Recyle in the yard and garden

Rusty Buckets and Coffee Can Planters

Antique or vintage metal buckets make great planters for displaying in the midst of tangled flower beds; large metal coffee cans work as well, forming pseudo-buckets with holes drilled in the sides and metal wire handles looped through them.
Create a faux rust using brown outdoor paint, all-weather glue, and dried ground cinnamon. Coat the metal surface in glue mixed with brown paint, then sprinkle liberally with dried cinnamon.
Once the surface is dry, it should have the look and feel of rust. Coat the surface with a protective sealant so the look lasts longer or leave natural for display in an organic garden.

China, Porcelain, and Crockery Plant Pots

Cracked teapots, soup tureens, and other large crockery pieces make great choices for ornate planters. Carefully drill a few holes in the bottom using a specialty drill bit and drilling technique, then fill with soil for planting a small plant or seasonal choices like bulbs.
Recycled porcelain and ceramic pieces make good choices for indoor planters, since the shiny finish and decorative surfaces resemble traditional domestic planters.

Box Frame Wagon

A rusty or worn-out toy wagon is perfect for creating a whimsical moveable planter that can hold rows of petunias, tulips, or other choices. The thin metal bottom makes drilling drainage holes easy with a medium-sized bit and drill; a rusted bottom can be replaced with a wood panel cut to fit, with pre-drilled drainage holes.
Since the depth of the wagon is minimal, a simple box frame identical in width and length to the wagon is perfect for increasing the growing space. Be sure to include the thickness of the boards in the calculations when sizing the box. Secure to the top of the wagon using short stakes driven into the soil at each corner to steady the frame.
Reusing forgotten items can enhance the charm of the garden and help "junk" items live up to their maximum potential. These second-chance garden planters and pots have a personality all their own when displayed in garden beds or landscaped scenes.

© 2010 Sarah Briggs

This and That

I know people that their favorite things to recycle are other people's stuff. Going to garage sales and finding things that can be reused like pictures, furniture and clothes. For others it is finding an item that can be used as something else. For example,  a couple of old chairs that are can make neat planters in the yard.

Start preschoolers on the right track to recycling.  Have them cut the top off an orange juice carton and use the bottom for a planter.(add dirt, flowers, water)

Turn toilet paper and paper towel tubes into kindling and logs for your fireplace. For fire starter, use scissors to cut the cardboard into 1/8-inch (3-millimeter) strips. Keep the strips in a bin near the fireplace so they'll be handy to use next time you make a fire. To make logs, tape over one end of the tube and pack shredded newspaper inside. Then tape the other end. The tighter you pack the newspaper, the longer your log will burn.

Novel ways to recycle

Those triangular things that sit in pizzas you order in -- they are great for supporting your indoor pot plants when you need to sit them in a ceramic/other pot holder. That extra height means excess water can drain off.

Old plates and saucers to keep pumpkins and squashes off the ground while they are growing.

I find old toothbrushes are best for cleaning around the bases of kitchen & bathroom taps.

CD's to make a garden ornament by tying them together so they hang  in a column and catch the sun as they twist in the breeze.  

How can I reuse or recycle random spare buttons?

Woo! buttons! I love spare buttons!
And they’re a hot crafting item at the moment too: I love the idea of button bouquets, but there are also button coasters (perfect for lots of less exciting buttons), collages and using them as embellishments for boring shoes or tops.  Just glue your favourite buttons onto stud findings for a great pair of earrings.  Or put three colourful buttons on headpins.
Around the home, I’ve seen them used instead of gravel in clear fake-flower vases or on top of the soil in plant pots — and if you can’t think of a reuse for them, put them in a bag on eBay and button-cravers will snap them up ;)

Twelve alternative uses for coffee filters

   1. Clean windows and mirrors. Coffee filters are lint-free so they don't leave behind any residue.

   2. Save a bottle of wine. Broke the cork? No problem. Just place a filter over a pitcher and carefully pour the wine into it.

   3. Line flower pots. Place a filter at the bottom of the pot to prevent soil from leaking out of the drainage hole.

   4. Protect china and non-stick cookware. Place a coffee filter between dishes or pans when storing or packing.

   5. Wipe off smudges.  In a pinch, you can use to clean eyeglasses, camera lenses, televisions, and computer monitors.

   6. Keep your microwave clean. Prevent splatters by covering dishes or bowls in the microwave with coffee filters. Using another plate is your best bet, but filters are a good alternative to plastic wrap. And you can easily reuse them a few times.

   7. Make a bouquet garni. Tie up bay leaves, parsley, or other herbs in a coffee filter. Drop it in your stew or soup pot, and easily remove it when you're done cooking. Recipes often suggest cheesecloth for this process, but a coffee filter is an easy-to-find alternative.

   8. Diffuse the flash on your camera. Place a coffee filter over your flash to soften the brightness. You can also try putting coffee filters over lights or lamps to lessen the harshness of direct light when taking indoor photos.

