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Shopping for Recycled/Reused items

Do you like to buy things made from recycled things?

Etsy is full of artisans selling wonderful items made from recycled items. Not everything on Etsy is recycled, but a lot of it is. From necklaces and notebooks to teddy bears and tote bags, so much on Etsy has been repurposed, recycled, upcycled and remade into delightful new stuff.

Where do you shop for recycled goodies?

Recycle This - Great Web Site!

I recently came across the Recycle This Web site. Have you ever wondered what you should do with old VHS tapes, egg shells, floppy disks, cell phones, tires, keys, flip-flops, sunglasses? Recycle This can tell you exactly what can be done with all those things and much, much more.

The couple who produce the site live in England, so some of the posts might pertain to directly to the UK, such as the post "How can we make doorstep recycling better in the UK?" But, most of the Web site is applicable no matter where you live. You don't have to be British to turn an old suitcase into a pet bed or to use it for storing out-of-season clothing.

With hundreds of posts on dozens of topics, it's easy to spend a lot of time reading all of the great recycling and reusing ideas on Recycle This!

More Christmas recycling ideas

 Aimee Wood at BellaOnline has some great Christmas recycling ideas!

Check out her article

Recylcing and Reusing at Christmas

Does it seem like there is a lot of waste in your Christmas celebrations? The gift wrap is wadded up and thrown away. Maybe you save the cards after Christmas, but then what do you do with them? The envelopes, the gift tags, the ribbon....so much trash.

This Christmas, before you rush out and buy new wrapping paper, check to see what you already have stored in the back of the closet. If you've used all of that up, try making your own wrapping paper with newspaper pages or paper grocery sacks. Use paint or ink to add holiday decorations, such as Christmas trees, stars, etc.

Do you need holiday gift tags? Instead of buying a new package, look through last year's Christmas cards that you saved  because they were too pretty to throw away. Cut them into gift tags, using the back side for the "To and From."

Having a holiday party? Make name tags for everyone decorated with vintage Christmas seals or images cut from leftover wrapping paper.

Other uses for old Christmas cards or vintage Christmas seals/stickers? Frame for holiday art to decorate your home or to give as gifts. Or, arrange artfully and laminate for use as place mats.

Etsy finds!

Etsy is such a fun place for finding recycled, reused and repurposed items!

Take a look at these:

Glamorous Recycled Vintage Negatives Earrings made from vintage 8mm film strips at Tomate d'épingles etsy shop.

Steampunk Vintage Button Necklace made from vintage clock parts, buttons and an antique chain at Callooh Callay's shop.

Pencil Box for School or Office made from fused plastic bags at ECO by Limitz on Etsy.

Everything about these Individual Woodgrain Cards is reused...the paint, the paper, the envelopes! Find them at the Reuse First shop on Etsy.

These Magazine Coasters put to great use something that normally would be tossed out with the trash! Rubbish Remade on Etsy has lots of nice things made out of paper.

At Debby Arem Design's shop on Etsy, these Recycled Computer Circuit Board Mini Magnetic Clipboards are great!


If you're looking for some great items that are eco-friendly, recycled, repurposed, reused, etc., head over to Etsy and take a look around!

Reusing everyday items

My 9-year-old daughter is one of the reusing-est people I know. She can find a use for just about any piece of what-looks-like-trash.

This weekend, she picked up a subscription card that had fallen out of a magazine I was reading. She rolled it into a cone and immediately hit on the idea of turning it into a flower holder...an artificial flower holder, holding flowers she planned to make from a variety of items around the house.

So, with a little glue and some paint, she had the card looking like a vase. Then, she used some coffee filters and I don't know what else to create some flowers.

If you're looking for some ideas on what to do with the everyday stuff that might be trash, try Earth911.
The Web site's "Reuse Everything You Can" section has an article called "Get Those Reuse Ideas Flowing," with ideas such as using egg cartons to store miscellaneous items like ping pong balls and hair ties. If you have more ideas for that article, click on "Contact Us" and send them a suggestion.

The Web site also has a search engine for finding a recycling place near you. Look around the Web site; maybe there's some information there you can use.

Cute items!




Recently, I'v been finding New Leaf Paper products at an area thrift store.

This little "Found Space" journal is great...it's printed on 100% post-consumer, recycled paper. The "packaging" is recycled product packaging. In this case, it looks like a box of Annie's organic white cheddar and pasta shells. The New Leaf Paper info is printed on the "inside" of the Annie's box. It's all held together with a couple of loose leaf rings.

A few weeks ago, I featured some New Leaf Paper Karma Cards on my 365Letters blog. You can read about them here.

I've been to the New Leaf Paper Web site, but I don't see anything like this on there. But, I do find the products listed online at a variety of stores. I'm sending an e-mail to New Leaf Paper and will update to let you know if they're still making these products.

I just love this kind of stuff!

UPDATE: See the first comment below for information from New Leaf Paper! The place to go is www.newleafproducts.net. Lots of wonderful things there!
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