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#89599 November 13th, 2006 at 12:42 AM
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our family uses soy milk. one of the brands, 8th Continent, comes in square white plastic containers.. i was thinking about making luminarys for the sidewalk. but then thought about using them as extra planters, as it seems i am always running out. i also have MANY baby food containers saved. my family keeps trying to throw them away. but i get em back out and start some new plants in them. DOES ANYONE ELSE DO THE SAME??? REUSE CONTAINERS?? ANY OTHER IDEAS???

#89600 November 13th, 2006 at 05:38 AM
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I recycle all I can too, dayseafefe! clp

For about 10 years our family has provided the local elementary school art teacher with any "interesting" recyclables we come across... as long as the item is clean and nontoxic she will use it in a project. If she doesn't use them in the art project itself, it gets used as supplies - washed detergent lids and yogurt cups become paint pots, that type of thing.

If I can recycle it at the recycling center (1's and 2's in plastic), I do it so she's not overwhelmed, but if not I send it to school for their projects.

Our soy milk (Silk) is in the waxy cardboard containers and I've just started saving those for planters (fall seed swap dramatically increased my need for starter pots).

I really like the idea of the plastic ones for luminaries.... I tried milk jugs to string Christmas lights through along my sidewalk one year but mine ended up looking really bad to be honest (I've seen some that looked nice, I just threw mine together and it showed).

I guess bottom line my idea is to find out if your local elementary art teacher is into recycled art... with budget cuts, it's kind of the "in" thing right now.

Good thread!

#89601 November 13th, 2006 at 08:51 AM
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Hey dayseafefe wavey welcome to the forum!!!

I am probable the worlds worse at keeping things to recycle. If I can figure out a use its going to the back porch or shed, I save things like peaches cans they work well to scoop potting soil, dog food, cat food, make shift planter...the possibilities are endless. I save almost all glass containers. I save those plastic..not Styrofoam meat containers and clean/sterilize them for seed starting flats, any pie tin that would normally go in the trash, I save...they work well to sort & clean seeds in and many more other things, even the small tins that a personal size pie comes in those work well as drain pans for small potted plants. Plastic butter tubs & cool whip tubs can both be used as water catchers for potted plants, seeds can be started in them, plus they can be used for storing items in, since they have lids. Ok..can you imagine what my back porch and sheds look like and there is tons more stuff I save for recycling????? laugh laugh laugh

#89602 November 20th, 2006 at 09:53 PM
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thanks everyone! new ideas!! this weekend my friend and i held a sleepover for about 13 young girls ages 12, to 15 mo..... crazy i know... i had to come home and take a nap!!!!!we made many projects together, some used up my stash of recycleables. i had planned on making soda bottle terrariums with them , but by then they were getting a little crazy themselves. so on Sunday i invited my 8yr old niece over to make them. but instead of soda bottles we used, 1 glass vase, 1 unused sugar jar, 2 old glass milk jugs[1ltr], 1 wine bottle, 1strange glass candleholder with a stand, 1big plastic ice tea pitcher.. i still have plants left, but ran out of rocks and charcoal, so next weekend [thanksgiving holiday] when they have a long weekend we will make more.. i still have a lot of recycleables to use..

#89603 November 20th, 2006 at 11:11 PM
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Look at wintersown.org-one of the great ways to recycle containers for a gardener.I keep the big pots from trees and spray paint them terracotta,I've got a dollar type store here where I can get the paint for a 1.00 a can.I use laundry baskets as planters,just line them with the moss that grows on the trees here.I have to buy a yard+ of soilless compost every spring for all my big containers.

#89604 December 8th, 2006 at 08:29 AM
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Quote
Originally posted by comfrey:
I am probable the worlds worse at keeping things to recycle. If I can figure out a use its going to the back porch or shed,

Ok..can you imagine what my back porch and sheds look like and there is tons more stuff I save for recycling????? laugh laugh laugh
Comfreyyyyyyy, I KNEW THERE WAS A REASON I REALLY LIKED YOU.....

I use alot of stuff like that.
We get pudding cups or fruit cups from my families' lunches, and I use those for scoops, and seed holders and seed holders to feed the hamsters, and watering seedlings...

I save the hard plastic container from Smoked Porkchop containers.. *one's I can put in the dishwasher and they don't melt* and I use those for water trays under my seedlings in the greenhouse.. **I also only use the styro's from assorted veggies, like 5 cucumbers on the plate w/saran wrap..I use them for the same as above**

I save my Jam/Jelly jars and clean them up for my husbands' workshop.. he has un~finished walls
in there and takes the cross boards, and nails the lids to the exposed wood pieces' and then fills the jars with assorted nuts and bolts..
When he needs something that's in the jars, he just walks over to that wall, and unscrews the jar from the nailed lid, the lid stays and he can use it one handed...

