Recycling is very important, but even better is reusing. Recycling actually uses energy, transport time, and fuel to get the items to where they need to go. If you can reuse an item yourself, that's more energy, time, and fuel saved, as well as less emissions produced. From your old metal cans, plastic bags, bicycle tires, packing peanuts, and computer keyboards, there are many ways to find a second life for simple items around your home by reusing them.

50 Ways to Reuse Simple Household Things

Reuse your blankets and towels. Bring them to a local shelter that will be glad to put them to good use and give animals a soft, warm place to sit. Reuse seeds from fruit and vegetables and try to grow them! Reuse old plastic bags. There are 10 creative ways to reuse plastic bags here. Reuse paper bags as school book covers, or get a little more creative. Cut used pieces of paper into scrap pieces of paper (a message pad!). Reuse stove heat by opening up the stove once you are done with it and letting the warm air into your home in colder weather. Reuse coffee grinds by keeping them aside and placing them into your garden or soil. Reuse coffee that you don't drink by putting it over ice and placing it in the fridge for an iced coffee later. Reuse Christmas trees (not the fake ones) by putting them outside for birds and letting them naturally break down. Reuse packing peanuts, air pillows, bubble wrap, and boxes for your own eBay shipping, or bring them by the local post office or recycling center for others to use. Reuse pens and art supplies by donating them to local schools. Reuse your old carpet. Even slightly dirty carpets can have a second life. Reuse your old food scraps by composting them. Reuse your used margarine and butter tubs by cleaning them and keeping them for leftovers (free ziploc containers!). Reuse old clothing by donating it to a local charity. Reuse the stuffing from old pillows and comforters into new items. Reuse the pillow covers for rags. Reuse used wrapping paper and save it for next year. Reuse newspaper, interesting magazines, and other paper products by using them as wrapping paper. Reuse kiddie pool water on plants and shrubs. Reuse your old paint by finding things to paint in your home, touch up, or donate it to a local charity. Reuse your old toilet paper rolls. Reuse old wallpaper and use it for decoupage or crafts Never throw away an old book, donate it to a library or to your recycling center, or a school! They can reuse it. Reuse old curtains as rags for cleaning your car. Reuse your old electronics by selling them on Craigslist or on eBay. Reuse old glass containers with lids and save them for leftovers, or, make your own jam or jelly. Food safe airtight glass containers would be great for storing rice, pasta, sugar, and flour. Reuse your old sneakers by donating them to Nike's Shoe recycling program (okay, this is more recycling, but it's important!) Reuse greeting cards in craft projects. Reuse your old toothbrush and use it to clean hard to reach areas like around the sink, your drains, faucets, and grout. Save stale bread and give it to the birds in the backyard (be sure to rip it small enough so they can eat it!). Make a piece of artwork with your old metal cans. Make your own checker set by reusing your old bottle caps. There are over 20 ways to reuse your old furniture here. Sell or donate your old cellphone to the one of many companies out there. Sell old clothing and let others reuse it, provided it looks good still. For your next home renovation project, you might be able to reuse your old floor tiles. Reuse popsicle sticks in kid craft projects. Even bicycle tires can be reused. Reuse old seafood seashells by crushing them and using them in your garden as decoration. There are over 20 ways you can reuse your old drinking straws. Reuse insulation when building a home, or adding insulation. This will save energy and money! There are some creative things you can do with old metal pie pan plates. Reuse old aluminum foil by judging whether you it is clean enough to use again. If you're using it for bread or dry goods, you should be able to shake it off and set it aside for next time (provided it is clean). Reuse old spray bottles by first making sure they are okay to reuse (see the back of the bottle) and filling them with water to spray plants. Reuse your old CDs and DVDs with these tips. Reuse your old yard debris! Leaves, lawn cuttings, and wood chips naturally fertilize and add nutrients to your soil. If you receive a gift in a gift bag, save it for another occasion and reuse that bag! Is your old keyboard the perfect seedling starter? Reuse your old toothpaste tubes. Yes, you can even reuse your mattress.

This content reflects the personal opinions of the author. It is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and should not be substituted for impartial fact or advice in legal, political, or personal matters.

Khushi Oraon on September 20, 2020:

image directories is a water resources upon your school which have been polluted with gun with plastic bottles and tin can write a paragraph on your ideas how you can contribute in the cleaning of the water searchftps draw a picture of a point which is polluted forward by the paragraph.

