So you've cooked your dinner and now you're left with a collection of packaging and food scraps that apparently needs to be discarded. Come on lets think about it, do we really need to recycle it or even worse throw it into a landfill? Lets think about the packaging first and then we'll turn our attention to the food scraps. As good as recycling is, it still takes a fair amount of effort and energy to reconvert old resources into a new product. So have a little think to yourself about what other applications this product may have, can you reuse it?

Do you have children? Do you know anyone who has children? All children love to draw and make things, why not let them use the inside of cardboard boxes to draw on or even make things from. Once they have finished their masterpieces you can always recycle the cardboard then, at least you are getting one more use from it. For some more fantastic 'reuse' tips visit the Be the Difference Web Site, set up and run by Wellington City Council.
 

You may well be aware of the huge glass mountains that are appearing all over Otago and New Zealand. At present it just isn't economically viable to send our glass away to be recycled. The recycling plants are so far away and the glass is so heavy that it really isn't cost effective to recycle it. In the meantime the community recyclers of Otago are stock pilling the glass in the hope that very soon there will be a local use for the material. One of the main sources of glass within these mountains is beer bottles. The next time you are buying yourself some beers consider buying from a local brewery such as Wanaka Beerworks. These on to it people take back their bottles, wash them and reuse them thus helping us to reduce our mountains.

You may have been told that it is not safe to reuse the plastic water bottles that really are the in thing to be seen with these days. According to the NZ Food and Safety Authority, so long as the bottle is washed thoroughly there should be no problems. That's awesome news, just keep on using the one you bought already until you inevitably loose it.
 

It can sometimes be amazing to see what some people reuse. Wanaka Wastebusters were visited by two Europeans looking for aluminium drink can ring pulls. Kiko (Spanish) and Sandy (German) are currently doing the NZ tour in their van and have been spending some of their relaxation time making purses from croched cotton and ring pulls. Sandy first started making these a few months ago when the couple were living in Majorca. They say it was a lot easier getting the resources there, apparently there is much less litter in New Zealand than Majorca, well done Kiwi's. Well that was until they found Wanaka Wastebusters, they were very pleased to find fadges full of empty aluminium drinks cans. You can email Sandy if you'd like to find out more about this ingeneous idea.

Purse made from cotton and drink can ring pulls

Most of us have a large portion of our wardrobe full of clothes that we are convinced that we will wear again sometime in the future. Why does it not always work out like that? If you are one of these people then have you considered having a good old clear out and paying your local Reuse or Op Shop a visit? This is such a good way of reusing old clothes. Someone else may get years of good use out of something you have just grown out of, or plain and simple got fed up with. Some of these clothes may even be sent over seas to others less fortunate than ourselves. There may even be a rag scheme in operation like the one run by Wanaka Wastebusters where by clothes that just don't appear to have a new home are turned into rags by a team of volunteers. The local businesses of Wanaka make fantastic use out of these rags and as such aren't using new resources.
 

There is always a time of year when you hear on the radio that we need to be careful about the amount of water we use in the home. There is no surprise that this usually comes sometime during the summer. One of the main uses of water during this time is irrigation for gardens. Instead of using the water straight from the tap have you considered storing rain water in a water butt and then using this water to water your plants with? There are lots of handy hints and advice available from www.bestgardening.com, a New Zealand based gardening information resource.
 

Just because you think that the materials you use have come to the end of their natural life cycle doesn't mean that somebody else won't have use for them. Trying to find people who have use for your old items may not be the easiest thing in the world unless you use a waste exchange. Terranova of Christchurch operate a very successful waste exchange. The waste exchanges run a little like Trade Me, items which are no longer required are advertised here and people looking for materials can browse the catalogue and then get in touch with you if they have something that is wanted. The cost of these items is generally very cheap if not free. The adverts are placed on the Internet and a printed Catalogue is distributed too. Terranova are not the only waste exchange in New Zealand, the waste exchange web site set up and run by WasteMINZ, gives a full list of all those available. It is often best to use a waste exchange near to where you live to save on transportation costs.