Thursday 12 March 2015

A reused life..

These are soda bottles. 1.25ltr soda bottles. Why am I taking a photo and talking about these? Well, did you know that they are also currency? That's right! Junk like this is actually something that other people want, that other people will pay you for. Maybe not for cash, but for something else, I know, it does sounds a little sinister... maybe it is. I traded 20 of these empty soda bottles for 2 full ones, full of home brew ginger beer, completely home-made, organic, natural, whatever :)

So why are people paying me in ginger beer, and why do I want ginger beer? Well, that is not the point. People want these bottles because they are making home made things, whether it be ginger beer, soda, salt and pepper shakers, green houses for seedlings, raft floaties, etc. people want them for the same reasons that I do most things, because they don't want to see our planet filled with rubbish, rubbish that will not biodegrade in our life, and for money saving. Lets face it money is important for the society that most of us live in, and if we can save $1 by making something ourselves, or reusing something someone is throwing out, then go for it!!

This post that I am putting on is simple, easy and fast. I just want to tell people that you can recycle, you can get something for it also. People are very self-involved, of course we are, we are alive and we care about being alive, but for the people that think "why should I put things in the blue bin to recycle them, stuff that I will just put everything in one big bin and let God work it out".. well, if I told you that you could get something for that recycling bin, if you found out that you could (instead of giving it to the council to recycle) give it to someone else that actually wanted it, that actually cared about it, that wanted to pay you for that fact, maybe more people would start to recycle. When I say recycle I do NOT mean the recycling bin, what I mean is that you should ask people in your area. Use social media to reach out, use community forums to talk to people. You will find some really interesting people that want things that you were thinking was just rubbish.

I have traded old pots (the plastic plant pots) for seedlings for tomatoes, I have traded horse/cow/dog poo for pumpkins, old feed bags from chicken seed for empty bottles (which I then traded for carrots)... the list goes on. Just because YOU think that it is trash doesn't mean that someone else thinks that it is. Please, think about ALL the possibilities, if you can't find a use for it yourself (and google doesn't help) then advertise it on Gumtree, Facebook or some other social and local media that will reach people in your area. I have had people come 30 mins away for some 3 ltr juice bottles that would have just filled up my bin, and for 10 of those she gave me 2 pumpkins and some parsley.. She wanted those containers to make seedling beds for. People want soda bottles to make little green houses for seedlings to protect them in winter, or make something to scare away birds.

Please, think twice before you throw out anything, ask people if they  want it. What is the worst that could happen? You keep it for one extra week THEN throw it in the dump.

So.. enough about my rant on recycling and not killing the planet that we so love and cherish (or we should at least), I will head off now. I hope that you all have a fantastic evening/night/day and love life for what it has given you.. and think of others

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