Earth Day | Pad Patter Monday April 22nd

[Angela Toucan]

Hello, happy Monday, and happy Earth Day.

Three words that always come together when we think of doing our bit are "Reduce Reuse Recycle", back in the war days the slogan was "Make do and Mend". So many old magazines have articles in on how to med stuff, or how to adapt and repurpose stuff. The later is now called "Upcycling". It's fun seeing those old themes being reworked on social media posts today.

Do you "Mend and Make Do" or "Upcycle"?
Always. My first question when something is damaged, is can I mend it? If not, then can I repurpose it? I hate putting usable stuff in the landfill. I do have rather a lot of stuff in my to upcycle one day boxes though.
This month:
Joy used old worn out sheets and packaging from the upcycle box earlier this month - practicing for her GCSE art & design exam. We raided the recycling box yesterday for some last minute props for the puppet show. My clothing mending pile is growing - I need to tackle that soon ....

Is it easy for you to recycle what you can't reuse? Do you have recycling facilities in your area?
Recycling is easy for us as the Council provide different bins which are collected from as part of the rotating weekly rubbish collection. One week they collect non-recyclables. The other week they collect plastic, metal, glass, paper and cardboard recycling.

Do you do something special for Earth Day?
We don't but the children used to back when they were in Primary school.

 

[umyesh]

Do you "Mend and Make Do" or "Upcycle"?
I mend clothes when they are simple fixes.
I also donate what we don’t use or grow out of to a thrift store.

Is it easy for you to recycle what you can't reuse? Do you have recycling facilities in your area?
We have a recycling bin for paper and cardboard. The city collects it once a week.

Do you do something special for Earth Day?
I never have but today I said a special prayer of thanks for our beautiful earth.

 

[littlekiwi]

Do you "Mend and Make Do" or "Upcycle"?
Not really, about the only thing I or at least my mum does is bring home big plastic gherkin relish jars and flattened but usable boxes from her work (they don't recycle anything unfortunately). The idea is for me to eventually use the old gherkin relish containers as cannisters and storage in my pantry and the boxes for when I need boxes for moving house.

Is it easy for you to recycle what you can't reuse? Do you have recycling facilities in your area?
Yes, we have roadside recycling for paper, plastics, glass, cans and food waste which is provided through our local council. We also have soft plastic recycling which we take to a drop off point at our local grocery store. There are other things we recycle at various drop off points as well - the main ones are dead lightbulbs, polystyrene offcuts. In the past I have also recycled ink cartridges but over the years it's worked out cheaper to go to my local stationery shop that does printing for any printing I do.

Do you do something special for Earth Day?
Nope - I do a fair bit already as I also shop second hand as much as possible, use reusable shopping bags, keep cups, cutlery when out, go to the library, use public transport.