Can't say that I'm nearly as good as my imagination, but I would like to be able to use up or recycle everything that comes onto this place. For anyone who may have a similar goal, how do you go about it?

What do you have to recycle? I reuse a lot of things, but it would take all day to list them.

Anna Marie:

I would like to be able to use up or recycle everything that comes onto this place.

The last issue of Hobby Farms Home suggested cutting empty TP tubes into 1/2 or 1/3 & filling them with potting soil (or regular soil), & set in an old pan to use as plant starter pots. When transplanting int he spring, since the bottom is open, just plant the whole thing.

In the last issue of the Dairy Goat magazine, a reader suggested wearing two pairs of socks, with a plastic grocery bag in between, to keep your feet dry in the spring whenit's sloppy & the barn boots leak.

I thought both of those were good ideas. 

Pat, I'm not looking right now to recycle anything in particular. Some small examples of what I mean are that I save odd oil and meat drippings that won't be re-used in our cooking, must not go down the drain, and should not go to the compost and serve as "gravy" on the dogs' food. We don't have farm animals to use them.

In trying to use other than paper towels, I use a piece of newspaper to wipe out a greasy skillet before washing it. If we're soon to start up the fireplace, that becomes a fire starter.

We get lots of free address labels and gift tags. The gift tags in excess of our needs get donated to our local Toys for Children project as no gift may be taken without being labeled for its recipient. The decorative ends of the address lables are cut off to use as stickers in craft projects. One year my classes wrote cards to those serving in the military overseas and decorated them with the numerous "stickers" that acme from Vets organizations.

There's a place I visit where I take our used medicine bottles (labels removed) for re-use in a medical mission in another country.

zohnerfarms:

I thought both of those were good ideas. 

Mnay of you may do this, although you do not get paer bags as much here as you used to. i have saved any paper bags even from sugar and flour. just sake them out really well and use them. I drain my greasy foods on them instead of papertowels when i fry or deep fry something. i try to save things that i think i can find a use for. my brother has chickens so i save my egg cartons for him. He gives me eggs when he has extras. i am working on doing better about not wasting. i feel that it is always an area we can improve on.

 Empty jars and plastic bowls with lids go to the soup kitchen for people to bring leftovers home. Babs

Anna Marie:

In trying to use other than paper towels, I use a piece of newspaper to wipe out a greasy skillet before washing it. If we're soon to start up the fireplace, that becomes a fire starter.

I haven't bought paper towels in years. I use rags for everything. If the job is really nasty, I just throw the rag away, but most of them get washed and reused. I have "clean" rags and "dirty" rags. The ones for dirty uses (mopping the floor, scrubbing the toilet) get washed with throw rugs and the ones for cleaner jobs are washed with bed and kitchen items.

I take the brown paper inner wrapper from sugar sacks and save it to drain greasy foods.

I could list a thousand or so things, it seems! Reuse containers of every kind. I have two 5 X 9 plastic containers that came with cookies in them. They're sturdy so I use one to hold excess pencils and pens and the other goes by the sewing machine for odds and ends. Chip bags are sometimes turned inside out and the shiny side used for gift wrap. I save the salt from the bottom of pretzel bags and grind it for popcorn salt. Popcorn that doesn't pop gets milled for corn meal. I keep a few plastic cards (membership or old credit cards) handy to scrape yucky stuff, to smooth grout in the bathtub, to scape ice from the windshield, etc.

 this is my new recycle project- i usually save the christmas cards and cut gift tags out of them, but this time i'm going to make holiday postcards out of them!  i found postcards for this past holiday season, and really liked the idea, to save postage and the envelope paper.  the post office clerk said as long as i cut them standard postcard size, and don't use the glitter ones, i'm good.

Wow!  We do a lot of recycling and reusing in our family.   I don't know what you'd consider "typical" but here are a few:-

1. I use disposable gloves when I am making polymer clay (no fingerprints on my work)  I'll actually use them a few times before they're too stained.  When I've finished with them, I give them to DH for his work.   I keep some for bathroom cleaning as well.
2. We do not own a store bought kitchen garbage can - we use a bucket that originally contained laundry detergent.  The plastic grocery bags fit perfectly in this bucket so I don't have to buy bags either.
3. Plastic grocery bags have been used in place of fiberfil to stuff some of my craft projects.
4. Junk occasionally becomes a home decor item - for example, I have a tall "vase" that I made from a heavy duty cardboard tube (from a newsprint roll end) that I spray painted and embellished with beads from my craft stash etc.  To create a bottom for the vase, I stuck a coffee jar lid in one end of the tube.  Voila - instant vase that probably cost me less than 50 cents in material to put together.
5. Plastic jars have been used instead of storebought containers for freezing food for future use

Sorry - I can't think of any really "revolutionary" reuse or recycling ideas.  Most of the things we do are the usual suggestions.  However, your thread has inspired me to think of new ways to reuse and recycle.  Thank you