What To Do With ...

[SgtMaj]

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

We all know the slogan, or motto if you will. There is a reason they are in the order they are. Reducing consumption makes the largest ecological impact of the three, followed closely by reusing and recycling. We all want to make the biggest difference we can make, but it's too late to reduce the stuff we already have. But it's not too late to reuse and recycle it.

In this series we will focus only on reusing and recycling the stuff we already have. My hope is that by realizing new ways to reuse some of the stuff you would have thrown out before, it will help reduce consumption. Or at the very least you may come to realize that some things can be recycled that you were not previously aware of.

I thought the new year would be the perfect time to start this... but we don't yet have a separate forum, so this thread is an acting place-holder for this series of articles until a new forum is created for it. Each day I will be posting a new reply about a different household item that often finds it's way into our landfills. If you have any questions or comments however, please do not hesitate to post a reply of your own in this thread. We'll just have the moderators split the thread once the new forum is created.

[SgtMaj]

Jan. 1, 2009

The first item we're going to look at in this series is plastic 2 liter soda bottles. So, what can you do with the empty soda bottle you're about to throw in the trash? Sit back and read on before you just throw it all away.

REUSE IT

* Make a wasp and yellow-jacket trap by cutting it in two near the top where it starts to curve up to the lip. Take off the lid and save it, we'll do something else with that later. Turn the top upside down and insert it into the bottom end and staple, tape, or glue the edges together. Bait it by placing a little bit of apple-juice in the bottom and place it out on the patio a few hours before your next BBQ to make sure the wasps and yellow-jackets don't disturb your guests. You can find more information as well as detailed pictures on how to turn an empty soda bottle into a wasp trap here: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/insects-pests/how-to-make-a-2-liter-soda-bottle-wasp-trap-043290

* Make a bird feeder by drilling two holes near the bottom. Run a piece of string from the outside to the inside through the holes with the bottle upside down (so the loose ends of the string fall out of the bottle so you can grab them). Tie the ends of the string in knots or tie them to each other to keep them from slipping back out the holes. Now you've got something to hang your bird feeder with (alternatively you can use wire). Next drill a large hole through the neck of the bottle (this is where the seed will fall out from). Finally, glue or bolt the bottle-cap upside down on a used pie tin, or plastic plate, or other suitable item for a feeding tray (anything from an old bowl to a large peanut butter jar lid will work just fine). Fill the bottle with bird feed using a funnel, then screw the lid (and feeding tray) back on the bottle, hang it up outside a window so you can enjoy watching the birds. You can get more information including pictures here: http://www.runnerduck.com/01-23-04.htm

* 2 liter bottles make excellent upside-down planters. To make an upside down planter for your tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and green beans, cut the bottom of the bottle off (don't you dare throw that out either... everything's good for something, and I'll tell you what that's good for, next). Again drill a couple of holes in the sides and run string through the holes to hang the bottle with. Now take a seedling and put the roots through the top of the bottle. Next reuse old coffee filters or we newspaper to loosely plug up the empty space in the neck of the bottle. Finally hang the bottle from a drapery rod in front of a window, or on the porch and just fill with potting soil or dirt and water it regularly. You can find more information as well as pictures here: http://www.kansan.com/stories/2008/may/08/reuse_it/

* Make seed starters out of two liter bottles by cutting the bottoms off and simply planting seeds in each of the five dimples on the bottoms of the bottles and covering with soil. Save the tops and use them to keep newly planted seedlings safe from bugs and slugs, and keep them just a bit warmer by placing them over the tops of them like this: http://www.botanus.com/blog/wp-content/plastic-bottle_web.jpg

* Make perfect mini-greenhouses out of 2 liter bottles simply by removing any labels that might still be attached. Drill a small-ish hole in the very center of the bottle then fill the bottle 1/3rd full with dirt or potting soil. Dampen the soil, then using a stick, pencil or other rod, make an impression in the dirt and drop a seed through the top into the impression in the soil. Use the same rod to cover the seed over with dirt. That's it. Leave the cap on most of the time to conserve water and make a humid environment for the plant. To replant, just cut the bottle open with a knife and recycle the plastic.

