How to Reuse Packaging
Americans throw away 4.6 pounds of trash a day, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA. In 2007, 254.1 million tons of trash was thrown away. A number of "green living" or "tightwad" websites show that interest in reusing or repurposing packaging grows stronger by the day.
Instructions
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Reduce the amount of packaging you bring home. Curtail shopping, buy in bulk and buy used items rather than new. The first step in reusing is reducing. The less you bring home, the less you will reuse or toss.
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Use glass jars to store dried foods. Examine an item before tossing it in the trash. Be creative. Consider what else you could use it for. Glass jars, milk jugs, egg cartons and soda bottles all have multiple uses. Make lists of how to reuse each category of item.
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Wash all glass jars. Use them to store dried foods, and any other items you can list. Gather a box full of glass jars and donate them to a friend who cans food from her garden.
More Ideas for Reusing Packaging
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Reuse foam meat trays. Use them as a hot pad for casseroles or pizzas, to drain grease off of bacon or ground beef or cut them in half, staple together and use them as kneeling pads in the garden or garage.
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Plastic jugs can be reused in many ways. Create garden tools with used milk jugs. Cut off the bottom, punch small holes in the top and bury the jug in the garden, leaving the bottom of the jug open to the sky. Fill the jug with water and it will slowly water your onions or radishes. Or cut off the top of the jug as well, then put it over young plants to protect them. Store water in the jugs.
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Return plastic grocery bags to the store. Keep them in the car and use them next time you go shopping. These bags aren't durable, but you can still reuse them until they break. Wash out resealable baggies for reuse, unless meat was stored in them.
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For small children, a cardboard box is a thousand things. Give large cardboard boxes to young children. Cut a hole for the "castle" door or cut battlements or turrets. Cover the box with a blanket and it becomes a cave or an outlaw hideout. Creativity is alive and well in kids and they'll have hours of fun in a cardboard box.
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Tips & Warnings
Find and read a copy of the "The Complete Tightwad Gazette" by Amy Dacyczyn. See if the library near you has a copy. Check the used bookstores. The book provides thousands of reuse tips and frugal thoughts.
Food packaging is a special case. Not all the materials used in packaging food can be safely reused. Glass is the only material that's been designed with more than one use in mind. Find a good guide and follow instructions to be safe. Don't reuse plastic film or stryofoam meat trays with food.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit garbage image by Mat Hayward from Fotolia.com two glass jars with pasta image by Wayne Abraham from Fotolia.com Container of milk. Plastic milk bottle image by L. Shat from Fotolia.com cardboard box image by MAXFX from Fotolia.com