And one lady on my mom's Meals~on~Wheels route saves here all of the containers they deliver, she washes them all up good and I use them for sorting and storing and all neat things..

I even use the paper boxes my sandwich bags come in, for seperating my seeds...
(which I would put out for paper recycling)
*cut the top a bit wider for using the entire base of the box, works nice and it's all uniform.

I save old cd's or one's that come in the mail to sign up for aol or something like that.. and hang them in the garden for light reflectors..

We shop at those large warehouse type stores, and come home with a type of box, that will have saran wrap over it.. like buying chips for lunches in bulk, or some juice boxes for kids lunch.. I save those boxes, with the saran wrapper on it, for take home boxes when friends come here and I share plants.. works GREAT.. cause if the dirt is muddy or just alot of dirt or moisture.. they can plop the wad of dirt and plants into the box.. it holds it all, but the saran wrapping is on the outside, so you can even water the plants if you wanted to for the ride home and won't mess up your car..

I save paper egg cartons for starting plants...

I save all cardboard boxes for starting the lasgna method for a new bed.. *and newspaper too*

And I love to save the ketch~up bottles and syrup bottles for the kids squirt bottles...
They're great, wash'em up, and fill a great big tub up with water, and they can have mom at the water tub, filling all the jugs up, while they squirt of them..

I save my clear large juice jugs, like Juicy Juice, and cut the very bottom off, and use the entire top as a greenhouse like on seeds that I plant in the garden.. those work wonderfully!!! Duh eek

#89605 December 8th, 2006 at 10:38 AM
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Well Weezie I am not sure how you missed this, but glad you found it. laugh

A few days ago I emptied one of those chocolate covered cherries boxes and was looking at the plastic candy container... idea Hey I'm saving this, It could be used for starting seeds in and then thrown away, since it wouldn't hold up for more then one use. Those little applesauce,fruit & pudding cups are great for starting cuttings in and I also use them to water small plants with. I am even saving the plastic lids off my liquid laundry detergent and DH drills a few little drainage holes, they make great starter pots. I have a couple of friends that save certain kinds of containers for me also... nutz As if I didn't save enough on my own laugh laugh Nothing goes into the trash if is usable for something else. If I died and someone came to clean out my house they would have to have several big dumpsters brought in just to get rid of all the stuff. laugh

#89606 December 8th, 2006 at 10:53 AM
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My husband's looks at me are....
perpl nutz

I save the containers that cherry tomatoes
come in in the grocery stores..
(I keep them to pick cherry tomatoes when harvesting and delivering to neighbors..)
and I keep those green strawberry containers too for picking smaller veggies..

And I save paper towel or toilet paper rolls..
for my hamsters.. they love crawlin' thru them, and using them as escape tunnels.. and for a good chewin'..
but you can use them for baby seedlings and the cut worm.. slice up one side and cut off in small incraments.. and the cut worms can't get to the stem..
or you can keep cord rolled up in them and keeps them contained...

And you can take the old Clorox bottles.. and cut them in half or whichever length you want..
and use as scoops.. like for feeding animals scoops of corn or feed..

#89607 December 16th, 2006 at 10:40 AM
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by weezie13:
[QB] My husband's looks at me are....
perpl nutz

Those are the exact same looks that my mom gives me. She also add: "you already have too much junk in your room"

#89608 December 16th, 2006 at 11:14 AM
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Kenny,
shocked wink Mine too..
He's like, I'm not getting you anything
more for the garden, when you can't take care of the stuff in the house..
**I'm like, what fun is there in laundry and dishes???? nutz **

#89609 December 16th, 2006 at 12:58 PM
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</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="COMIC SANS MS, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="3" face="COMIC SANS MS, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by weezie13:
**I'm like, what fun is there in laundry and dishes???? Duh Whats a person to do throw all this "Stuff" away???? Tonight a friend ask if I had any use for some of the egg carton flat like cartons that hold 2 dozen eggs and is cardboard....I said yes bring them to me...There were 6 of these...Perfect seed starting containers and biodegradable grinnnn

#89610 December 30th, 2006 at 04:03 AM
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that wintersown site was cool thumbup thanks reba!
i have boxes full of pop bottles i reuse for starting seeds in laugh grinnnn

#89611 December 30th, 2006 at 12:27 PM
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thumbup I have tons of pots on the front porch, anyone wanting to throw pots away around here always offers them to me, I can't throw them away, I might need it one day! grinnnn laugh I also use old pickle buckets & any other bucket I can find and old milk crates to plant veges in the spring. I borrow the hubby's drill & put drain holes in the bottom, & they work a lot better than any pot from the store.

