What do you reuse? And how do you do it? Let us know, because we're looking for readers' photos and creative reuse projects. The first 15 ideas we post will get a free AT T-shirt (get all the details here). So send your projects our way!
Alice from West Orange, NJ recently sent us this great idea: She uses two empty milk jugs to craft compost pails for her kitchen (remember ... some fancy compost pails can set you back more than $40).
Get her instructions after the jump.
Object(s): 2 plastic gallon milk jugs
Project: Kitchen compost container
Instructions: To make one of these, use two rinsed-out gallon milk jugs. Cut out one around the top, so that it ends just at the top edge of the straight sides; give it a little more room on the handle side, so that it remains sturdy. Cut the second one to form a lid, with the cut about an inch lower down so that it overlaps the compost holder, and with an angled cut out around the handle.
Inspiration: This is a simple reuse, and we remember having containers like this around the house when we were kids (for example, full of crayons). We've noticed lately, though, that many of our visitors remark on it as such a clever reuse. This got us thinking: what happened to repurposing like this? It seems that everyone we know has another store-bought plastic container designed to hold each particular thing, and kitchen compost holders are a prime example. Why buy a new item, just to hold waste on its way out the door? This one is just perfect for us: smell-tight, keeps out flies, easy to open and close with just two free fingers when you hands are full during food prep, and easy to carry out to the compost bin and dump. Better yet, it is truly part of the reduce-reuse-recycle three-part goal. We always buy our milk in these plastic gallons (now that we live somewhere without a glass bottle dairly) instead of cardboard cartons, we repurpose the jugs for things like this, and when the jug's plastic holds a bit too much aroma/discoloration from coffee and other organic waste, we rinse it out and toss it in the recycling bin, and replace it with a new one! Inspiration: Our midwestern mothers.
(Thanks, Alice!)
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
My gosh, my parents have been using this for 20 years. I never really thought of them as 'innovative' or especially green, but practical!
:-)
view orrismb's profile
Hmm, but does it keep the smell in? Large empty coffee cans work well for me as a compost container. The tight fitting lid keep bad smells in the container and fruit flies out.
I also love using the smaller empty coffee cans as paint pails.
view Candice's profile
I use a medium-sized dishwasher-safe bowl with no lid, to force myself to take the compost out regularly.
view Joan A.'s profile
Mine attracted fruit flys today, I'll try again when I make the cover for it, if it is too gross I'll try the coffee can
view labchick's profile
Orrismb, I thought the same thing. The reason we sent it in is that most visitors to our house these days seem to have never seen these before!
Candice, it does keep the smell in, and thus fruit flies away--the key is the overlap, because it fits tightly enough that there really isn't any airflow in/out. Anything will attract fruit flies if you don't keep it shut. One reason I like this better than my previous snap-on lid container is that I think I actually keep it shut more. I used to live somewhere with an unbelievably high natural density of fruit flies. If I left the lid off the entire time during a meal prep, I could guarantee that several would show up.
I like the coffee can idea, too! Metal retains smells less than plastic.
view mAlice's profile
Alice - Thanks for clarifying. It's definitely not a use I would have thought of. But then again, I save all my used jugs for winter sowing. :)
Well, metal may retain less smell, but that can does get pretty darn stinky! I try to combat this with baking soda and vinegar, and leftover lemon peels but every so often you just have to get a new container, or risk passing out when emptying the darn thing.
view Candice's profile