5 Everyday Items You Didn’t Know You Could Reuse

If we haven’t got the message across yet…we believe in reusing and recycling whenever possible. It’s not always possible but we like to believe we’re innovative enough to reuse at least 80% of the products that come under our noses on a daily basis, so we thought it would be interesting to explore items that you may not immediately realise can be reused.

Coffee Grounds

It may sound obvious, but you can reuse coffee grounds instead of just throwing them away. Not only can you use them twice for the same job (although the second cup will not be as strong as the first), there are other uses for them once you’ve drunk your coffee:

• Fertiliser / in compost
• As worm food
• Rubbish bin/fridge deodoriser
• Drain cleaner
• Household cleaner (for heavily soiled pots and pans)
• Craft projects

Old Fake Eyelashes

YUCK we hear you say. But, bear with us. You CAN reuse old fake lashes for their intended purpose as long as you take good care of them and remove them gently the first time you use them. you can also soak synthetic lashes in a bowl of olive oil or makeup remover to clean them and use tweezers to pull off any excess glue build-up.

Of course, you don’t have to re-wear them to reuse them. Give them a good clean and they make great stick on spider legs for Halloween craft projects!

Reflective Liners

We have written about this before so we won’t go into mass detail, but if you do ever end up with a Reflective Liner in your home, there are many ways to reuse it before putting it into the recycling pile. These include:

• Pipe lagging
• Radiator reflector
• Lining in hot food bags
• Underlay for hardwood flooring
• Insulation material for lofts and outhouses
• Keeping food warm
• Insulating animal hutches

CDs/DVDs

The world has moved on from CDs and DVDs into streaming, but most of us still have these relics of the early 2000s lurking in our homes. Frustratingly, they cannot be recycled through mainstream channels so throwing these away will send them straight to landfill. However, you can reuse them if you set your mind to it; ideas include:

• Dangling from wires to scare birds away from flowers and crops – they also look pretty cool when they catch the sun!
• Upcycle them to coasters or ornaments, wreaths or wind chimes
• Craft projects for kids, they make a great circle template!
• Break them into pieces and use for mosaic designs on pottery

Wine corks

People have been making art pieces from wine corks for a long time, but there are other ways to reuse these, such as:

• Cutting into a stamp design and using with an ink pad to make great designs in crafting
• If you smash used corks into pieces (you can do this in a blender), they will retain water in plant posts and on flowerbeds
• You can also use them in the garden for marking plants, or where you have planted seeds
• As they are heat proof, you can group them together in a circle and make a trivet to rest your hot pans on

You can read some of our other blogs on reusing and recycling here:

• Reusing EnviroCool
• Reusing Recycle-Air
• Reusing Ice Packs
• Reusing Cardboard Boxes
• Hydropac Support the Three Rs