* Use the empty bottles as drip feeders by drilling a hole in the top of the bottle cap, run a straw through the hole and seal it to the cap. Fill the bottle with water and put the cap on, then just push it into the ground at the base of the plant you want to keep watered. It should look something like this: http://www.dobies.co.uk/im/pd/SUWAT18375_2.jpg

* You can make a crayfish and minnow trap out of two empty 2 liter bottles by cutting the tops and bottoms off, inserting the tops upside down into the middle and stapling just like you did with the wasp trap. Then attach the two middle sections together by making a small incision in one of the halves and gluing the edge inside the edge of the other. When you're done, the trap should look something like this, except made of plastic: http://www.wildco.com/pctr/125G10.jpg You'll need to weight it down with something like gravel.

* Believe it or not, 2 liter soda bottles are also pretty good at storing water. Everyone should have an emergency supply of water stored away somewhere in case of an emergency, and 2 liter bottles are an excellent storage medium. When storing water for emergencies, make sure you add a few drops of extra chlorine (plain bleach, 2 to 5 drops per 2-liter bottle) to the water to make sure it will keep for several years. For best results, store it in a dark place.

* How about making a wind-turbine with a 2-liter bottle? Oh yes, it's possible. As a bonus, you'll get to use a couple of those old AOL software CD's they kept sending you back in the 90's. You'll need a few extra supplies for this one though. This one's too long to give a step by step tutorial, but just check this out: http://mirror-us-ga1.gallery.hd.org/_exhibits/mechanoids/_more2007/_more10/turbine-wind-tiny-VAWT-Savonius-SVAWT-prototype-blades-made-from-2l-two-liter-plastic-bottle-and-CD-and-garden-stake-and-drawing-pin-thumbtack-1-DHD.jpg If you're interested in making one, here's a good place to get started with understanding and making the components: [url][http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2007-07/going-wind/url]

* Here's a pictorial on using 2 liter bottles as gift boxes: http://picasaweb.google.com/KIMZKIDZ/BottleSwapInstructions#5152158880712829986

* Here's another tutorial on making a CPU fan duct from a 2 liter bottle: http://www.808.dk/?cheapducting

* 2 liter bottles also can be made into birdhouses very easily. Just drill a hole in the side of the bottle (the hole size will vary depending upon what type of bird you want to make it for. Go to: http://www.wild-bird-watching.com/Building_Bird_Houses.html to determine the best size and placement of entrance hole to make. You can either mount the birdhouse by screwing or gluing the bottle cap to the underside of whatever you're mounting it to, or by drilling a hole through the cap and using a string to hang it from something like a branch in a tree. A little bit of paint will give the birds a secure feeling.

* Make a food waste collection bin out of a 2-liter bottle by cutting the top off and inserting it upside down in the bottle but don't permanently attach it. Remove the top to add more compostable food scraps and put the top back on to make sure none of the odors stink up the kitchen.

* You remember back in the beginning I promised you something to do with the caps, Save up enough different colored bottle caps and you can create a mosaic the next time you have a slab of concrete to pour. See: http://www.temasactuales.com/temasblog/wp-content/Images/banca%20campo%20cielo.jpg

* Create a game of memory by putting small pictures on the insides of the bottle caps.

Here's a quick you tube video that has some other things to do with 2 liter bottles as well as covering some things we've already gone over: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1XBSoovQtY

RECYCLE IT

Alright, so you're not impressed by anything you can do with plastic bottles. Fine, you can get rid of it then, but hold it right there! Just because I said you could get rid of it doesn't mean it's ok to just throw it in the trash. There's still a couple of ways you can get rid of them without having them wind up in a landfll. You can give the whole bottle with the cap to Terracycle to reuse as liquid organic fertilizer containers if you happen to live close to one of their facilities. In the US:

1123 Promontory Dr . . . . . . . . . . . . or . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 New York Ave
Marietta, GA 30062 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Trenton, New Jersey 08638

In Canada:

855 Alness #26
Toronto, Ontario M3J 2X3

If you're not lucky enough to live close to one of teir facilities, you can recycle the plastic. The bottle is made of #1 plastic and every recycling center will accept the bottle for recycling. But don't just throw it in the recycling bin with the cap on. The bottle cap is made of #5 plastic, and very few recycling centers will accept them. You can go to: http://earth911.com/ and type in plastic bottle caps in the search field to find out if a recycling center near you accepts them. If not, you can save them up until you have enough to fill a large box, then ship them to a recycling center that does accept them, like these:

In the US:

Plastic Options LLC
2709 OLD PULASKI RD.
NEW CASTLE, PA 16105

In Europe:

Associated Polymer Resources
Wrens Farm Industrial Estate
Castle Lane
North Baddesley
Southampton
SO52 9LY

[greenteadrinker]

Bravo!

[SgtMaj]

Jan. 2, 2009

Coffee, brew, café au lait, cappuccino, decaf, java, joe whatever you call it, coffee is the most popular flavored drink in the world. So popular in fact, that it’s the second most traded resource (behind oil). In fact, I’ll bet you just brewed a cup a little while ago. Well go ahead and your cup of coffee. Just stop before you throw out the leftover coffee and read this first.

Like most people, I’ll bet you’ve got a little bit of extra coffee in the bottom of the pot. About a cup’s worth if you’re the average joe (go ahead and laugh, the pun was intended). It may not seem like a big deal to just toss that little bit of liquid down the drain, but consider this: every day, over 800 million gallons of unused coffee from pots just like yours get washed down the drain. If everyone did something else with that unused coffee, we’d save enough water that 9 wastewater treatment facilities could be shut down. We would also save 1,625,000 kWh of electricity needed just to pump that water to the faucet.

So stop before you throw away that leftover coffee, coffee grounds, or coffee filter from your cup of joe, and consider some of the alternatives instead:

REUSE IT

* Use the leftover coffee in the pot to water your houseplants. You’ll save water, and as a bonus, coffee acts like compost tea fertilizer for your plants. If you don’t have any houseplants, use it to water an outdoor plant.

* Pour the leftover coffee on anthills to get rid of the ants naturally. Or sprinkle the leftover coffee grounds on the anthill or around the garden (bonus: also repels cutworms).

* Mix leftover coffee grounds with potting soil or sprinkle around the garden as a long-lasting plant food.

* Used coffee grounds make an excellent exfoliating facial or body scrub that’s actually healthy for your skin! You can use it plain, or add some to your favorite liquid soap.

* You can use leftover coffee or coffee grounds to dye Easter eggs brown.

* Got a coffee or chocolate stain on that new white shirt? Don’t fret, dye the whole shirt by using the leftover coffee or coffee grounds, some hot water, and a bucket. Soak the shirt for at least an hour, you can wear it before washing it, just make sure to wash separately the first couple of times to keep it from staining other clothes in the wash.

* Dry the coffee grounds and put them in some old nylon hosiery and hang in closets to absorb odors.

* Blondes, brunettes, and redheads, did you know that you can use the leftover coffee to put highlights in your hair? Well now you know, and just think of how many guys will be addicted to you if you do.

* Woodworkers can use the leftover coffee to stain wood.

* Let’s not forget about the filter though, line your plant pots with the used coffee filters to keep soil from spilling out through the holes in the bottom.

* Of course, I’d be incompetent if I didn’t mention simply composting the coffee grounds and filters.

* You can also make “treasure stones” out of leftover coffee grounds (great for hiding the emergency house key). Here are the full instructions: http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/miscstpatricks/a/bltrstone.htm

* If none of that sparks your interest, consider freezing your leftover coffee so you can warm it up and enjoy it at some later time?


RECYCLE IT

Alright, so you're not impressed by anything you can do with leftover coffee. Fine, you can get rid of it then, but hold it right there! Just because I said you could get rid of it doesn't mean it's ok to just throw it down the sink or in the trash. The very least you can do is recycle the filters with your paper recycling and the grounds with your yard waste (to be composted at a compost center), and throw the leftover liquid coffee out on the ground to save some power and chemicals from wastewater treatment.

