Sandra Dodd

The clay pens thinking reminded me of this:



We reuse LOTS of stuff at our house. We have our own weird recycling
going on. The paper butter is wrapped in makes great fire-starting
material, and the paper bags from sugar and flour do too. Paper
towels that've been used to wipe a greasy surface are GREAT for
starting a fire in the hot tub or fireplace. The plastic bowls that
frozen foods come in can be reused lots of times in the microwave.
When the kids were little most of their "glasses" were restaurant
glasses (Shoney's, Black-eyed Pea) from kids' meals. Plastic milk
cartons are compost containers and plant-pots and water storage, and
frozen solid in the freezer and taken on outings or car trips in
summer so there's ice water to drink as it thaws.

I know there are different levels of "recycling," and making new cups
out of old ones is a good one! Making plastic "wood" out of old
grocery bags is a great one. Sometimes burning paper trash for fuel
(or starter) seems like a waste, but if the alternative is just
sticking it in a dump, then no... burning can be better.

I remember lots of "recycling" recommendations that were basically
just keeping the trash around as pencil holders and mobiles ("paint
trash and hang it in the air!").

Some stores have big bags and I use those as trash bags. Savers and
Target.

Just rambling now, on how disposable clay pipes are in comparison to
our everyday disposable stuff. Fired clay doesn't break down very
well, except when it's sand-sized and turns to hard parts of soil.

Sandra

Laura Endres

The paper butter is wrapped in makes great fire-starting
> material, and the paper bags from sugar and flour do too. Paper
> towels that've been used to wipe a greasy surface are GREAT for
> starting a fire in the hot tub or fireplace.

Talk about timely, I am just so glad you posted this. We have a woodburning
stove that we heat with, and we ran out of firestarters today. Our wood is
wet from rain, too, and it took me half the day to get a roaring fire going.
These tips are oh-so-appreciated!

We reuse all our plastic zipper bags - they're easy to wash and hang upside
down on a bowl of paintbrushes that are on my windowsill. An added benefit
is that the water from the bags drips into my hot pepper plant sitting
there. :)

I love that our produce market offers big cardboard boxes in lieu of plastic
bags, and they are perfect for storing my recyclables and newspapers, and
have handle holes for easy carrying.

We also use cloth napkins instead of paper. They're nothing to add to any
load of laundry, and since I hate running errands, it's one less thing to
run out of and go without until I muster the interest in a shopping trip.

My 13yo is a great reuser... he loves to take apart anything he can get his
hands on and saves all the parts for someday-inventions.

Laura in IL