Today is the final how-to on my 10 ways in 10 days challenge. Thanks for following me along and I hope some of these ideas stick with you or you were reminded of an earth friendly activity you’ve grown away from.
Today’s project: Make a plant waterer, keep a bottle out of a landfill, feel good about it! Those are the directions and the description!
It’s Saturday, aka craft day! I decided to try my hand at the trash-to-trasure example from yesterday:
the recycled bottle cell phone charging station.
For this project you’ll need the following supplies:
While that dries, cover the outlet cover with the same fabric. Follow my tutorial here.
Once both pieces are dry, cut the fabric extension into 3 pieces and cut out the middle piece- you’ll be left with 2 strips on either side to adhere to the outlet cover.
Place the cover face down on a surface that is level with the cup and mod podge the pieces together, below.
Allow to dry, plug in your phone and you’re done!
Teaching kids at a young age what it means to reduce-reuse-and-recycle is always something taught in school but to really drive the point home, it’s important to incorporate those things into real life. Here are a couple of great crafts to do with kids to show them ways to recycle bottles into something fun and useful.
Ages 9+: Ashley over at Make-It-&-Love-It made this awesome cell phone caddy out of a lotion bottle. This craft would be great for older kids, especially those just getting their first cell phones or iPods.
Ages 5+: This awesome bowling set made by CreativeDish would be perfect for kids old enough to wield a glue gun and is a great way to keep 10 bottles out of a landfill!
Ages2+: And finally, check out this “lava lamp” made by Rainbows & Unicorns (great name by the way!) made with a plastic bottle, oil, water, food coloring and complete with sea creatures! This is a wonderful project for little ones- also consider throwing in some glitter or sequins!
Happy Friday!!!
It’s 3 days ’til Earth Day and 30-days into Spring so today on the 10WAYS/10DAYS countdown I’m taking it to the garden with 5 easy ways to repurpose plastic water bottles in your garden.
You can use plastic soda bottles to create a hanging garden like Recyclart did.
Another style of cloche from House and Gardening Addicts.
I love these clever self watering pots by Desperate Gardner.
http://www.desperategardener.com/2011/03/creative-containers.html
And finally, the automatic plant waterer by Practically Living.
I hope these ideas motivate you to reuse some things you already have…I’m off to dig in my recycle bin for inspiration right now!
By now, pretty much every body I know has caught on to using re-usable grocery bags as part of a daily routine. They all have a small cache of them to bring to the grocery store or to a weekend farmers market. What’s not common practice however, is to use them when they’re out shopping at clothing stores, junk shops, the beer store, etc. The average American family takes home almost 1,500 plastic shopping bags a year…
NRDC www.nrdc.org/media/2008/080109.asp
Americans use and dispose of 100 billion plastic shopping bags each year
and at least 12 million barrels of oil are used per year in the
manufacture of those plastic grocery bags.
The Wall Street Journal
Less than 5 percent of plastic grocery bags are recycled in the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency.
On Day 5 of “10 Easy Ways to Save the World Without Growing Out Your Armpit Hair” we are going to celebrate the world-saving power of simply buying vintage.
There are plenty of reasons to buy gently used or vintage clothing and furniture: it’s unique, has a history and it can be an investment. It’s also recycling! Buying clothes and furniture from a local second-hand shop or antique store is beneficial to you and your community by:
Keeping clothing and furniture out of landfills
Everything you buy second-hand gets another life and thereby skips it’s fate in the landfill.
Saving on gas consumption and air pollution
By not having your new dresser delivered to you in a big, gas-guzzling delivery truck from a warehouse in the middle of nowhere, you’re saving precious natural resources and keeping exhaust out of the air. Good job!
Buying local helps the local economy
Money spent locally stays local. It’s the easiest way to boost your own town’s economy. In an article in Time magazine on the topic they said that “Money is like blood. It needs to keep moving around to keep the economy going, when money is spent elsewhere—at big supermarkets, non-locally owned utilities and other services such as on-line retailers—it flows out, like a wound.”
Keeping Pesticides out of the Soil
The average conventional cotton t-shirt takes 150 grams of pesticides to produce. According to one study, America throws away two quadrillion pounds of used clothing each year. Wow. Getting the most out of vintage clothing will eventually slow the demand for these new items and keep some dangerous pesticides out of our soil and our water table.
Some of my favorite local places to find vintage treasures are
Craigslist,
Freecycle,
the Cambridge Antique Market,
Poor Little Rich Girl,
The Garment District,
The Collector on Highland Ave. (brand new!),
Goodwill
and rest in peace, Savers.
Go shopping and save the world!
And here are 6 reasons why you should join in and go
In addition to saving an estimated $25 a month on your electric bill ($25 x 12 months= $300 saved!) you’re also saving energy which keeps dangerous carbon dioxide from entering our atmosphere.
For more information on line drying and to shop for clotheslines, like the one you see above, go to BreezeDryer.com.
Following in the footsteps of Day 9…it’s all about conserving resources and not being wasteful. So, in your house, when you use the bathroom, it it’s yellow why not save a flush and wait ’til next time.
Another solution is to fill a couple of 20 oz. plastic bottles with water and sink them into your tank. The bottle takes up area that would normally be refilled with water meaning that less water is used each time you flush.
Or do both and be a real hero!
For more information on conserving water go here.
The average person takes between a 12-15 minute shower.
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