   9. Make sachets. Tie lavender or other dried flowers and herbs in a coffee filter to make great-smelling bundles you can store in drawers and closets.

  10. Use for sewing projects. Coffee filters make a great backing for embroidering or appliqueing soft fabrics.

  11. Make tea bags. Wrap loose tea in a filter and tie with a string.

  12. Use for storage. Wrap Christmas ornaments and other rarely used fragile items before packing away.

How to Recycle Unusual Household Items

Whether doing major spring cleaning or just sorting through old household supplies, occasionally, we all run into a recycling stumper—crayons, foam peanuts, old VHS tapes? Good grief. The more obscure an item, the harder it is for us to resist throwing it out the easy way—in the trash can. But the truth is we really are doing ourselves (and our planet!) a big favor by repurposing used parts and pieces. So, the next time clutter is being banished from the house, refer to this list of wacky recycling tips. We promise it really is useful.

1. Batteries
Environmental, Health and safety Online have initiated a national program called Call2Recycle, which has collected and recycled more than 42 million pounds of rechargeable batteries, and have partnered up with retailers and recycling programs nationwide for our recycling convenience. Visit their site ehso.com to find a location near you.

2. Candle Jars
I’m a jar-candle addict, but who wants to melt out the leftover wax so you can recycle the jar? I found a new trick: Put the used jar in the freezer, and an hour later, you can tap the bottom a few times and pop the wax right out. Better yet, stick to tea lights. As long as the package says that the metal cups are aluminum, you can pull out the used wick and toss the metal in the recycling along with your cans.

3. CDs and DVDs
Mails discs to Back Thru The Future ( cdrecyclingforfree.com), a woman-owned electronics recycling and data destruction company.

4. Crayons
In my house, the most unpopular crayon colors are gray and pale yellow. I never thought twice about tossing the duds in the trash, but it turns out that crayon wax spends eternity in a landfill. Instead, put them in a small box and send them to the recycling program run by Crazy Crayons, where your castoffs will be melted down and turned into a new generation of crayons. For details, go to crazycrayons.com.

5. Foam Peanuts
Some are now made from vegetable starch. To test, toss one under water—if it disintegrates, you’ve got nontoxic, biodegradable peanuts. As for the nonrecyclable plastic kind, call The Peanut Hotline (800-828-2214) for a list of businesses that accept them.

6. Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs
Recycle them through your town's hazardous waste program. If your town doesn't have one, put bulbs in a thick plastic bag to keep mercury from leaking; tie shut and place in the garbage.

7. VHS Tapes
Have taken over, everyone has a pile of old VHS tapes gathering dust. To keep them out of landfills, drop them in the mail to Alternative Community Training, a nonprofit Missouri company that provides jobs to people with disabilities.
Workers erase the tapes, reselling the ones that are in good shape and recycling the plastic parts of the rest. They’ve recycled more than 1 million tapes so far. Mail the tapes (at the cheaper USPS media mail rate) to:
ACT
2200 Burlington
Columbia, MO 65202

8. Paint
Go to earth911.org/recycling to find out where to recycle it in your zip code. Or donate it to your local Habitat for Humanity ReStore ( habitat.org).

9. Trophies
Yes, it’s hard to part with past awards that remind you of when you were the fastest, strongest or, quite frankly, the best, but if you must, here’s how: Send them to Art Inc.; they’ll take your award and, with it, make new art that they will give children’s groups or worthy causes like the Special Olympics. Or, ship them off to Awardex.com, where they’ll use you old trophies to make new awards.

10. Phone Books
Yes, they're recyclable, but you can't just toss them in with your regular stuff. Who knew? Instead, wait for your town's phone book pickup. If there is none, go to yellowpages.com/recycle to find out what to do in your area.

from Womans Day

Recycle plastic bottles

Recycling Plastic Bottles:

    * For every ton of plastic bottles recycled, almost 3.8 barrels of oil are saved (americanchemistry.com)

Recycling plastics and other materials such as paper, and aluminum, create new products such as:

    * Aluminum cans, car bumpers, nails
    * Newspapers, cereal boxes, paper towels, copy paper, egg cartons
    * Insulation, packing material, wrapping paper
    * Carpeting, motor oil, trash bags
    * Fleece jackets, carpeting, detergent bottles, lumber for outdoor decking
    * Glass containers

When actions are taken to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, many things are accomplished:

    * Keeps goods and materials out of landfills
    * Advances green technology and source reduction processing
    * Results in less hazardous waste
    * Reduces the need for new landfills and incinerators
    * Generates new business and employment opportunities
    * Reduces the strain on valuable resources (forests, water, fuel) and safeguards wildlife habitats

Green LivingTips

* Invest in reusable cloth grocery bags.

* Repair items as much as possible.

* Use durable coffee mugs.

* Use cloth napkins or towels.

*Clean out juice bottles and use them for water.

* Use empty jars to hold leftover food.

* Reuse boxes.

* Purchase refillable pens and pencils.

* Participate in a paint collection and reuse program.

