45 replies to this topic

[johnygreen]

Hello everybody, I thought to create a thread with comprehensive information and lots of recycling ideas on recycling various products and goods.

Please share your own unique ideas on recycling which are following or think that those are great ideas; and let this thread become a detailed information source on recyling and resusing which in turn can help people go green and save our environment as a result.

Recycling ideas can be about any products, goods, etc. on small or large scale whatever.

Lets Make Recycling More Popular!!

[Shortpoet-GTD]

A couple of observations-
lower to middle income people may re-purpose an older item from a yard sale or flea market.
Higher income groups generally (not always) buy new.

Creative people look at things differently, and will see items used in a whole new way that others
don't.
There are hundreds, if not thousands of artist's that use old materials in their art; canvas, metal work,
woodwork, ceramics, you name it.

(There's a commercial for something; don't remember what they were selling, but the featured
kitchen had a wooden spoon chandelier, forks and spoons as cabinet pulls, and halved rolling pins
for hooks)

 spoon light.jpg   10.67K   0 downloads
Or-
 spoon light 2.jpg   8.41K   0 downloads
I love it because it shows the imagination that we can all use to re-purpose any item.
You Tube has many video's on the subject; here's a few more.
http://www.goodhouse...SMT-GHK#slide-1

Tons of idea's here too-
http://www.bobvila.com/

[Besoeker]

On reusing, I re-finished this little table that belonged to my parents. They bought it second-hand possibly sixty years ago.
Over the years it got in a parlous state and might have been thrown out but my sweet Georgia wife saw the potential and convinced me to take on the project.

I did and, well...

[johnygreen]

Shortpoet-GTD, on 20 February 2014 - 02:09 PM, said:

A couple of observations-
lower to middle income people may re-purpose an older item from a yard sale or flea market.
Higher income groups generally (not always) buy new.

Creative people look at things differently, and will see items used in a whole new way that others
don't.
There are hundreds, if not thousands of artist's that use old materials in their art; canvas, metal work,
woodwork, ceramics, you name it.

(There's a commercial for something; don't remember what they were selling, but the featured
kitchen had a wooden spoon chandelier, forks and spoons as cabinet pulls, and halved rolling pins
for hooks)

spoon light.jpg
Or-
spoon light 2.jpg
I love it because it shows the imagination that we can all use to re-purpose any item.
You Tube has many video's on the subject; here's a few more.
http://www.goodhouse...SMT-GHK#slide-1

Tons of idea's here too-
http://www.bobvila.com/

Really Impressive and Creative Idea!!

[johnygreen]

Besoeker, on 20 February 2014 - 02:57 PM, said:

On reusing, I re-finished this little table that belonged to my parents. They bought it second-hand possibly sixty years ago.
Over the years it got in a parlous state and might have been thrown out but my sweet Georgia wife saw the potential and convinced me to take on the project.

I did and, well...

Besoker you have done really a good job.
It is looking like a new one.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Villages in Kenya are using "solar bottles" to light their homes.

"The concept was first developed in the Philippines, and recycles clear 1-litre plastic soda bottles.
These are filled with water, leaving a small gap to allow the water to expand when it heats up.
A round hole is made in the roof and the bottle inserted with its top sticking out. When sunlight hits the bottle,
the water reflects it down into the house. Bleach is added to the water to keep it clean."
http://www.trust.org...h/?source=hptop

[Shortpoet-GTD]

The Louisiana National Guard has dropped thousands of recycled Christmas trees in a wildlife refuge to create
new marsh lands.
In recent years, they have established 175 acres of new marshes.

http://www.wdsu.com/...auvage/24597138

[johnygreen]

The Bottle Idea is really great!!

[conor]

Any advice to recycle and reuse to office furniture?

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Items that you (us in general) don't know how to reuse; like office chairs for instance,
can be donated and reused by someone else. (I recently picked up a better office chair at Goodwill
and it set me back a whooping $3.00)
So I just donated the one I had back to the same store.

Filing cabinets could be used in a variety of ways (besides storing paperwork)- in a garage or shed for gardening
supplies: pots, bags of soil, small hand tools, gloves-etc. Or as storage for pet supplies; what we put in
those drawers is only limited by our imagination (and needs)
They could house boxes too to hold stuff we want to recycle.   

Shelving units can be used for a variety of things and in other parts of the house like the kitchen, for instance,
if someone lacked cabinet space.

I like to watch "Find and Design" It's a flea market, garage sale decorating show (here locally
on the Biography channel-check your listings). It's amazing how the decorators find old
items and re-purpose them and it gives me tons of ideas; either by recovering items
with tiles, paint, new stain, new handles or even cutting items into pieces to reuse parts
of them.
This site also has many idea's on reusing items.

http://www.bobvila.com/
Hope that helps.

[conor]

Yes, this will help surely.

I am little confused here. Whenever i need advice you come straight way :). Other users don't.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

conor, on 05 March 2014 - 06:16 AM, said:

Yes, this will help surely.

I am little confused here. Whenever i need advice you come straight way :). Other users don't.

That's cause I'm here quite often and I'm older than dirt, so the ages have given me some clues. (I won't
say wisdom, that's too egocentric but......)

Glad to help in any way I can.

[conor]

Thanks for your help and looking forward for the same in future as well.

[johnygreen]

It is good idea to buy old and used furniture and spend some money to give them a new look.

I have observed that many people discard and dump old and used furniture because they do not look good, and just buy new ones as they have much money.

If some money is spent to give them new look, new shape and new polishing then it can be a very useful idea. I think wood is very precious not only in terms of money but also in terms of natural resources. A tree take years of time to grow fullly.

So I think we should try to give old furniture a new look and shape atlease for the sake of our environment.

[Besoeker]

johnygreen, on 14 March 2014 - 10:22 PM, said:

It is good idea to buy old and used furniture and spend some money to give them a new look.

I have observed that many people discard and dump old and used furniture because they do not look good, and just buy new ones as they have much money.

If some money is spent to give them new look, new shape and new polishing then it can be a very useful idea. I think wood is very precious not only in terms of money but also in terms of natural resources. A tree take years of time to grow fullly.

So I think we should try to give old furniture a new look and shape atlease for the sake of our environment.

We've done that with a few pieces.
Here are some hundred year old bottles on a hundred year old Hoosier cabimet.

[conor]

Hey Johnygreen,

I have a new idea to Recycling and Reusing.

Few days back in our organisation there was a small function organised and each one asked to create some new things which are reusable but you need to build that with only waste. We were given some sort of timings. Finally day came and there were lots of useful things created by individuals which was made by waste like paper, with stick of ice creams and waste bottles.

If every organisation does the same then it can help in recycling the waste.

[eds]

The devastating earthquake that struck in central China's Sichuan province on May 12,
. . . killed 69,000 and left 4.8 million people homeless.
The most chilling symbol of the Wenchuan quake were the thousands of schools,
. . . that flattened like pancakes, crushing scores of children.

Shigeru Ban's RECYCLED Paper Tube, Earthquake-Ready School for China.

[johnygreen]

Hi Besoeker it is really Amazing, Interesting and Creative!!!
GREAT JOB!!

[johnygreen]

Yes Conor totaly agree with you, everybody should try recycling ideas.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Consider the color of plastics when buying products. Clear or white can be easily recycled; other colors
are more expensive to recycle or may not be recycled at all.  
http://www.theguardi...ot-green-option