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Ethan on April 22, 2020:

Thank you for your help

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Jacob holder on March 01, 2020:

too good and thanks for the information

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thank you it help me at school

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Big Smoke on April 27, 2019:

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Sisters on January 06, 2019:

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Anonymous on September 08, 2018:

It was very useful. Thank you so much!!!

rosa on April 16, 2018:

i would do it

Jahniya on February 21, 2018:

this was very helpful thank you so much so many good ideas i would never think of

Noah on February 19, 2018:

nice work

Asma on February 02, 2018:

This was not much helpful.

kid 12 A on August 30, 2017:

maybe I''ll try those stuff later

ey on August 30, 2017:

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Mystery girl on January 27, 2017:

Very useful

best on May 07, 2015:

good job

Nadine on February 25, 2015:

Please do not follow #30 by recycling bread for any birds! It is dangerous to them as it does not contain the nutritional value of their normal food sources. It causes them to feel full, but starve from a lack of substantial nourishment. It's the equivalent of your parents feeding you chips for every meal as a kid. On a side note a lot of these are really great reuse and recycle ideas!!

shailvy baranwal on February 06, 2015:

fantastic ideas!!!!!!

SteveKaye on February 23, 2012:

This info makes it easy for others to adopt money saving practices that also preserve our environment. Thank you for making this lens.

poofpatch on February 22, 2012:

Great idea ! The links are helpful too.

poofpatch on February 22, 2012:

Great idea ! The links are helpful too.

anonymous on January 26, 2012:

well written and well done on awareness to recycling. I'm not as avid as I could be but I don't want to be so avid that I'm stupid about it. thanks for sharing and letter your readers read about this, it is important.

leeleon on January 21, 2012:

Nice lens. Welcome to see recycling lens. Thanks.

Tolovaj Publishing House from Ljubljana on January 08, 2012:

Astonishing lens with extremely useful list of resources. Bookmarked!

wolfie10 on January 02, 2012:

awesome lens. i like to reuse thing whenever i can

Buchamar on December 06, 2011:

I love new recycling ideas! Thank you !

MoonMaa on October 26, 2011:

I recycle too and it really cuts down on the amount of garbage that I have. Thanks for the tips!

homerepellent on October 08, 2011:

I love the idea of using your old keyboard as a seedling starter. It's a great prank to play on your colleagues in a bid to encourage them to go green. I'll put it to good use.

Cheers,

Homerepellent

Bob Schroeder on October 03, 2011:

I always like good ideas on reusing what I already have. Thanks for the 50.

Rankography on October 02, 2011:

Great idea for a lens. Thanks for sharing these tips.

hsschulte on September 18, 2011:

Returning to bless. Thanks for a wonderful reuse lens.

4StarCleaning on September 14, 2011:

Wow, who knew you can reuse all this. Now I feel bad for throwing a lot of this stuff in the garbage.

EmpowerLiberty on August 25, 2011:

Rechargeable batteries are a great way to reduce waste and to save some $$

dahlia369 on August 11, 2011:

Nice lens. Blessed! :)

dahlia369 on August 11, 2011:

@deanna6812: Same here, I always take all the egg cartons back to the places where I buy local cage-free eggs. At one of the places I think I even started this custom and now more and more people are joining in... :)

NZHarris on July 22, 2011:

I am huge fan of this lens!!

When the handles off my coffee mugs break beyond repair, I used the mugs as a little plant potter!

deanna6812 on July 11, 2011:

One thing that I have learned can be reused are egg cartons. I have family and friends save them up, and we bring them to our local organic grocery store. This store buys flats of eggs, not in cartons, and you pay per egg, so they put out the egg cartons for customers to fill themselves with the eggs of their choice.

ForestBear LM on July 03, 2011:

Great tips! good to be reminded.

TIRMassageStone1 on June 28, 2011:

Great points!

AigulErali on June 26, 2011:

Wonderful ideas! Thumbs up.

Donnette Davis from South Africa on June 23, 2011:

Thank you, great information.

Vishwa Perera from Colombo, Sri Lanka on June 11, 2011:

Hahahaha no i am also a rescurer

MarkBentley on June 03, 2011:

It is always great to see more people reusing things rather than just throwing them way! Thanks for encouraging it!

pimbels lm on May 28, 2011:

Great lens. Thank ou for sharing.

bames24 lm on May 27, 2011:

great ideas... we try to re-use as much as we can at home and your lens gave me new ideas.. :)

FunkyJewelleryUK on May 18, 2011:

Great lens! I make jewellery using recycled products, so I am all for green living! Great stuff :)

Teri Villars from Phoenix, Arizona on April 27, 2011:

Interesting lens. I have one, a little more silly at times, DUMPSTER DIVING FOR FOOD AND PROFIT...ha!

pinkrenegade lm on April 23, 2011:

This is a good lens. It helps you to save money and save our environment.

mattseefood lm on April 19, 2011:

Very informational! I'll try to use some of your tips for myself :) Thanks a lot

OrganicMom247 on April 01, 2011:

I always bring my old towels, sheets and blankets to the animal shelters, oh my gosh they are always so thankful

kimbesa from USA on April 01, 2011:

Thanks again...also angel blessed! Earth Day is coming, and we all need to know these things, so we can integrate them into day to day life!

