This week's Weekword, courtesy of Elisabeth, is a favourite of mine: RECYCLING.
I am really looking forward to reading everybody else's blog posts about this one!
I am a bit of a recycling obsessive, which leads to much hoarding. I don't like to throw things in the bin so if they can't be recycled, I tend to hang onto them. Luckily we have very good recycling facilities in this county and almost everything is picked up kerbside, so we throw out very little.
It's got to the point now where I actually wince when I see a can in a bin. Years of Mother Hand digging through my kitchen rubbish, removing all the cans and taking them home with her to recycle have had a massive effect. The Reprographics department at work save all their old batteries for me to bring home and recycle, so I am obviously a little bit famous for it.
I've tried to be a bit more creative with my recycling in the past year. Some old drawers and an unwanted bread bin became planters for our vegetable-growing exploits last summer, for example. And I'm into my 3rd year of recycling soap into washing powder. I'm not sure if that's really recycling, since I am not using the soap more than once: but I am taking something and repurposing it so it doesn't end up in landfill. I think my home-made laundry detergent is also better for the environment and uses less packaging. I haven't yet had to buy any soap for it, either, so it's saving me quite a chunk of money.
Here endeth my ramblings on recycling. As I feared, I didn't have much of interest to say, but I'll look forward to reading everybody else's.
If you want to participate in Weekword next week, head on over to Carmen's blog on Monday to find out what the word will be.
6 comments:
Sally, what a great idea to save the old "chips" left on the bar soaps and reuse them in the laundry. And you are right, it is much better for us and the landfill and the water table. Thanks for the tip!
Karen
Wow, how does the homemade laundry soap work? That's something I'd be interested in.
I'm with you on the cringing. I dig out the cardboard core from the toilet paper because my hubby keeps throwing them out. He should learn.
You had tons of interest to say! I make my own soap as well and find that to be it's own form of recycling in that I avoid buying packaged junk in the first place. I love your dedication to finding new ways to use the things around you-I'm a nasty hoarder of plastic dishes and tupperware-we reuse and reuse and reuse till the things fall apart from kitty/doggie trauma :) Can't wait to play with you next week!
Here is the recipe I use for my laundry soap -
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/make-your-own-laundry-soap.html
I make the powdered kind and keep it in a (recycled!) glass jar. It works better with old soap that has started to dry out, so it doesn't clump together when grated.
It's got to the point now where I don't like the smell of conventional laundry soap on my clothes!
Thanks for the comments, all!
Thanks for the link. I'm going to try it.
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