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Thursday, April 19, 2012

Upcycling Plastic in the Garden

With all the publicity about toxins and xenoestrogens that enter our food when we use plastic for food storage, I'm making a few changes.  I've always used canning jars to store lots of things from kefir to yogurt to leftovers and they work great.  But sometimes you need a different shape or size so I purchased some glass containers with plastic lids.
  They are great...until they hit my stone floor!  So I had a nice, sturdy, plastic lid without a home.  I put in in my stash of things that I know, in my bones, will come in handy some day.  Sometimes I'm right and sometimes it's just a sickness.  Click here to join Pack Rats Anonymous!
A few weeks later, as I stared once again at the lidless milk jugs I was getting ready for my raw milk run, I thought, "There has to be a better way!"
A light bulb lit in the back of my mind and began to illuminate a great idea!
Remember the old paper milk bottle discs that came from the dairy?  Why couldn't I make my own with some plastic circles cut from that sturdy red lid I'd saved?
 So I did and they work great!!!
The little tab on each one makes it easier to pull out of the bottle top.


I love it when a plan comes together!
This week, as we were planting seeds indoors, I realized that I didn't have any markers for the flats.  The allusive box of craft sticks was hiding, again.  So I started looking around in my stash box.  Remember the old ice cream buckets?  Yes, back in the day I bought ice cream in them!  Since then the buckets have made their rounds and been used for all kinds of things, broken stained and lost.  Enter the lids!

I cut the rim off the edge and started by cutting the circle in half.

By continuing to half each pie shaped wedge until the circular side was about 3/4 inch wide, I ended up with a nice handful of plant tags that worked well in my seed packs.

You could do this with any larger size circular plastic lid like those on coconut oil buckets or even ~gasp~ Cool Whip tubs.  Oh!  How about the large yogurt tubs from the store?  You could cut the sides into wedges!  Use your imagination to recycle plastic instead of disposing of it.

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Much herbal love,
   




A passion for organics

1 comment:

  1. Oh wow! such a clever use for both pieces of plastic that would otherwise be tossed.

    Thanks for sharing these ideas.
    I've used a plastic butter bowl lid, by cutting it into a semi-circle, to make a scraper for doing the dishes.
    Cuts right through the dried on gunk. Saves my nails.

    enjoyed the post and found it informative-- Pat

    ReplyDelete

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Preparing small batch natural, additive free products for beauty, health and home right here in our kitchen since 1991 from herbs grown organically in our garden, wild crafted in nearby meadows and woodlands or purchased from reputable, like-minded companies. Dried everlasting wreaths, arrangements and potpourri. Herbal salves, tinctures, soaps, teas and more.