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Take
Stock and Start Recycling
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Look
Around |
What
To Conserve |
How |
Kitchen
and Garden
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Leftover
food from dishes served to children, food scrap and yard debris.
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Leftover
food, kitchen scrap and yard debris such as dry leaves and grass clippings
can be used to make compost. Place a container with lid near your
kitchen sink for collecting your food scrap. You can use an unused
flower pot or garbage bag to collect your yard debris. Or make a
new dish out of leftover food.
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Cooking oil |
Cooking oil
that you use for deep frying can be reused. Keep a bowl or metal
container with lid near your stove to store any leftover oil. Note
though that leftover oil from frying your fish may affect the taste of
some dishes.
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Bones
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Bones
from meat dishes that you have stewed, barbecued or grilled can be saved to make soup
stock. De-bone your meat before serving dish.
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Water used to cook vegetables,
your spaghettis or potatoes or wash your rice grains.
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Can
be used to water your houseplants to provide them nutrients. Make
sure water is no longer hot.
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Crust you have cut off your
child’s sandwiches. |
Can be used to feed ducks and birds on a walk to the
pond. Some bread crust can be pounded up and used to coat your
marinated meat for deep frying. Just beat up an egg and dip
meat in before rolling meat over bread crumps.
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| Bathroom
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Used
bath water
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Can be diverted into
the garden via a hose for watering plants or washing the pavements.
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Flushing
Toilet
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Reduce water
wastage by not flushing the
toilet after every use. We do that during bedtime and flush only in
the morning. During the day,
each time I go to the loo, I check with the kids
to see if any of them would like to pee too. I let my 3 year old pee
on the bathroom floor so that I can splash it off with just a scoop of
water. I tell the kids that they can pee on the bathroom floor when
they are bathing and that the bathwater will flush the pee away.
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Tiny slivers of soap |
Collect
them from all bathroom in the house and melt them into new bars.
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Broken or leftover
lipsticks |
Put
leftover lipstick on a tin foil
(from your milo or milk powder tin) and place a burning candle under it
till it is all melted down. Pour melted lipstick into a little cosmetic
container. Can be used with a lip brush once it is cool. Be adventurous.
Mix different colours to create your own blend of lipstick.
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Worn or Torn Towels |
Bigger ones can be used to
dry up the floor or as door mat for the bathroom. Smaller ones can be used to line pots before growing
new plant to keep soil from seeping out holes. Can be used to make soft toy or to stuff cushion.
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Used shampoo bottle |
Kids love to play
water. Instead of allowing them to play and waste it, let them help you
water the plants by using shampoo bottle. They will enjoy pressing
the bottle to squirt water on your plants. It is also great for
watering hard
to reach potted plants. Make sure that the detergent in your shampoo
bottle has been cleared up before using it for your garden.
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Toilet Roll
Cardboard Centres |
Can be used in the
garden for planting seedlings by placing it over seed. Garden pests
will not take away your seeds and the snail cannot get to it once it start
shooting up. Can also make paper jewellery to entertain the kids.
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| Bedroom
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Kids'
clothes |
Wash clothes
only when they are really dirty to conserve water. It also helps to
cut down on wear and tear. Clothes
the kids have outgrown can be passed down to younger relatives or
neighbours, or donated to a family shelter. Their favourite T-shirts
can also be used to dress up a worn looking doll or Teddy Bear to make it look new
again. If pants and shirts are completely
unwearable, they can be recycled into other items. Cut favorites into fabric
swatches for a memory quilt. Stuff t-shirts with batting, baste the edges and
make throw pillows or bean bags for games. Gifted sewers can make dolls clothes,
too. Kids outgrown their clothes very quickly so some of their clothes,
especially, underwear may still be as good as new. Consider giving
them away to a kindergarten near your home. Kids in kindergarten
tend to stain themselves because of spilt food. The younger ones
sometimes urinate in
their pants. So, these handouts will be very
handy.
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Toys in working condition |
Toys
the kids have outgrown or have lost interest in can be sold or donated to
charity. Can be used for games and prizes during a backyard or neighborhood carnival.
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Games or puzzles with missing
pieces
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Create new games using the old materials.
Make paper curtains or mobile structure out of puzzles by placing a string
between two pieces, with back facing each other, and glue them
together. Or make your own earring using four pieces of
puzzles. Glue two pieces together with back facing. Pierce a
hole at the top and hook on a earring loop that you can buy in any art and
craft shop. Do the same for the other two pieces.
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Living Room
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Electricity
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Remind children to turn off lights, computers, televisions and CD
players when they leave the room. Make them aware of just how much electric
power costs by reviewing your monthly bill with them. As they conserve, they
will notice the total going down each month. Perhaps the savings can be used for
a special family treat.
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Broken
Crayons |
Collect
them and melt them into new sticks.
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