#89612 January 1st, 2007 at 06:24 AM
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I have tons of flower pots and containers also, Same here, everyone always gives them to me or I will buy a whole box full at a yard sale for 50 cents or less. Only problem is when I want to plant something finding the right sized pot is a pain since mine are scattered around in 2 different sheds and the back porch and other places. laugh laugh laugh It was suppose to be one of my winter projects..to round up all the pots and sort them out put them all in one place to make it easier to find the right size, but hasn't happened yet.

#89613 January 5th, 2007 at 10:27 AM
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by comfrey:
Only problem is when I want to plant something finding the right sized pot is a pain since mine are scattered around in 2 different sheds and the back porch and other places. laugh laugh laugh It was suppose to be one of my winter projects..to round up all the pots and sort them out put them all in one place to make it easier to find the right size, but hasn't happened yet.
You could put them all on the front porch like I did! laugh Duh laugh Will styrofoam cartons work if I poke little holes in the bottom? (I buy eggs from a farmer here & have tons of styrofoam egg cartons.)

#89614 January 11th, 2007 at 08:32 AM
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I use all my Yogurt cups for transplanting plants when I take them out of the starter bed.

All clear plastic covers are mini green houses outside for my winter sow projects........
Popsicles sticks are used for markers in the seed beds........
Those free cds you get in the mail are excellent markers in the beds outside.......majic markers write real well on them......And in the sun, they have a nice shiny colorful look.

dodge

#89615 January 11th, 2007 at 09:20 AM
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I use those cd's to hang by either fishing line
or something, and let them fly in the wind as suncatchers' that chase the birds away...

#89616 January 11th, 2007 at 10:30 PM
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Will styrofoam cartons work if I poke little holes in the bottom? (I buy eggs from a farmer here & have tons of styrofoam egg cartons.)
I start a lot of mine in the plastic ones, so I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work as well.

#89617 January 14th, 2007 at 02:01 AM
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I use those mini side salad boxes with the clear lid from Wendy's and McDonalds to make my green houses for seed starting!

#89618 January 14th, 2007 at 02:29 AM
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I use them for a wee~bit of water under
my seeds, when I need to keep water/moisture on the seed for the first couple of days to germinate..

#89619 January 15th, 2007 at 12:35 AM
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hi all!! guess i am not the only saver. Recently a good friend came over and saw all of my containers in my laundry room. She just looked at me and said " you need to recycle these" lol...She offered her recylce bin.. they live in a city that has curbside pickup for this.. I do not .. But then i showed her that i already recycle, my way.. Then i gave her a plant to take home in one of the re used containers..

#89620 January 29th, 2007 at 04:30 AM
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Yeah, this is one of the coolest topics I've seen yet! Thanks to everyone for such great ideas! I've tried to use as much as I can over too, but I totally missed the bus on some of the above mentioned.

#89621 February 15th, 2007 at 12:58 AM
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I just picked up some of those drinkable
yogart jugs for kids *Dannon, I think it is*
and they are the sweetest little jugs..

and you can use those for flowers/vases....

Also, if you go to McDonalds' and get the Kids' Meals, they can come with chocolate milk if you ask for it instead of the pop...

Those jugs are so neat too...

We used them for a Cubscout project one time,
and took masking tape and just randonly ripped
pieces from the roll... covered the entire jug..
Then took brown shoe polish on a rag and ran it
acrossed the jug.. and some of the shoe polish
stays on/in the ends of the masking tape and
then there's a light covering of the brown color on the tape's top and it ends up looking like a really neat textured vase...

#89622 February 15th, 2007 at 07:08 PM
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What fantastic ideas in here!!!

#89623 February 18th, 2007 at 04:26 AM
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Quote
Originally posted by comfrey:
I have tons of flower pots and containers also.... Only problem is when I want to plant something finding the right sized pot is a pain since mine are scattered around in 2 different sheds and the back porch and other places.
I'm well known for not throwing things away. (I might find a use for "that" some day!)... & my porch, garage, deck & garden shed proves it! grinnnn I went on a ruthless cleaning binge a couple years ago & threw out all the plastic pots that plants come in from the store, but somehow I wound up with a whole mess of them again! While trying to get my garage cleaned out yesterday, I started gathering the pots up & there wasn't room in the garden shed for any more of them... but they're still good!!! grinnnn

I still have several more pots & planters on the deck that I need to empty & rinse out, but as you can see, I'll have room for them. NOW TO STAY ORGANIZED!!! nutz

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