Do you recycle, reduce, reuse or repurpose?

[jacks'thunder]

Now I have to admit I do not used my recycle bin much but sometimes I get on a roll and fill that bin up! :ThumbUpi should be more faithful with my bin...

I'm more of a repurposer(if thats a word! LOL!) I like to use things that are old and forgotten for something new and useful! Not to long ago I found those old tool chests and now use them for storing sewing things. I have an old piece of a stand for a buzz saw that I made into a shelf.

My most recent addition is this old wash tub I found in my woods wayyyyy out back. I asked my hubby about it and he said it has always been there for as long as he can remember (he lived next door to our home now growing up). I'm going to use it as a planter! I'm so excited! I love treasure! Especially FREE treasure!!

LOL!



So you kinda get the idea of what I like to do with things, tell me about what you like to do!

 

[fourluckyhorseshoes]

I am trying to get my aunt and uncle to recycle more. Since they live out in the country you have to separate it and bring it to the dump--no curbside pick up. It is surprising how quickly the bins fill up. I'm not much of a re-purposer, but I try to reuse if possible as long as it doesn't look too cluttery. I like what you made.

 

[jacks'thunder]

Thanks!

 

[lucky seven]

Very clever! Nice

 

[chandab]

I reuse my poly baling twine for just about everything, mostly tying stuff together. I reuse many of my feed bags for garbage bags in the barn and clean up around the yard (mostly to put twine in from the big bales for the cows). I use clean pallets for storage and short-term fencing (I try to get them from the feed store, so they've only had feed on them). I repurposed two small wood packing crates into a wall cupboard for my feed building, two more are used as ground feeders for the stallions. Its about shot now, but a water tub the horses cracked was turned into a grain/pellet feeder. I repurpose metal stock racks into mini sized panels; so my "panels" are quite the assorted bunch.

 

[candycar]

I am the repurpose/recycle queen (when I can). I even repurpose my dirt. Not a grain of dirt, shred of mulch, shaving of sawdust or rock leaves my property. If I can use/repurpose it I will. Wood, metal, PVC, Plastic containers, It's all fair game! If I get too much of anything, I reluctantly throw it in the trash. After all we only have so much space to store "might use someday" items.

Food scraps go to the chicks or wildlife. Hay string and wire gets used where needed. I would be happy to recycle glass and paper if it didn't cost money in our part of KY to get the extra PU from the trash collectors. We do recycle our aluminum cans.

 

[Marty]

My city in Florida gave out three containers for the entire population to recycle and the recycle truck came around every Thursday and EVERYONE did it.

Here, no body cares and there is no recycle place except at my house because I don't waste a thing. I totally repurpose, reuse and am very careful and happy to do so!

 

[jacks'thunder]

Very nice everyone! Any pictures?.....

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I have old large tractor tires for my raised bed garden. Farmers do not know what to do with these behemoths. Mine are 5' across. They make wonderful raised beds. My other raised bed is an old metal pasture hay feeder.

I'd much rather repurpose something than put it in the landfill. But what can one do with outdated computers? TVs? Appliances? I've seen old console tvs made into dog beds and aquarium stands. Haven' really seen anyone use old monitors or computer components for anything interesting, though. We do have an old refrigerator in our shop to store things that can't freeze. We plug in the light during very cold temps and it saves our paint and caulk. Old chest freezers would work for storing feed; mice couldn't get at it.

Very interesting planter to add to your property! That is my kind of yard art!

 

[REO]

Oh yeah! I use everything for everything LOL. Hubby wants to throw everything away but I want to save everything because I'll always find a way to use it. I'm always cobbling something together

 

[Performancemini]

My husband is a super-duper recycler, etc. All year (sometimes every 6 months) he saves. Aluminum, copper, pop cans, etc.

He has barrels and barrels up in the barn loft that he stores the stuff in. I won't complain. It's paid for a lot over the years. He took our family to an amusement park the very first time and it paid for everything-gas, tickets, food, and souvenirs. It paid for my LG front loading heavy duty washer (whoo-hoo-I wash my mini blankets in it and it handles them like the pro it is-plus it has tub clean, a great feature when you wash those kind of things!). He also does some "decorating" with "finds"-he likes old farm items: milk crates, gears, scythes, etc.

 

[Silver City Heritage Farmstead]

Me...all of the above!!

Hey Marty....doncha just luuuuv TN?? ;-) It is so pretty though.