We’ll cover what to do with those empty coffee cans and that coffee cup another day, so stay tuned for more!

[eugene]

Don't forget the reduce part is better than the re-use or recycle. I can't remember the last time I bought a 2 liter bottle of pop/soda, its probably been many years, I get enough pop when I eat out so I try to not keep it at home.

Coffee, wife bought one of those little tiny coffe makers since she's the only one that drinks it so a smaller pot makes less waste.

[wolfspirit]

I would add a REDUCE to your coffee article:

1) Use the cup that you are going to be drinking coffee in to measure out your water. Much less waste that way.

2) Buy a reuseable basket (metal-mesh ones are what I always see), so that you don't have to worry about composting the paper filter.

Otherwise, excellent.

Steven

[greenTmom]

This is an excellent idea SgtMaj...you should write an ebook on this subject! Let's see my contribution would be to re-use the bottle as a Plant Waterer - Remove the cap and the bottom of the bottle. Turn the bottle upside down, and set the spout into the ground or pot. Fill with water and this will allow your plants to be watered when you are going to be away for a few days.
Why won't TH let you do this series as a separate forum like you asked?

[jcoffman]

You can also use 2 liter bottles to make mosquito traps. These were posted a few months back. The link is here

As far as making this a separate area, Treehugger is not against it... First of all, none of us mods have the power to do that, only make the suggestion. This topic most definately has potential for its own separate area, but I must be honest... So far everything posted has basically been a recap of other things already discussed here. While I do like the organization of these ideas as SgtMaj is doing, we also need to look at the harder to deal with items that people are asking questions about. Ideas about the following items would be good to see

bubble wrap
cardboard juice/milk containers
Those styrofoam plate things that ground meat and other meat items are being packed in
cat food cans. (some recycling centers dont take them)
old DVD/CD's building a chair out of them is a novelty....but seriously... would anyone actually be comfortable??
toilet paper/paper towel tubes
old carpet
old/stained pillows
old matresses

There are thousands of things my wife asks me about all the time. Some can be recycled, but to truly make use of them we need to focus on the re-use of things.

SgtMaj, you have an uphill battle, but I think you are on to something. Come on everyone... Lets show the world what kind of out of the box thinking we can do!

[CarolinaJim]

Bubble Wrap...use it in the garden to insulate tender plants.
fill up a couple of milk jugs with water. Take a stick about 3 ft long and stick it through the handle. Plant lettuce or other cool season vegetables. Drape the bubble wrap over the top and now you have a improvised mini climate controlled cold frame/greenhouse.

Crush a cardboard juice container and place it in the bottom of a pot to keep soil from falling through the drain hole...you can do the same with aliminum cans.

Collect styrofoam meat trays along with other styrofoam pieces. Put loosely in large plastic bags. Good for insulating plants.

Cat food cans either metal or plastic. Crush and use them for the bottom of pots for drainiage...and to keep soil from leaking out.

Old DVDs. Make a garden sculpture...take your old Christmas tree. Trim some of the limbs off and hang the DVDs from the remaining limbs. More than a garden sculpture...will help scare unwanted birds and animals away. String old DVDs on an electric fence to warn humans and animals of it's presence by making it very visible.

Toilet paper and paper towel tubes. Biodegradable protection for young plant stems. Keeps cutworms away.

Old carpet...use as mulch in the garden, use as a soil stabilizer in mucky areas...like geotextile cloth. Put it over the mucky area. Spread soil or gravel. Water can go through and move but you will not sink as readily. If you are really industrious put this on top of your corduroy road (logs laid in parallel perpendicular to the direction of travel). After this is done place carpet over the bed of logs. The put about 4 inches of soil over the carpet. You now have a path that if large enough can be used to drive a car across a place that was at one time impassable. Here is a photo of my corduroy road. You can see the logs sticking out on the right side of the road. I routinely use this road with my one ton truck and farm tractor.



Pillows...put in a plastic bag and use for protecting plants. You could place them in the attic for additional insulation but I wonder about fire risk.

Mattresses...disassemble. Put foam and cotton into small plastic bags use as with the pillows. The wire frame can be recycled or used as a garden trellis...although the springs make this tricky.

