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Recycling and Conservation Tips

This page contains ideas for ways to recycle, reuse, and otherwise conserve resources and reduce trash to preserve Earth for many future generations. Thanks to visitors for sharing their own ideas!

Crayons

Broken crayon pieces can be made into new crayons with the Crayola Crayon Maker. Accessories for the crayon maker are available at CrayolaStore.com including vehicle and animal crayon molds, and crayon labels. (Search for coupons at Google.com by entering "crayolastore coupon".)

Gift Wrapping

• Reuse large pieces of wrapping paper - fold flat for storing
• Torn gift wrap and small pieces can be put through a home paper shredder to make decorative filler for gift boxes and bags
• Reuse bows and ribbons
• Reuse gift bags
• Remove wrinkles from tissue paper for reuse by ironing
• Use Sunday comics for wrapping family gifts
• Use old road maps for gift wrap (if creases are worn, put tape along them on the back side)
• Wrap gift boxes so that the box and paper may be reused many times.
• Make a gift bag from a shopping bag with handles. Cover the store logo with wrapping paper, an old greeting card, or a picture from a magazine, calendar, or catalog.

Greeting Cards

• Make gift tags by cutting out the pictures -- especially from Christmas cards. These can be used many years, esp. if laminated. (Craft stores have a great selection of fancy edge scissors, paper punches and corner punches which can be used to dress them up.)
• Make new greeting cards from them by attaching the pictures to new blank cards. This might be a good project for a scout troop as a fund raiser or to donate to a nursing home or assisted living center for those who have trouble getting out to buy cards.

Junk Mail Envelopes

Save the envelopes from junk mail to be reused for many purposes

• Writing grocery lists on and storing the week's coupons inside
• Sorting sales receipts by month for financial records
• Storing small items
• Collecting cancelled postage stamps

Old Road Maps

• Gift wrap (if creases are worn, put tape along them on the back side)
• Make an envelope -- just fold around your card or letter, and seal shut with tape or a sticker
• School book covers

Junk Mail CDs

Everyone gets these from AOL and other Internet service providers.

• Decorate and mail them as a postcard (use regular postage on them -- $.34 as of 8/2001)
• Hot beverage coasters

Plastic Film Canisters

• Storing change, push pins, paper clips, coins, buttons, saftey or straight pins
• Ritz Photo accepts them for recycling
• Storing craft items (glitter, little star stickers, beads, confetti)
• Make salt and pepper shakers by drilling holes in the lids of two
• Pill containers for travel, automobile, or purse
• Storing watch/jewelry parts
• Make a small hole in the top of the lid. Put a long ribbon or string through it and tie the ends inside the lid. Decorate the container with stickers and the container can be worn around the neck to store change, a small first aid kit, etc. at the beach or pool.

• "Oscar the Grouch" - On top of the canister hot glue a green pompom about the diameter of the film canister opening. Then hot glue the lid at an angle on top of the pompom to make the garbage can lid. Add wiggle eyes to the pompom for Oscar's eyes. Add ribbon for a Christmas tree ornament or add to a child's birthday gift.

  Oscar the Grouch

Ink Jet Cartridges

Postage paid mailers are available for recycling used printer ink jet cartridges. I was able to get them from my local post office, but have not been able to confirm whether they are available in all post offices.

You can also recycle ink jet cartridges and hold a fundraiser at the same time through EcoPhones. Cell phones and ink jet cartridges are collected and sent to EcoPhones for recycling. Each phone and ink jet cartridge can earn $1-200.

Cancelled Postage Stamps and Phone Cards

Cancelled postage stamps and phone cards can be packaged to sell to collectors by non-profit groups. I have a contact who prepares these for sale by non-profits, including Tubfrim. Tubfrim is a Norwegian organization which raises money to help disabled children.

Send postage stamps and phone cards to:
Stamps for Non-Profit
2811 Glendevon Circle
Henderson, NV 89014-2205
For more information about Tubrim, see The Official Tubfrim web site

Other uses for cancelled postage stamps -

• Start a postage stamp collection, give your cancelled postage stamps to a friend or family member who is a collector, or help a kid start a collection. Postage stamp albums are available from H.E. Harris at http://www.heharris.com (they have great albums with pictures of all the stamps on which to place the ones you collect.) You can also get started albums for kids from toy and hobby stores.
• Craft projects such as collage or decoupage
• Framed art for a dollhouse

Magnets

There are many uses for the advertising magnets that many businesses give away.

