Creative Recycling Ideas for Your Home

What’s the Best Way to Recycle Household Items?

When it comes to general recycling, some local councils are better than others at equipping us with the right tools to dispose of items correctly. You might be used to having different bins and a variety of pastel coloured rubbish bags, but apart from keeping food tins, cardboard waste and plastics to the side, there are plenty of other household items you can recycle. But how?

How to recycle mobile phones and other electronics

Got yourself a new phone and stashed your old one away somewhere? We’ve all been there. However, the only thing to come out of that will be using up some perfectly good storage space to keep old devices that you probably won’t use again, even if your new one breaks. Hey, we’re just being honest here!

While it’s difficult to properly recycle old electronics, you can easily pass on mobile phones or tablets you no longer need to friends or relatives. There are also online recycling sites who will give you a bit of cash in exchange for your old electronics.

On the other hand, if your electronics are broken, malfunctioning or no longer fit for purpose, think about selling the device for parts on sites like eBay. As they say, one person’s trash is another’s treasure!

Ink cartridges and batteries

People are often confused as to whether to throw away or recycle their old ink cartridges and batteries, but fortunately they can indeed be recycled safely. In fact, putting printer cartridges in with your regular rubbish is strongly discouraged, as they are considered hazardous waste. So it’s worth checking your local office shop to see if they’ll take them off your hands - some stores might even reward you for it. Otherwise, there are businesses online who will refill your empty cartridges.

When it comes to batteries, Duracell has noted that you should recycle rechargeable lithium, lithium ion and zinc-air batteries, as well as your more traditional rechargeable batteries like AAs or AAAs. Some councils will collect batteries as part of their usual household collection service, but in the majority of local authorities, you’ll have to take them to a specified collection point, which are usually available in supermarkets, DIY centres, local shops and other retailers.

Clothing, bedding and other textiles

Whether physically or emotionally, we often find ourselves outgrowing clothing we once loved, while other day-to-day textiles like bedding can get old and worn out. But what do you do when you want to get rid of both? Thankfully, there’s a few recycling tips when it comes to keeping them out of the bin.

If they’re in good condition:

• Give them away to family and friends who’ll happily give these items a new home
• Donate them to a charity shop
• Head to a recycling point with a dedicated spot for textiles
• Donate to a retailer’s recycling scheme. Some shops like Primark and M&S have donation banks in their stores

If your textiles aren’t in good condition, you can still donate them to be recycled. They just won’t be used to pass on to other people. Or instead, you can get creative and rip up old clothes and make them into something new and stylish. Use old textiles as cleaning cloth for home use, or learn how to make plushies and quilts out of materials you no longer want!

Stashbee’s Three Favourite Recycling Craft Ideas

Now it’s time for the fun part. Global Recycling Day doesn’t just have to revolve around the standard rules about recycling. Instead, you can use the day to have some fun and spend time jazzing up your home with these creative recycling ideas:

1. Turn plastic bottles into bird feeders

Plastic bottles are a serious concern for the environment right now, and with rising pressure to reduce our reliance on them, there’s more reason than ever to reuse them wherever possible. So, why not turn plastic bottles into bird feeders? Here’s how you do it:

2. Use pallets as outdoor chairs

Maybe there are wooden pallets left behind during a house renovation, or left in the street from nearby construction sites, or you simply want to take them off a friend’s hands, pallets are a great recycling craft idea if you’re up for a hands-on DIY project. They can be assembled into outdoor furniture for your garden or balcony, or you can even use them for an indoor cinema area. Just make sure to pop a few cushions on them!

3. Turn an old vintage suitcase into a cat bed

Got a cat or another small pet and looking for a cosy yet fashionable place for them to lay their head? That’s where an old suitcase comes in. Quite a practical idea, this can look pretty cool once it’s done. Check out how to make a travel-inspired cat bed right here:

There are even more creative recycling ideas you can try! But it just goes to show, there’s so much more we can recycle than we thought possible. Of course, if you have items that you’re not completely sure you want to recycle, upcycle, or decycle, you can always rent a storage space in the meantime, just so they’re out of the way.