Tiggered on March 29, 2011:

Bunch of really good ideas :)

I'm turning plastic bottles into flower pots.

golfspice on March 08, 2011:

Great topic - The only way to go is GREEN!

jackieb99 on February 27, 2011:

An excellent site, you certainly deserve the purple star!

SolutionInYou on February 15, 2011:

I like your lenses because they promote the only effective way we can improve our environment--one individual at a time choosing to do things more wisely. Your lens is full of great ideas about how to do this. Thanks!!!

Mickie Gee on February 14, 2011:

I just created a lens about "Repurposing Books". Check it out and let me know what you think, Dan.

FYI Blessed your lens on 2/14/2011

WebIsFun on February 08, 2011:

great ideas!

cherangelry lm on January 21, 2011:

Very nice lens, thanks for the great ideas!

JoyfulPamela2 from Pennsylvania, USA on January 07, 2011:

What wonderful ideas! Thanks for sharing them. =D

GrinningFool on January 04, 2011:

Always good to get more ideas on things to reuse!

College-Girl on January 02, 2011:

Very innovative ways to reuse different stuffs. Nice useful lens.

pearlSKY on December 31, 2010:

I love your lens... I recycle or reuse or breath new life into everything... my friends and family say that if I throw away anything, it is not worth looking at! (I learned a lot of my tricks from my parents, who were immigrants and did the same.) My father even reused bent and rusty nails... I think that in today's society most people are too eager to discard and buy new... rather than buy quality and make it into a "future antique".

Recycle your old Bread - when it is no longer edible, put it outside for the birds! (they will keep coming back for more and you will have just adopted your own new pets!)

Old Glass & Plastic Jars - Make great containers for keeping nuts and bolts, nails and small tools in full view and protected from moisture in the Garage.

ChrisDay LM on December 27, 2010:

Great stuff - we all have to do our bit - consumerism and waste are out of control.

bluestonesolar on December 18, 2010:

Thanks for the cool tips! We ought to all be doing our bit, whether or not it be recycling our trash, walking or using public transportation more repeatedly or trying to be more economical with the power we consume.

leathersleepersofa on December 12, 2010:

thanks,Nice lens

JennySui on December 08, 2010:

Wonderful Lens! i will try to follow your tips.

gods_grace_notes on December 05, 2010:

I'm an avid recycler myself, so I appreciate all the green ideas I can find. You have done a great job of sharing your expertise... I love your use of the green and blue fonts! Connie

manndtp on December 04, 2010:

reallly nice list.

ZazzleEnchante on December 01, 2010:

Great tips, doable and meaningful. Blessed by a SquidAngel.

dreameater on December 01, 2010:

very cool ideas! we need to take more responsibilities for the earth right now.

Rod505 LM on November 30, 2010:

Great tips.

artgoodman lm on November 24, 2010:

I reuse everything I can. I haven't found anything yet that I haven't been able to find a second life for. Great lens

MargoPArrowsmith on November 14, 2010:

Love this. I will reuse anything as much as I can!

Asinka Fields from Los Angeles, CA on October 28, 2010:

Super presentation and great lens!

Tarra99 on October 15, 2010:

back to bless this RRR lens...and feature it here: http://www.squidoo.com/100-blessings (under green) ;o) Well done!

anonymous on October 11, 2010:

Time to clean up the house and see what I can reuse!

SofiaMann on October 08, 2010:

Thanks for all the tips.

WriterBuzz on October 02, 2010:

Nice idea for a lens. Very informative. Gave you a quick thumbs up.

gogy on September 25, 2010:

If everybody would do at least 10 tips through the life, everything would be better.

kt_glasses on September 25, 2010:

cool ideas! Saving earth by doing small good deeds, and that's something more people should know!

anonymous on September 24, 2010:

Love this lens! Great Job!

myraggededge on September 20, 2010:

Well we reuse old greetings cards for gift labels and recycle the leftovers. Brilliant suggestions here. I'm glad to say we do many of them already.

Blessed :-)

squid-pinkchic18 on September 16, 2010:

FABULOUS lens. I absolutely being able to minimize waste but putting things into use again. I always wash my butter containers and reuse them for leftovers. So what if we all open it for putting it on toast every now and then ;) Great job!

axus_auto on August 28, 2010:

pretty cool. but i don't think one should reuse greeting cards!! recycle them. the rest are good though

RichardAlvarenga on August 25, 2010:

Really didn't know that you could donate old pens to schools. Totally did this yesterday at the local elementary school!

anonymous on August 24, 2010:

Great Lens! These tips not only save the Earth, they also help save money!