Reduce, Reuse, Recycle series: Part 2, Reuse

This is Part 2, Reuse, in a three-part series on minimizing waste through the Reduce-Reuse-Recycle maxim.  Read Part 1, Reduce, here.

"Reuse" is probably my favorite concept of the Reduce-Reuse-Recycle triumvirate.  I feel that it's the one with the greatest number of possibilities for creativity, especially since there's only so much reducing one can do.  This is also arguably the most radical of the three, since the Standard American Lifestyle is very much centered around convenience, and all too often that means disposable or single-use items when a reusable, much less wasteful option exists (think paper and plastic shopping bags, sugar packets, cardboard coffee cups, and plastic straws).  Opting to reuse an item generally seen as disposable or choosing a different item altogether is a radical act in our single-use, consumption-heavy and trash-heavy society.  It's a form of civil disobedience against the culture of convenience, and it's a way to support the common good one baby step at a time.

Some of these are very easy, and some are more challenging or time-consuming.  I started with reusable shopping bags as my very first step, and gradually built up to the bigger projects like a rag rug, pallet bookshelf, and collecting greywater.  A few of these ideas, including the greywater, are closer to "recapture" what would otherwise be wasted than "reuse" or repurpose an already used or owned item, but I think the spirit is closer to reusing than reducing or recycling, so they're included here as well.    

It's important to note here that just because these work for me does NOT mean they'll necessarily work for everyone.  I encourage people to adopt as many eco-friendly habits as they feel they reasonably can, and happily acknowledge that every little bit counts. This disclaimer applies to my previous post on this topic as well.  Many of these are practical for me because I have more time than money right now, and for someone with very little time, I certainly see the appeal of convenience.  If that's you, I urge you to adopt just a few habits that you feel you can take on--say, reusable bags, keeping and reusing containers from packaged foods, and keeping a spare change jar, which are probably the three least time-consuming items on this list--and don't feel like any contribution is too small to make a difference.  It makes a difference somewhere, even if it's not visibly apparent.  (If you feel the need, you can always add in more later.  No need to do everything at once, as I often have to remind myself.)

Here's the list, in no particular order:

Reusable shopping bags are an easy and painless way to get into reusing.  I've gotten quite a collection (at right) of all kinds of bags over the years, from thrifting or raiding my parents' attic or hand-me-downs from relatives, and all of them are useful.  Most grocery stores sell them now--one of my favorites is a large canvas bag from Trader Joe's.  I also have a fold-up one that I keep in my purse, and several mesh produce bags so I don't have to use those plastic ones which, in my area, are usually non-recyclable.  (The green mesh bag, in a previous life, held "All Blue" seed potatoes fromSeed Savers Exchange, one of my all-time favorite non-profits--check them out if you like heirloom seeds, organic seeds, great stories, or biodiversity.)  As a bonus, many stores give you a $0.05 or $0.10 (yay Whole Foods!) rebate per bag.  It's not a lot, but when I think of it being equivalent to finding a dime on every time I shop, it suddenly seems like a lot more.  At one 2-bag trip per week, that's $0.20/week, which is $10.40/year!  Not bad for not having to do a single thing except remember to bring the darn bags into the store! 

I wash plastic bags and reuse them until they break, start to leak, or something goes moldy inside them.  At that point, I compost the contents and toss the bag, since I'm not convinced I could get it sanitary after that given how thin/melty they can be.

Keeping plastic containers from packaged food, like cheese, yogurt, or sour cream, is an easy way to get free food storage containers.  I also like this because my apartment complex doesn't recycle (in California, of all places!?!?!), so it's one less thing to haul over to B's complex and throw in with their recycling.  

Aluminum foil is so easy to reuse.  I just rinse off any debris and then roll it out flat again, fold it up, and throw it back in the drawer.  When it does finally get too tired to reuse again, I recycle it, as it is just as recyclable as aluminum cans.  Just be sure to wash it first, since many recycling plants won't accept unclean foil.

Whenever I'm prepping food, I set aside the ends of vegetables, which I lovingly refer to as "veggie butts," for making stock.  They go into a gallon bag in the freezer, and when it gets full I make veggie stock, or I throw it in with some similarly saved chicken bones to make chicken stock--without having to buy anything extra.  Carrot butts and peels works just as well as the equivalent weight of whole carrots.  Besides carrots, I also include onions, shallots, garlic, broccoli stems, kale ribs, sweet potato peels, potato peels (I almost never peel potatoes, but when I do they go in here), and even zucchini butts if I'm going to make the stock in the next few days--I just keep those in the fridge, since they don't freeze too well.

