Reuse tips
Leicestershire has its own reuse family, the Greenes. On these pages, you'll find lots of information and useful tips on how to reuse things in real life situations.
As well as the 'top tips' you can see below, you can find out specific tips when buying a new home, as well as wedding tips.
Top tips
Dad’s tips…
- Car boots are a great way of freeing up some space in your house as well as making some extra money.
- We love to watch films as a family but rather than buying a DVD that we will only watch once we rent the films or borrow them from friends instead.
Mum’s tips…
- Old clothes that are beyond repair can be cut into rags to use around the house for cleaning.
- Keep used plastic take away containers to use as food storage containers
Lucy’s tips…
- I love clothes shopping, both on the high street and in charity shops and always take a reusable bag to carry all my new things.
- Why not set up a book swap box at work or share them with family and friends.
- I like to customise my clothes by using bits of interesting fabric I pick up at car boots and charity shops. Fabric shops also sell off cuts of new fabric.
Will’s tips…
- Car boots and second hand websites are great places to buy used cook books so I can try out lots of new recipes.
- Donate unwanted items to charity shops or second hand websites; remember one persons rubbish is another person's treasure.
Jack’s tips…
- Now that I download all my music straight onto my computer I have donated the CD’s I no longer need to a charity shop, or dad tries to sell them at his car boots.
- I just acquired a second hand TV for free! Websites such as www.freeuseit.org or www.freecycle.org offer various items at no cost!
Johnny’s tips…
- Save old jam jars and use them as paint pots.
- I like to decorate my school folders with pictures from my favourite comics after I’ve finished reading them.
- I save Grandpa's old newspapers to cut up and use for my pet rabbit Jasper's bedding.
Grandma Greene’s tips…
- Collect odd and spare buttons in an old biscuit tin or jar, you never know when you’ll need one to mend your favourite outfit.
- I kept our son’s old toys so that Lucy, Jack and Johnny had some to play with when they came to visit when they were little.
Grandpa Greene’s tips…
- Don’t forget there are many places where you can hire items such as tile cutters or a floor sander instead of buying them and using it only once.
- I try to repair broken items before buying a replacement. Mending something is usually cheaper and stops me from having to throw things away.
why not follow the Greene's on Facebook to get more information about events, activity and waste minimisation tips.