• Glue a photo to a magnet and cut out the image to make a picture magnet.
• Glue a notepad or attach a sticky note pad to a magnet to hang on the fridge.
• Glue a piece of a magnet to a hinged wooden clothes pin to hold papers on the fridge. These can also be painted and/or decorated.
• Make a "baby sleeping" or other sign to hang on an exterior metal door -- print text such as "Do not ring bell please, baby [or child] sleeping", then laminate and attach a piece of magnet with double sided tape.

Cellular Phones

When you replace your cell phone with a new one, you can donate the old one to help victims of domestic violence. See more information about HopeLine at the Verizon Wireless.

Another way to recycle cell phones and and hold a fundraiser is through EcoPhones. Cell phones and ink jet cartridges are collected and sent to EcoPhones for recycling. Each phone and ink jet cartridge can earn $1-200.

Photography

Digital photography eliminates the need for photo processing and therefore the use of chemicals used for film photography. In addition, with digital photography, you have the option of deleting pictures you don't want and just printing those you do want. Even worse for the environment are single use cameras for which the entire camera is thrown away after the film is developed.

While digital cameras are still more expensive than comparable film cameras, they have definite advantages.

• You can take as many pictures of a subject as you like without additional cost, so you're more likely to get a really good one (this is especially good for photographing children and animals)
• You only pay to print the pictures you want
• You don't pay for film or film processing
• You can crop and manipulate the pictures however you like before having prints made

Babies

Breastfeeding and using cloth diapers are ways that you can help the environment when you are caring for a baby. For more information, see my Baby Tips page.

Miscellaneous

• Compost to change food scraps and yard waste into plant food.
• Use large, empty plastic pretzel containers for storage, such as reused bows and ribbon.
• Reuse paper clips and rubber bands.
• Reuse pages from day to day calendars as note/scrap paper
• Use the blank side of small sheets of paper from coupon mailers as scrap paper and grocery lists.
• Use your local library instead of buying books (saves money, book storage space at home, and disposal of books). Just buy reference books and favorites.
• Instead of buying bottled water, wash the bottles and refill with filtered water.
• Make coasters from plastic container lids. Decorate inside with fabric scraps or decorative paper which has been laminated with clear contact paper.
• Make a pet poop scoop with a 1/2 gallon milk jug. Cut the top out, leaving the handle and a smooth edge for scooping. Place a used plastic newspaper bag, plastic produce bag, or paper lunch sack inside for easy removal of waste.
• Save cardboard backing from used notepads for craft projects, mailing with pictures to prevent bending, etc.
• Old purses and pocketbooks can be used for first aid kits for the car, or to hold coloring books, crayons and other items for kids in the car. - From Hints from Heloise
• Make guitar picks from old credit cards or plastic phone cards - suggested by a site visitor
• HawaiIce snow cone makers (available at Target) come with ice molds, but no lids. The lids from Kraft Philadelphia cream cheese spread fit these molds perfectly and will keep the water from spilling out of the molds in the freezer before they freeze, and will keep the ice clean and fresh.

Reusing Items for Craft Projects

Many recyclable and non-recyclable items make great materials for kids craft projects. If you don't have kids in your family, check with local schools, churches, and nursing homes to find a place that will accept donations of recyclable and non-recyclable items for reuse in craft projects. Items to donate include:

• paper towel, toilet tissue and gift wrap tubes
• plastic margarine tubs
• yogurt containers
• plastic deli and take-out containers
• plastic soda bottles
• cardboard backing from pads of paper
• old magazines and catalogs for cutting pictures out
• picture calendars
• used greeting cards
• discontinued wallpaper books and scraps *
• rubber bands
• brown paper bags
• egg cartons
• coffee cans
• shoe boxes
• aluminum pie plates
• oatmeal cartons
• plastic produce baskets
• plastic mesh bags from produce
• cereal boxes
• plastic film canisters *
• junk mail CDs
• milk cartons and jugs
• scrap fabric, yarn, buttons, beads, and ribbon *
• thread spools *
• bottle corks *
• match boxes *
• plastic bottle and tube caps *
• springs from used pens *
• old house keys
• old costume jewelry *
• cancelled postage stamps *

* These items are also great for kids or adults who do miniature work with a doll house.

There are quite a few books available through the library on using recycled materials for crafts (call number J745 at my library). The following books are aimed at kids, but many of the crafts are also appropriate for adults.

