Eight great recycling ideas

This week is Australia’s national Recycling Week. So it is a great opportunity for us to think about the way our lifestyles affect the environment, and perhaps change a little bit of what we do to help a whole lot more.

Recycling is so important in Australia to give ourselves, our wildlife and our beautiful environment the best chance of being healthy. It also has significant economic benefits too with a whole industry being supported by recycled manufacturing.

There are many little ways we can be more conscientious about the environment and our impact. Here are eight simple ways that you might not have thought of before to help play our part and recycle to help our environment:

1. Create a compost pile or bin

Composting is a green and convenient way to recycle food and garden scraps and it will keep your garden looking great. Here is a simple guide to help you kickstart your compost bin or heap.

• Using either a bin or a pile, fill the base with soil.
• The first layer should be filled with garden clippings, straw, dry leaves and torn newspaper and cardboard. This will encourage ventilation by not being too dense.
• Add a layer of rich soil, finished compost, or manure to weigh down the organic matter. This will encourage bacteria to grow.
• Add kitchen scraps such as egg shells and vegetable and fruit peelings on top. You can even add small amounts of 100% cotton clothing.
• Cover the bin with a lid or if you have created a heap, cover it with a layer of mulch and a sheet of hessian.
• Keep the heap well watered and turn it every week or so. It should be about 50% moist.
• When the compost is ready to use in the garden, it will have a rich soil texture with no lumps of organic matter.

2. Use recycled cardboard, paper and other items to create festive cards

Why not use cardboard, paper, buttons, bottle tops, pipe cleaners, ribbons, string and many other household items lying around to create beautiful, handmade festive cards for Christmas or Birthdays. Below is a beautiful and easy to make card that can be used for Birthdays, as a Thank you or Congratulations card.

What you will need: 

• The front cover of old, previously used, cards and any pretty printed paper
• A fairly firm rectangle cardboard piece of paper in a neutral colour
• Some paper (slightly smaller than the cardboard) and a piece of string
• Glue
• Scissors

What to do: 

• On the inside covers of the old cards, draw up to eight hearts.
• Cut the hearts out, carefully rounding the edges.
• Fold the piece of cardboard into a basic card shape.
• Glue the hearts on to the front cover of the cardboard.
• Fold the paper so it fits inside the card.
• Drop tiny blobs of glue along the fold of the paper and gently stick it to the cardboard, inside the card.
• Gently tie a piece of string along the binding to help secure the paper.
• Your card is ready for use!

3. Make use of the different bins your council can provide

Councils across Australia can supply you with recycling and green waste bins so be green make the most of them. Also when using these bins be sure to keep your waste compact so crush cans and disassemble boxes to effectively use the space provided.

4. Create a worm farm

Worm farms are great as they turn ordinary kitchen waste into wonderful, nutrient rich fertiliser for your garden. Here is a short guide on how to start your own worm farm from scratch.

What you will need:

• 2 polystyrene boxes with lids the same size (broccoli boxes are best)
• A strip of insect screen to fit into the bottom of the boxes
• Shredded newspaper
• A bucket of garden soil, or potting mix
• Water
• Food scraps
• Up to 1000 composting worms (Tigers, Reds or Blues are best) from your local garden centre

What to do:

• Use a screwdriver to poke holes into the lid and bottom of one of the boxes. The bigger the box, the more holes are needed. Spread the insect screen along the bottom of the box. 
• Fill the box 3/4 full with dampened, shredded newspaper. Add some extra soil or potting mix.
• Add the worms to the box. Place the box on top of the other one (the one without holes) so it can drain and catch.
• Add food scraps to the box to feed the worms.
• Make sure the newspaper does not dry out and that you keep it moist and dark.
• Use the bottom box to catch the liquid and use this on your garden.
• Check and feed them regularly and don’t let it dry out!

5. Repurpose household items 

It is easy to reuse items by repurposing them. There are so many different things you can do:

• Turn old glass candle holders into jars when the wax has been burnt by washing them and cutting the wick out
• The lids from jars can make great coasters for underneath furniture to protect flooring and carpets
• Mount old bike wheels onto a wall to create a beautiful frame for vines and creepers
• Old corks can be glued to a piece of wood to create your own cork board
• Old doorknobs can be mounted onto wood for jewellery hanging space
• Use a sheet of mesh fabric to cover the inside of a photo frame to use as an earring holder

6. Recycle old technology

Whatever you do, don’t throw out old technology with your regular garbage. There are many outlets that allow you to recycle batteries, computers, mobile phones and printer toner cartridges. Head to Recycling Near You and use the ‘enter product’ field to find your nearest location.

7. Go the extra step and help the community

Why not consider getting involved in your local community to keep it green and beautiful. There are numerous ways to help from organising a neighbourhood clean up to forming your own committee. Or you can head to Keep Australia Beautiful to see what you can do in your neighbourhood.

8. Donate unwanted clothing and shoes to a charity store

Don’t hold onto those old clothes or throw them out with the trash. Put them to good use by donating them to charity. Here in Australia we have St Vincent DePaul, the Salvation Army and Lifeline amongst others. These charities usually have donation bins in most regional centres where you can recycle your unwanted clothes. For further information, Give Now has compiled a register of charities and locations of donation officers.

There are so things that we can do to help create environmentally sustainable communities. What do you do  recycle regularly?