Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rethink
Here is a comprehensive list of items you might normally throw away, which can be recycled into craft projects.
In this article, you will find:
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What to Save
Here's a short list of household waste items that make good crafts materials. Then use the list in a series of suggestions for ways to use them: From Trash to Crafts. I'll bet you and your family can think of a gazillion more!
If for some reason you don't produce enough of a particular item to do a project, enlist friends to save for you. You may even try contacting local businesses for supplies, particularly if you need a large quantity (if you're working on a project with a Brownie or Cub Scout troop, for example). Restaurants are often willing to oblige.
- Egg cartons
- Styrofoam trays, cups, and peanuts
- Film canisters
- Glass jars and bottles
- Baby-food jars
- Plastic jugs and cartons
- Milk or juice cartons
- Frozen juice cans and lids
- Coffee cans
- Margarine tubs with plastic lids
- Newpapers
- Magazines, catalogs, or color newspaper supplements
- Junk mail
- Used gift wrap
- Pieces of wallpaper
- Unused remnants of shelf or contact paper
- Ribbon and fabric scraps
- Old clothes
- Cardboard boxes
- Cardboard tubes from paper towels, toilet paper, and gift wrap; heavy cardboard mailing tubes
- Pieces of cardboard, such as those that come in shirts from dry cleaners
- Tin cans
- Cereal boxes
- Wire hangers
Now, I'm not suggesting you save these things just for saving's sake. It's better to recycle than to just accumulate clutter. (It's better still not to produce the waste at all.)