• "Ecology Crafts for Kids" by Bobbe Needham
  An excellent book which includes a lot of information about recycling and what other kids are doing to help.
• "Crafts for Christian Values" by Kathy Ross
  An excellent book of innovative kids crafts for religious and non-religious context as well.
• "Cups & Cans & Paper Plate Fans" by Phyllis Fiarotta & Noel Fiarotta
• "EcoArt!" by Laurie Carlson
• "Vroom! Vroom!" by Judy Press
• "The Little Hands Big Fun Craft Book" by Judy Press
• "Kids' Crazy Concoctions: 50 Mysterious Mixtures for Art & Craft Fun" by Jill Frankel Hauser
• "The Muppets Big Book of Crafts" by The Muppet Workshop

Plastic Recycling Numbers

An explanation of the meaning of the numbers in the triangular recycling symbols on plastics. (from "50 Simple Things Kids Can Do To Recycle" by The EarthWorks Group)

1 - PET
Polyethylene terephthalate; includes plastic soda bottles and some detergent bottles; commonly recycled.

2 - HDPE
High density polyethylene; includes milk jugs; commonly recycled.

3 - PVC or V
Polyvinyl chloride; includes garden hoses, plastic flooring, credit cards, and shower curtains

4 - LDPE
Low density polyethylene; includes clear packaging on cassettes or CDs, plastic sandwich bags and plastic grocery bags; recycled at many grocery stores.

5 - Polypropylene
Includes plastic lids, bottle caps, straws, and some food containers; generally not recycleable

6 - Polystyrene
Styrofoam, such as coffee cups.

7 - Mixed plastics
Several types of plastic mixed together; probably can't be recycled.

Books About Recycling

Conscious Style Home
by Danny Seo, 2001 Danny Seo Media Ventures, Inc. 160pp. hardcover
Full of information and resources for living and decorating your home Earth consciously. Color and black and wite photographs.
Order or get more information from Amazon.Com

Ecology Crafts for Kids by Bobbe Needham
An excellent book which includes a lot of information about recycling and what other kids are doing to help.

50 Simple Things Kids Can Do To Recycle
A great book with tips on reducing trash, reuing and recycling for all ages
Order or get more information from Amazon.Com

50 Simple Things Kids Can Do To Save the Earth
Ways to save energy, water, reduce waste and protect wildlife; with contact information for resources. Includes educational projects and experiments.
Order or get more information from Amazon.Com

50 Simple Things You Can Do To Save the Earth
Ways to reduce waste, save water and energy, and protect wildlife at home and work.
Out-of-print, but check your local library or an online used book seller.
Order or get more information from Amazon.Com

Choose to Reuse: An Encyclopedia of Services, Businesses, Tools & Charitable Programs That Facilitate Reuse
Nikki and David Goldbeck, 1995
An excellent source of information on how to make almost everything available for reuse. Includes information on the environment and each item's impact on it. Highly recommended.
Order or get more information from Amazon.Com

The Envelope Mill: Recycle Magazines into Beautifully Crafted Envelopes
Haila Harvey and Haila Crowell 1995 Summit Pub Group
Paperback book and templates (30 pages)
Order or get more information from Amazon.Com

Creative Crafting With Recycled Greeting Cards
Catherine Lawrence
Order or get more information from Amazon.Com

Books on card making
There are many books about making your own cards. Many of the ideas can be adapted to reuse pretty and interesting scraps of paper and found objects.

Books on paper making, collage, oragami and other paper crafts
You can use scraps of paper to make your own paper for use in card making and other craft projects. Collaging can be done with scraps of different papers and found objects to create works of art. Scraps of light weight paper, including wrapping paper, can be put to use in origami paper folding.

Recycling Web Links

Freecycle
"...a grassroots movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns" run through a network of Yahoo! Groups. Fantastic site!

Craig's List
If you want to sell items, Craig's List is the place. As opposed to eBay, Craig's List doesn't charge you to sell items. There are areas on the site for most large cities, so you can just deal with those local to you for convenience.

Environmental Protection Agency: Materials and Waste Exchanges
The EPA’s state-by-state listing of materials and waste exchanges.

Southern Waste Information eXchange, Inc.
The Southern Waste Information eXchange, Inc., links buyers and sellers nationwide.

New York Wa$teMatch
New York Wa$teMatch helps businesses in the New York City area to exchage their waste materials.

Operation: Landfill Elimination
Tons of tips for reuse of household items in order to reduce trash.

Montgomery County, MD Recycling Web Site - MCRecycles.org
A recycling newsletter (The Recycletter), and information on recycling in Montgomery County

Gaiam - www.gaiam.com
A company specializing in natural and conservation-related product sales.

Related books at Amazon.com

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Stacy Ichniowski
Email: stacy@tealdragon.net
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