5 ways to reuse plastic containers

We have a lot of yogurt and sour cream containers at our house and I just hate knowing they are perfectly good for something but I'm still throwing them out - even though I'm recycling. So I thought I'd share a few ways that I reuse my plastic containers.

1. seed starters - if you have a garden, or even if you want to keep an herb garden on your kitchen window sill, these are great! I'll be starting my seeds soon!

2. kids stuff - my daughter loves to make little "collections". She has beads, coins, barbie pieces, little paper projects, necklaces. These are perfect for all her little things.

3. Sending meals in them. My mom always saved containers and took meals to people in them, the best are the salad tubs they are wide and clear. It's nice because then you don't have to worry about getting your dish back.

4. In the garage - I think most garages have plenty of uses for these containers, my husband has asked me to save a bunch to put his nails, bolts, and stuff in. You can label the outside so you know exactly what is in each of them.

5. Leftovers - instead of buying plastic containers to put your left overs in, save your money and reuse!

I hope this just starts your thinking of reasons why you can and should reuse, maybe you can find even more ways!

Happy Earth Day!

Okay, so I'm posting this a little early because I wanted to let you know that because of Earth day, stores like Target, Home Depot and others are having sales on all of their eco-friendly stuff. Check out your Sunday paper ads. Home depot is even handing out free eco-friendly lightbulbs and offering free classes on how to be green. Hope this gets you excited to do a little!

Organic Makeup

This month at Walgreen's there's a mail in rebate for $10 worth of the Organic Physician's Formula makeup. I tried the bronzer/blush, it's pretty good. There are no parabens, and it is the first line of certified organic makeup in the U.S. They have quite a few different things to choose from that you can get for just about free.

Mailer Envelopes

I found mail envelopes made out of recycled paper at Wal-mart, they're the same price as the regular, may as well right??

Recycled Glass

I just noticed at Target they've got lots of different things that are made out of recycled glass. Soap dishes, decor, glassware. Cute!

PS - It's on Sale!!

Gazelle.com

Thanks to my brother I found an awesome website that will help you recycle your old electronics for cash. If they can't offer you any money they will at least send you a box with postage to ensure your item gets recycled properly. Now that's a green conscious website. My brother said it took him 10 minutes to set up. No excuses now!
You can even donate the money to charity.

Stainless Steel Water Bottle

I just saw on Slickdeals that AMAZON has got a stainless steel water bottle on sale for about $5 before shipping. It's eco-friendly and there's no BPA (see my previous post about BPA) in it! Check it out here.

Bleach

So I guess I never realized that bleach was harmful. I mean I knew it was harmful if you swallowed it or got it in your eyes, but I didn't really know the effect it has on the enviroment. Doing a little research I found out that Chlorine bleach is a toxin and linked to carcinogens which we KNOW aren't healthy for us, and it hurts the ozone layer.

For an easy alternative that actually keeps your whites looking white - White Vinegar or hydrogen peroxide.
Easy enough, oh and vinegar is actually better on your fabrics too!

BPA

Bisphenol-A is a chemical used in the plastic and epoxy of formula cans and is also present in some baby bottles. There have been concerns that BPA could cause health risks to infants, though the FDA has assured us that the levels are not high enough to do so. However, Gerber along with other companies have started making BPA-free products which now can be found in most stores. The first kind I saw were the drop-ins by playtex, but now you can buy the cheap gerber bottles, BPA-free for about a dollar. Though there may not be any apparent health risks, I tend to wonder why Gerber has decided to make all of their products BPA-free, whatever the reason, It's good to know that there are cheap alternatives for going BPA-free.

Just for information, BPA is present in much of our food packaging NOT just baby bottles and some researchers say high amounts have been linked to causing cancers, obesity, autism and other hormonal and developmental problems.

For some really great information on the issue go to this reputable sight.

Cradle to grave

My father created a prototype for a label that would go on our foods to show the environmental impacts of each food. I think it's a great idea and it really shows you just how much energy it takes to get something like a piece of steak from the cow to the plate. Take a look at it and if you like it, tell your friends. I think this should be something we NEED to be seeing when we go to pour ourselves a bowl of cereal.

Juice and Soda bottles

Besides recycling your large plastic juice and soda bottles I decided to reuse them. I fill them with water and put them in my food storage. It's always a good idea to have bottled water available in case something happens and you are without running water.

