I have found so much satisfaction with my new ways of recycling. I especially enjoy discovering fun recycling projects. Just recently I began building a page about recycling awareness on a website called Pinterest. Pinterest is a website that allows you to document your interests and find websites that give you more information about each of your interests. The projects I found on Pinterest ranged from using juice cartons to create toy boats or houses for children to creating book shelves with guitar cases.
One recycling project I decided to do was taking old sentimental t-shirts and making a quilt. I have spent over 30 hours working on this quilt and I am almost finished. I used the extra scraps from the t-shirts for the quilt edging, and I used recycled pearl cotton to tie the quilt in the middle. I found an old fleece blanket that I hadn’t been using and used it for the back of my quilt. Now I just have a small portion of the lining to finish and then I will have completed this project.
I can use egg cartons for a variety of recycling fun. One project I finished was making fire starters for camp fires. To make these fire starters, each hole in the egg carton is filled to the brim with dryer lent. Next melted candle wax is poured into the holes soaking into the dryer lent until the dryer lent is completely covered with wax. The wax is dried and the carton is cut into sections. It was easy to find dryer lent in abundance and I used old wax candles for the wax. I also found a fun way to make flowers from the egg cartons that I am using to make a mobile, and egg cartons are great for holding supplies such as pencils, tacks, erasers, etc.
Another way I enjoy recycling is by reloading ammunition. A friend of mine and I really enjoy this hobby and we have spent over 20 hours collecting brass ammunition shells thrown on the ground at the gun range and then reloading both what we have collected and what we have shot. Reloading ammunition is a 10 step process and is very tedious and time consuming. I will not go into depth about each process, but it has been so enjoyable.
I find more traditional ways to recycle besides fun projects. In my family we collect tin cans, milk cartons, and soda pop cans that are brought to places that will recycle these items. We don’t often find a need to recycle paper products because they are burnt in our wood stove to keep our house warm. Additionally, I love to can food with my mom. Canning food reduces paper waste from boxed or packaged items bought from grocery stores. We can a variety of food including applesauce, green beans, chicken gravy, and tuna fish. Often times we have collected old sour cream containers or other containers like this to can and freeze jam. I love to recycle because I’m able to be creative and because it is very satisfying.
