Re-Use, Re-Use, Re-Use

Anyone with kids knows that they are just little waste-making machines! As eco-friendly as a parent may try to be, there’s just going to be more waste with little ones — all those little messes, all the extra laundry, or all the wasted snacks scattered across the back of the car (or better yet, smashed into goo globs in the creases of the car seats)!

The irony of it all is that when we decide to bring more little people into the world, we are even more conscious of the precious little resources we have and how much we want to conserve them for our little ones’ futures (and their little ones’ and on and on…).

What’s a parent to do when reducing is not possible? One of my biggest ways to slow down the toddler waste-stream is through re-use. The Co-op us a great place to shop because they not only encourage but enable us to re-use!

One of my favorite things about the Co-op is the glass container re-use stashes for Bulk items.

If you forgot your jar (and your grocery list, along with your brain, as you wrangled the little ones out the door) to refill with maple syrup or honey, there is a clean and re-usable stash waiting there for you.

Plus, the Co-op takes 5 cents off for every cloth or re-used grocery-bag, jar or plastic container that you bring in and re-use while shopping.

We load up tofu in clean, yogurt containers provided from home. We fill up glass jars from last week’s pickles with local honey, bulk nuts, or seeds. In our shower you can find amber-colored shampoo (bought in the bulk section at the Co-op) in our old agave syrup bottle – we just have to make sure it stays in the shower because it looks a heck of a lot like the agave sweetener, and would not taste as sweet in cookies!

I’ve also been re-using food containers in my home décor. A pretty little glass jar that once held artichoke hearts or something of the like now holds pins and paper clips on my desk. Small, curvy glass jars from fancy jams or spreads now hold teas in my cupboard. Tall glass jars from sauces and such hold pens on the kitchen counter and marbles in my son’s room.

My children’s playful and artistic endeavors are supported largely by re-used food containers. Lids from yogurt or cottage cheese make great palettes and cups work well for mixing paints. Small glass jars hold paint brushes and colored chalk. Re-used containers are favorites for bath-time fun, too. Even when the kids get “real” bath toys as gifts, they always come back to the plastic vitamin containers and yogurt cups.

Reducing consumption is always the first step to minimizing waste, and a goal we strive for each day. When the time comes to make our own yogurt and brew our own beer again, our waste stream will decrease again. For now, we try our best to consciously re-use and re-cycle whatever we can.

Anyone have a good way to re-use beer bottles? (My husband sure racks up a lot of those!) Every once in awhile we use one as a vase for a bouquet of noxious (but still pretty) wildflowers we picked from the roadside while camping. Other than that, I haven’t found much use for them.

As newbies to town, coming from a place with glass recycling, we are sure happy to hear that there will be a big glass recycling event, the Gallatin Earth Celebration Clean-Up Day on Saturday, April 24. So save up those glass bottles that you haven’t found a re-use for and bring them down to the park.