Household batteries

My camera takes up a ton of batteries and I have never recycled them before. After doing a bit of research on it I realized it's not as difficult as it seems. I looked into rechargeable batteries to see if they were better for the environment and it turns out they have more heavy metals in them than regular batteries, BUT if you recycle them then it is worth it and does help the environment, if you don't, you aren't being as environmentally conscious as you thought. I found a great website that tells you where you can recycle your rechargeable batteries, you just enter your zip code. The places you can take them to be recycled are actually stores you already shop at like Best Buy, Target, or Sears! How easy is that? Click here to check it out.

Milk jugs

When I lived in New York, our elementary school sold milk in little bags. It's a great idea! (Although someone needs to at least explain to you that when you stab your straw into the bag to keep the other end covered by your finger or you'll shoot milk a few feet :))



Did you know if we switched our jugs to plastic bags like several countries we could reduce our waste by up to 75%!

Although the U.S. is probably not ready for the milk "bags", we WILL start to see a new design for milk jugs that are more cost efficient (meaning cheaper prices for us) and better for the environment. Click here to read about them and see a picture. So when buying milk, shop at stores that sell the new design.

Green Dimes

For $20 you can sign up for green dimes, which will help you reduce your amount of junk mail, they will also plant 5 trees in your name with part of the one time fee. If you're too cheap to spend the twenty dollars, (like me) they have a free version. It's a little more work but still can drastically reduce all of that junk mail and possibly help reduce the amount of garbage you throw out and trees being cut down in waste. I definitely plan on getting the premium version in the future. What a great idea! Click here to look into it.

Plastic Bags

This might seem a little bit silly, but I always felt guilty for all of the garbage bags our family uses. I couldn't afford to buy the environmentally friendly bags so I realized I could get a smaller garbage and use my plastic grocery bags as garbage bags and hopefully be more particular about what I was putting in the garbage. Then I could use any extras I still had to recycle, or better yet, use the new reusable/biodegradable bags that most stores are carrying and only get the bags I need for garbage, then I don't have to buy plastic garbage bags at all, which saves me money too! I also like to shop at the "bag your own" type places that way I make sure I'm putting to good use the bags that I'm taking and not taking more than I need.

As a side note, the debate over that all too familiar question "paper or plastic?" comes the answer, either, or better yet, neither! They both leave just about the same footprint.

Composting

So it seems like this would be something way beyond the average persons feasibility, but I realized last winter I created a compost pile without even knowing it. We had a big cardboard box that was sitting up against the back of our shed, after the wind had blown leaves back there, it created a nice area for compost! So since I have a garden spot that is in need of some rich aerated soil I figured I would create a compost from the stuff I had lying around. Now, I'm not so crazy about it that I'm willing to go out and buy worms, I'll just let what's out there do what it wants. So I'm going to cover my garden with the rotten apples that have fallen from my apple tree, plus the leaves we've raked from our huge tree out front, and some shredded portions of the Sunday paper. After the paper and leaves get packed down, it will create a prime spot for compost. You can add pretty much any organic garbage (produce, etc.), leaves, grass clippings, Newspaper (black and white only) and cardboard. The cool thing is you can continue to add stuff all year long! This saves on garbage output and gives you nice lush soil. If you really want to get into it you can create your own composter that can even stay in your home, but you have to buy worms, which I personally don't want to have to deal with.

Plastic Water Bottles

Okay this has got to be one of the biggest things you can do to help the environment. Now I'm not saying you should never buy another plastic water bottle again, because that just isn't realistic. They are very handy and it's nice to just toss when it's served its purpose. But, you can drastically REDUCE your out take of bottles which will in turn drastically reduce your garbage. Unfortunately that leaves the problem of purified drinking water. I instead use a water filtration pitcher. You invest about $20 or so for the pitcher and replace the filter about every month. The filters can get kind of pricey, but I figure it's just about the same as I would be spending on buying bottled water. But after doing it for a while now I've figured out that the GENERIC filters do just as good of a job and you can get them for much cheaper and most of them work with the basic BRITA or PUR filter pitchers. On top of that, if you shop WALGREENS you can get their brand of filter FREE AFTER REBATE. See my other blog SLICKSAVER to find out the details on that. So you could actually end up saving quite a bit of money in the end. Now I just use bottled water every so often when I'm going on a trip or something, where I know I won't have access to drinks.

If you still feel like you can't give up your bottled water, you can switch to a different brand that understands the plight of plastic on our landfills like NESTLE, who has created a new bottle that has reduced the amount of plastic in each bottle by 30%.
Just remember that these bottles are for a one time use and really shouldn't be used more than that because if they are exposed to heat they can emit toxins into your water.
If you have any other ideas in this area feel free to leave a comment!