Home "made" bread crumbs (really just collected from cutting boards, bread bags, and languishing bread heels) are another way to recapture something that would otherwise go to waste.  When the bag in the freezer fills up, it's time to make chicken or eggplant parm!

Bacon fat is far and away my favorite fat to cook with.  (Sorry, butter and coconut oil!  I do still love you, but...sigh.)  It's been tough to find good-quality lard made from happy animals in my area, but I recently found organic bacon for a fair price, and every time I fry some up, I throw the rendered fat in the fridge to use later, if I'm not using it immediately.  Every time a recipe instructs you to pour bacon fat down the drain, IGNORE THEM.  They know not what they do.

I'm glad I've gotten reasonably competent at sewing in the last few years, because with the clothes buying freeze mentioned in the last post in full swing, I'm not replacing any stained, worn, or torn items.  Instead I'm mending those clothes, patching, reattaching buttons, resewing seams, hemming, darning sock holes, etc.  

Sometimes there are clothes too ruined to mend--the fabric is completely worn through, there's an enormous grease stain I can't get out, or it's too small and I can't let it out (like in the shoulders).  In that case, they go into the scrap bag, to await a resurrection as something else.  Something like...

A rag rug!  (Seen at right with my parents' cat, Stella, modeling)  It's pretty easy but definitely time-consuming.  I braid small scraps of fabric together, sewing each new scrap to the old one so the braid doesn't fall apart, and then wind the braid in a circle and sew it to itself in a spiral.   This one is made almost entirely of old T-shirt scraps, and is currently almost 5 feet in diameter.  Not sure when I'll stop, but I'm nowhere near out of scraps yet!  Another great option with fabric scraps and old clothes is a scrap quilt, and starting one of those is actually on my summer to-do list.  

For the knitters, I also have a yarn stash that's going toward a scrap afghan.  I have way more leftover fabric than yarn, though, so it might take me a couple more decades to round up enough for an afghan.  

I just recently turned my spare change jar into cash via Coinstar, which is not exactly a revolutionary idea, but there is a little trick to it.  I take my jar the Coinstar, but rather than getting cash and a 10% service fee, I opt to get an Amazon gift card for no fee.  There are a LOT of different no-fee gift card options, including iTunes, Home Depot, Starbucks, and Southwest Airlines, but Amazon is my favorite because it feels more liquid--I can get almost anything I want, not just mp3s or coffee.  Most recently, I used it to buy saucers to go under my large pots for the porch. (The joys of adult life, huh?  Whatever, I was excited about it!)  

Where this reusing idea gets pretty weird for many people is menstrual supplies.  IF THIS SOUNDS GROSS TO YOU, SKIP TO WHERE IT SAYS "SKIP TO HERE."  THANK YOU.  Now then, for the intrepid souls--between the plastic packaging, plastic and cardboard tampon applicators, industrially bleached cotton and rayon, the peel-off papers for sticky pad backings, and plastic leak-proof linings for pads, it's pretty clear that these disposable items generate a lot of waste.  When I was about 14, it occurred to me that disposable wasn't always an option, and I wondered what on earth women did before the advent of good ol' polyethylene.  To my teenage horror, I discovered women mostly used rags or cloth pads and then washed and reused them (!!!!).  Earlier this year, looking to switch for an environmental reason, I re-examined that idea.  What I ultimately settled on were reusable sea sponge tampons and reusable cloth panty liners that I made myself.  They're saving me TONS of money--no more buying a $5-7 box of tampons (or maybe 2 boxes, if I need more than one absorbency/size) and a $3-5 box each of panty liners and overnight pads every month.  For $18, I got a 3-pack of the sponges which will last for 6 months to a year, though it's been 6 months already and they're still like new, so it could be much longer.  It cost about $10 in materials to make 5 panty liners that I don't imagine will ever wear out or need to be replaced.  So for the previous cost of 2 months' supplies, I'm now set for at least a year.  Score!   

[SKIP TO HERE] I have a lot of things I'll reuse in crafts: corks, lightbulbs (ornaments or sun catchers)  old CDs (various mirror bit projects), bottle caps (cover an old, cruddy table!), lace doilies.  So far my favorites are the doily shawl and the cork shoe mat.  Pinterest is chock full of ideas for these kinds of crafts!  