I've done some of the same things. Twine used for repairs, macarame outdoor plant hangers, leashes.

At the place I just moved from, (bordering busy state highway) I had an agreement with the property owner next door. In exchange for keeping his property neat and safe from thieves, I could picket Casper to graze and use the 18 acres to train on. It had a narrow, fairly steep 1/8 mile long drive that opened to 2 open acres with the rest long leaf pine forest. The hilled area had a vacant house and 3 bay garage that had been a business. During the first two of our three years there, people would dump in the forest almost every weekend. I made a habit of driving up the hill on Mondays, and by doing cleanup we were able to:

Build a 3 stall (each one 10 x 12) barn. The only out-of-pocket expenses were the support posts and 1/2 the roofing.

Pallets were repurposed to fence the property line along the highway, create a mini-resistant (note: not mini-proof!) flower garden and a composting.

An 8x12 tool shed, with a cinder block footing.

A truck bed liner that I used as the footing in the feed stall to discourage critters and keep hay dry and off the floor.

A discarded chest freezer to store feed in.

Hanging planters for summer plants.

With all of the construction, we only had to purchase 1 box of roofing nails for the tin roofs. All the other nails, screws, tack hooks, 2 nice landscaping tarps, and utility ropes we used during that 3 years were recovered from boxes of construction trash we cleaned up.

When we left, all the scrap roofing, the old freezer and other junk--bed/sofa springs, old wire, etc.--was taken and sold as scrap metal, earning $192.

Now I'll start using some of the ideas I've gleaned here and on the crafting forum to generate another modest source of income.

Thanks guys, great thread!

Julie in NC

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

I repurpose metal stock racks into mini sized panels; so my "panels" are quite the assorted bunch.

I have done this as well. I'm surprised to hear that someone else has used the pieces of racks. We actually cut the rack into panels and then welded short chunks of tubing to one side as a hinge, an 'L' shape made from welding 2 lag bolts together goes into the post and allows a nut on top to prevent the gate from being lifted off. Saved a lot of money on metal gates this way since around here you can get racks for free or very inexpensively.

I also reuse the large garbage bags my shavings comes in (we get the shavings for free from a small local business that works in pine and is happy to have them picked up) and whenever I get a plastic bag from a corner store or grocery store (if I forget my cloth bags)I reuse them as garbage bags for small household garbage cans (like in the bathroom and laundry room) or take a few with me when I travel to put my dirty clothes in away from my clean clothes in my suitcase. We save all paper products for starting fires (we like outdoor fires in summer) other outside/garden uses. All pop/juice/milk/water cans and bottles get recycled (made $30 last week returning what had accumulated) And most recently I got a number of large plastic spools from industrial sized hose given to me which I intend to use for putting large potted plants on and as outdoor tables and obstacles in my driving ring. I love to reuse and repurpose whenever I can and recycle what our recyclers will accept. Oh and mustn't forget that I recycle/reuse all my used shavings/horse manure too

 

[lucky seven]

I've learned tons of great ideas from reading the above posts. I have large piles of manure that I let sit until it becomes dirt to use. Much cheaper than buying topsoil. Shavings get reused and shavings bags are also used for garbage bags. We don't have an outside faucet so I reuse cleaned cat litter containers to transport water from house to horse water buckets.

Are truck bed liners thick enough to be used in mini stalls?

 

[Miniv]

We recycle and repurpose what we can, but I'm sure could do more....

Cans and bottles are recycled - here in Oregon it's silly NOT to.

Twine and wire are re-used for fence repairs and other projects....Pallets and other wood too.

Grocery Bags: The plastic ones are re-used to line small trash cans and the paper ones are re-used to hold burnable trash.

Small plastic bags that the grocery store provides for vegies I re-use to cover leftovers in the fridge. I also re-use zip-lock storage bags when I can.

Various plastic containers are re-purposed for things like - feed scoops, feeders for rabbits/poultry, saving left overs in the fridge, or the large sized ones with lids are great for storing pasta, rice, sugar, and flour.

The plastic pots that plants come in we save and use for flower and vegie starts the following year.

The most recent big projects that I'm proud of (Larry did most of the work) was our chicken coop, (It measures about 6 x 4 feet with 6 nesting boxes) 6 rabbit nesting boxes, and a double sided hutch. Everything was made from recycled wood. We also recycled the tin roofs for both the coop and the hutch.