* Donate extras to people you know or to charity instead of throwing them away.

* Reuse plastic grocery bags as trash bags.

tips from the fox66 green team

Glass for recycle

We are not recycling enough of our glass. Only about one-quarter of glass is recycled. There may not be enough recyclers who want to make the effort to melt down the glass to be reused. Different color glasses have to be separated in order to be melted down and reused for new products. We need to raise awareness that recycling glass can open a whole new field of opportunities.
You would never be out of a job because glass can be recycled an infinite number of times.
1 glass bottle that is recycled can save enough energy to light a 100 watt light bulb for 4 hrs.
The amount of glass jars and bottles recycled in the United States for a year, when lined up can reach the Moon and come half way back to Earth. That is a lot of glass.

Unusual Things We can Recycle

Bottle Caps– These can be given to the recycling centers or made into a very handy device for removing fish scales. Take a 3-4 inch block of wood and nail the bottle caps with the fluted side up. Run up and down a fish to get rid of scales.

Keys – Old keys can be recycled and reused to make weights for fishing lines with their predrilled  holes.

Fabric Scraps – Use leftover fabrics to decorate, jars, jar lids of homemade preserves or other goodies. These can be stitched to dress up Christmas time liquor bottles or even cut into squares to make pretty and assorted party napkins.

Hangers – Hangers can easily be twisted and turned into many shapes to speed drying boots or other footwear. They can also be given to the local drycleaner for re-use. 

Roof Shingles – These are being recycled to form part of the roads we walk on. Try locating a dedicated office established in your state for that purpose. 

Shower Curtains – They can be re-used as an apron or a drop cloth.

Wok Lid– The shiny aluminum lid of a Chinese wok makes a contemporary shade for a hanging lamp. All you have to do is drill a hole in the centre and rig up one of the hanging lamp socket sets found easily in a hardware store.

New 1/2 inch cuff

As you know if you follow this blog every once in a while I show pictures of some of our products.
Cangles is just coming out with our new cuff.    We have a 1" wide cuff and now we have a
1/2" wide cuff.
I will post some pictures so you can see what they look like-similar to our bangle but no clasp.

Hope you like the new cuff size.  It should be in the store by the first of next week if not sooner!

Recycle pantyhose

Pantyhose, made out of not-so-natural nylon, rips and wears down easily, and most of us toss them in the trash and buy more cheap ones. The most eco-conscious among us have been guilty of this, and we’ll admit it. Good thing greenlivingtips.com has come up with ways to re-use them around the house. They’ve come up with a whopping 18 ways to re-use them, and we’ve picked three of our faves to share with you.


1. Use your old pairs of pantyhose as stuffing for craft dolls or cushions.
2. They can also be great polishing cloths for furniture or shoes.
3. Cut off the waistbands of pantyhose and use it as a heavy-duty rubber band. If you’ve got control top pantyhose, more of the top can be used as well.

Cangles partners receive Green Business Award

Three of the four owners were on hand to receive the July Green Business Award from

Fox 66 out of Flint Michigan.

Milk carton birdhouse

A milk carton birdhouse is a great birdhouse for children to make. The steps to make a milk carton birdhouse are to first get an empty paper half gallon milk carton. The top of the milk carton needs to be open and washed throughly. Reclose the milk carton and staple it shut. Tear off one to two inches of masking tape to cover the milk carton, overlap the pieces so none of the carton shows. Rub over the tape with brown shoe polish. Let it dry. Decide what bird you want to live in the birdhouse. Once

you decide on the birdhouse, use a pencil and make several holes on the bottom of the milk carton for the rain to drain out. Place a hole through the top of the birdhouse near the staples. Put a short piece of wire through the hole to make a loop.

Here is a picture of a birdhouse made out of a milk carton.

Recycling ideas for Milk cartons #2 Outdoor uses

OUTDOORS

Feed the birds in winter. Cartons are ideal for storing homemade suet or peanut butter-based mixtures. Pour hot mix into a carton. When it's completely hardened, use a sharp carving knife to cut into inch-thick slices. Peel off the cardboard around edges. Each slice fits perfectly into most wire suet holders.

Seed starter. Cut cartons in half lengthwise and punch drainage holes in the bottom. Fill with potting mix. Now you're ready to grow some seeds!

Bug stopper. Keep bugs off your baby veggie plants: cut tops and bottoms off cartons and push them into the soil around the plants. This cardboard collar makes it hard for slithery bugs to get near those tender shoots.

Toe guard. Camping? Try using bottoms of cartons as tent peg covers. They'll help prevent painful stubbed toes.

Weight. Fill cartons with sand or pebbles. Punch holes in tops. Use them to weigh down a tarpaulin or drop cloth when it's windy. Great if you're out of spare bricks. Thread rope through the punched holes and tie them down for added security.

Compost. Schools in LA collected 200 tons of school lunch milk cartons, which the city converted into compost and used to plant trees in bare urban areas. You can do the same on a small scale. Just shred them before adding to your compost container.