How to Recycle Just About Anything

Recycling does not have to be limited to rinsed-out cans and stacks of magazines. You can recycle just about anything, from old tires to shoe boxes, as long as you put your mind to it.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Get artistic. This doesn’t mean going out and taking a watercolor class but looking at chunks of recyclables as possible artwork. Broken glass makes for fine mosaics, for example.

2. Reuse when possible. Old, holey socks make great top layers in cold weather. Tin cans work as pencil cups. A shoe that broke should go to the cobbler, not the trash.

3. Befriend a handyman or woman. These people can turn old tires into new flip flops or cut tree branches into sticks on which you can paint or draw.

4. Organize things. A simple glance in a closet may convince you all those shoe boxes, bags and plastic containers you were going to throw out make for great storage.

5. Compost. If you have a yard, lots of the gross stuff you throw away could go towards enriching the soil.

6. Donate. Look online for places that may accept recyclable materials that are out of the ordinary. Plenty of places would clap their hands at your old computer, cell phone or even plastic.

Tips & Warnings

• Check websites to see what others have created with recyclables. It’s amazing what you can do with a little trash.
• Don’t recycle containers that once held raw meat or any other substance that may fester, smell and spread disease.

Resources

• Directory of recycling places
• Ryn's Lucky Voodoo Dolls made from trash

[thebeaddoodler]

on 6/5/2009 So many articles on recycling and everyone has new ideas and ways of recycling. Great ideas.