Cork shoe mat, shown with optional cat butt

Lace doily shawl

Some things I like to reuse around the house include toothbrushes, broken plates, and onion bags.  Toothbrushes past their useful days for tooth-scrubbing are great for scrubbing hard-to-reach places or, Lord have mercy, dirty grout between tiles.  Broken plates get put to use as spacers for the bottom of houseplant and garden pots, and someday if I end up with enough pieces (and also a yard) maybe I'll make a mosaic patio stone or something.  Onion bags are great for wadding unceremoniously together and making into housecleaning sponges.  Old and ratty towels get turned into cleaning rags, which in turn has helped me cut out paper towels.  I keep a few emergency paper towels around for stuff like cat barf, but mostly it's my trusty rags getting the cleaning jobs done.   

A few things don't even need to be repurposed at all to be reused, like wrapping paper, potting soil, and tea leaves.  Some people think this is weird, but I grew up in a family where we gently un-taped wrapping paper instead of shredding it, and then we folded it and saved it for later in a big stash in the basement.  Why throw it away only to buy more for the next gift-giving occasion?  Potting soil should be sterilized before reuse, either in the oven for a few hours (yum, dirt smell!) or under a dark-colored tarp in the sun for a few days, but then it's good to go.  Loose tea leaves, unlike coffee grounds or teabags, are actually meant to be reused.  If you want another pot a couple hours later, just throw the original ones back in.  Some people dry their leaves for reuse, but I confess I am too lazy to do this.  

 
As soon as I heard about the concept of reusing greywater, it made immediate sense, and I wondered why it's not more common, outside of using it to water landscaping next to the freeway here in SoCal.  That's pretty close to what I'm doing with it, only my plants are edible.  (My apartment is indeed close to the freeway.)  My apartment is not fitted for any kind of water reclamation, so I went for the low-tech approach of a 5-gallon bucket on the porch into which I pour hand-collected greywater.  I place a casserole dish in the bottom of the sink to catch rinse water from doing dishes, or the leftover water after cooking pasta.  When I change Oscar's water or find abandoned water glasses, that goes into the bucket.  When I shower, I take the bucket in with me to catch the water from the tap while I'm waiting for it to heat up, and any extra that's not hitting me.  (Since I don't use conventional shower products, I'm not worried about contamination with shampoo or shaving cream.)  I get to water my garden using almost exclusively water I would've wasted if not for this recapture.     

Here are a few ideas I'm still working on implementing, or would like to try in the future:

Fountain pens are the coolest.  They look rad, and they make everyone feel classy, and they don't have to be thrown away every time they run out of ink.  However, I'm still working off my backlog of pens I've found on the sidewalk, and I'll probably still want a few crappy ones for work and such, even if I switch.  Then again, I guess that's why we have pencils...  

I think cloth diapers are a super cool idea for if I ever have kids, not least because I'm already familiar with them from my family.  I was a cloth-diapered baby, and it seemed to work well for my parents.  After my sister and I were out of diapers, my mom designated them as cleaning rags.  Reusability in this case is both eco-friendly and cost-effective, so cloth diapers are filed away in a back drawer in my mind in case I'm ever in charge of what goes on a baby's butt. 

Family cloth is something I just heard about a few months ago.  For those of you not familiar, it's basically washable, reusable cloth toilet paper--much like cloth diapers, you wash them after every use, and supposedly it's not a big deal to throw in the wipes as well if you're already doing a load of diapers.  Some people only use them for #1, some use them for both #1 and #2.  I'm curious, but I think Roomie has put up with so much from me already that I'm going to wait on that little idea.  

There you have it--roughly umpteen (okay, just twenty) ways I reuse or recapture all kinds of little things in my daily life.  There are a bunch more that I haven't listed here, because then this list would TRULY go on forever.  I'm sure there are also a lot out there that I've never thought of--any ideas from the peanut gallery?  How do you reuse, repurpose, recapture, or upcycle things in your life? 

Up next, last in this series, various ways I recycle.  (I'll get a jump on it now by recycling some gin into a gin and tonic and sitting thoughtfully on my porch, contributing to the carbon cycle or something like that.)  Until then, have fun, be safe, and be kind.  Later, alligators!