Here is my minnow trap. I've been using it for about a year to catch mosquito fish.


Here is a photo of another example of reuse which I have implemented. Last year I built a 7 foot high privacy fence ...roughly 100 feet or so in length. I ended up with lots of board ends since I was using 8 foot ACQ lumber. Most of the time these sorts of pieces of wood end up in the dump. I use my collection all the time for bases for farm equipment, leveling small buildings, etc etc. Recently I used my collection to build improvised shingle roofs over my wood piles. I figure they'll last a lifetime doing this job.



The problem with reuse is sometimes storage and need. A garage can quickly become full of "junk" which is awaiting that perfect use.

A second problem is volume...what do you do with one cd...I use them for coasters. But that is pretty limiting.

So, Freecycle or free stuff with Craigs List seems to be a good way to go. That way, you can contribute your small stash to someone needing a large quantity of material or you can get that large amount of material when you have a project to do.

[SgtMaj]

First I want to say that I appreciate everyone's comments. I have thought long and hard about this, and have decided not to continue this series. I thought it would be a good idea because forums have an enourmous potential for collaboration, and with treehugger basically already dominating the environmental forum market I figured that would only multiply the collaborative effects of such a project. However, jcoffman is right that there are no new ideas being posted. In fact, everything I posted I found from google searches. So the question is really if gathering those ideas here is worth the "uphill battle" or effort required. I have come to the conclusion that it's much easier and nearly just as effective for those looking for solutions on what to do with something to just do a google search for themselves. Again, thank you to everyone that was supportive of me and the idea.

[tigerlily78]

I am disappointed to hear you are throwing in the towel.

Yes, people could spend time finding all these solutions on google. But the fact is most of them won't.

If we are lucky they will browse the top three results and find what they were looking for. If they don't their item of inquiry will probably go to the dump, because the majority of people are still not that willing to inconvenience themselves to be eco-conscious.

If you give up so easily you are just reaffirming one of the possible reasons for not making this it's own board (besides the fact the "powers that be" are still catching up from the Holiday)... that you might not stick with it.

I always got the impression you were a fighter. You aren't really gonna give up so easy, are you?

[greenTmom]

Too bad, SgtMaj, I was looking forward to your "What to do with..." series. It is a great idea! Sure, people can google for answers, but this forum seems to have a lot of credibility that people look to for information. And you are so informative about these issues. Have you thought about writting an eBook on this series instead then, if you have given up on the forum process?

[SgtMaj]

Too bad, SgtMaj, I was looking forward to your "What to do with..." series. It is a great idea! Sure, people can google for answers, but this forum seems to have a lot of credibility that people look to for information. And you are so informative about these issues. Have you thought about writting an eBook on this series instead then, if you have given up on the forum process?

I actually didn't know much about them at all... I just did a few hours worth of research for each to find out everything I could.

Tigerlily was right about people not being willing to take that kind of time, but people who are searching for that kind of thing typically are only looking for one specific thing such as where to recycle it, or how to make such and such from it that would already be predefined in the search, and anyone that's taking the time to search in the first place, is concerned enough to follow through to find the answer.

I'm not completely giving up per-se. There are already several sites that are trying to emerge as reuse brain trusts, and I can be of some help to them. One of them was even featured on the treehugger main page yesterday.

As far as waiting to see if someone would stick with it, well that's just a cop-out. It's not like other people wouldn't have contributed... even in here people contributed some great ideas. No, the truth is jcoffman was right, it's just not needed. Some things are worth fighting for, and some things aren't, and since there are already other sites out there trying to do this, trying to make it happen here as well, just isn't worth fighting for.

[greenTmom]

I'm not completely giving up per-se. There are already several sites that are trying to emerge as reuse brain trusts, and I can be of some help to them. One of them was even featured on the treehugger main page yesterday.

Well you are very welcome to post your series on http://www.greenearthfriend.com/forum/ if you are still up for it!

[CarolinaJim]

SgtMaj,
Sure ideas may be out there in the internet...but collecting and collating those ideas into a library of sorts is very useful and inspiring.