It’s Time To Upcycle: 25 + Ideas
Seven states are looking at running out of landfill space in the next five years, one state will reach capacity in five to 10 years and three states have 11 to 20 years to go.
I don’t know about you but that’s quite enough motivation to stop consuming and start upcycling
I share a lot about ecofriendly swaps and things you can buy to help lower your waste, but repairing, renovating and upcycling is crucial to lowering waste. Instead of throwing an item away, if you reuse the item in another way, it helps reduce what goes into the landfill, and reduces the raw materials, packaging waste and energy that goes into manufacturing new products.
Before tossing something in the trash, think if there’s another way you can use the item, someone you can give it to, can you repair the item, can you do anything else with it before throwing it in the trash?
Some Upcycling Ideas
Instead of throwing out lawn chairs, I stopped at the hardware store and got a missing bolt/machine screw, and fixed the chair. Next step, I’ll be giving them a new coat of paint! Check Out The Chairs
Instead of purchasing brand new frames, I thrifted a bunch of secondhand frames that needed to be cleaned, and some repaired, and used them for our gallery wall of travels. Check Out The Gallery Wall
Instead of buying a new plant stand, I’m reusing my Click & Grow garden stand to hold my plants. Check Out The Stand
Instead of buying a new standing desk to match, I purchased a roll of white vinyl to cover the brown desk top. Check Out The Desk
Instead of purchasing a new cube organizer, I put out an ISO on my Buy Nothing Group and received two brown cube organizers for free. After using a little wood filler, I sanded one down and painted it white. Check Out The Organizers
Instead of keeping stickers in a box for the rest of time, I added magnetic sheet backing and hung them up in my office as decor. Check Out The Decor
Here are 24 things you can easily upcycle:
24 Things to Upcycle instead of throw out in 2024:
Use a plastic bottle to water your plants, turn old keychains into ornaments by removing the ring and adding a ribbon, turn packing paper into wrapping paper, upcycle the covers of christmas cards to make gift tags, use old cds as mosaics, turn old tshirts into a blanket, pick up plastic trash and make art, melt old candle wax to make a new candle, turn old socks into dog toys, use dandelions outside to make dandelion honey, use coffee grounds to make a body scrub, turn an old tshirt into cotton rounds, save produce bags and turn it into a dish scrubbie, save your scrap yarn and make a scrappy weave project, turn your halloween pumpkins into puree and make dog treats, collect your plastic waste and build ecobricks, save your popsicle sticks and use them to mark your plants, turn that stale bread into crutons, turn cardboard into festive gingerbread garland, use old fruits in your fridge to make a simmer pot, use scraps from vegetables to make vegetable broth, add rocks to a bowl and fill with water to make a pollinator bath, remove labels from glass jars you get at the store and use to store things, and save pill bottles to hold seeds from your garden.
