old CD cases? This and other funky gifts from old computer stuff can be found here.

And this company creates functional and attractive home decor stuff from tin cans.

But what about the creative recycling we can do ourselves at home?

The photo at the top of the article is of my parent’s letterbox. I think that it is just the cutest. Don’t you just love the little red chimney (and the Parramatta colours!) The thing about it is, my dad made it. And it used to be our washing machine. After years of being repaired, the old washing machine gave up the ghost, but its parts got a second life rather than ending up in landfill.

How to Creatively Recycle

1. Change the way you look at things. Instead of seeing stuff as rubbish, look at it from a “how can I repurpose this?” perspective.

2. Think twice before throwing things away. I’m not suggesting that you should hoard heaps of stuff and clutter up your home, but a couple of tin cans and egg cartons here and there always seem to come in handy.

3. Before throwing something out, think about how it might possibly be repurposed. A broken plate could become a mosaic work of art, old clothes could be cut up and resewn or in the least used as rags, junk mail could be used for paper mache projects.

4. Recycled “rubbish” is great for kids craft. There are thousands of websites on the net with craft ideas from recycled materials, but my favourite is probably frugal family fun blog.

5. The alternative to thinking “what can I do with this?” is to think “I have a problem, now what do I have on hand to solve that problem?” This is how we came up with our clothes peg basket solution.

Another example of this last approach: I have been wanting to make a waterproof change mat for the new bub, but the thought of buying vinyl just seemed wrong (it’s bad for the environment and a particularly toxic plastic).

Have you ever noticed how much stuff comes in thick vinyl packaging? Like sheet sets. Neither did I until I put two and two together and realised just how much vinyl I had around the house (I hate throwing out this kind of packaging, especially if it’s got a zipper or snap fasteners – you never know when it might come in handy). I cut up some packaging (that might otherwise have been thrown away) and used that to cover a handmade change mat.

Do you have a creative recycling story that you’re proud of? Why not share it in the comments – it could be the inspiration that someone else is looking for.

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