10 Things you should never throw away and why

One way to go greener is to reduce your waste, and you can do that by recycling, reusing, and composting.

Here are the 10 things I never throw away and why.

Never throw away…

1. Eggshells

Yes, eggshells can go into the compost pile, but they have a multitude of other uses. Here are a few:

• Grind them up and use them in the garden to provide needed calcium
• Use half shells as mini seed-starting pots
• Here are many more creative uses for eggshells

2. Toilet paper and paper towel rolls

• Use these to foil tomato worms
• Use them to make tick tubes
• Kids love to decorate these and wear them as bracelets. Have the kids paint or decorate them. Cut them into smaller ring slices. Make one slit in each one and use that to link them together. This is so much easier than cutting strips of construction paper and trying to glue or staple them together to make Christmas tree garland!
• Use toilet paper rolls to make fire-starters for your campfire.

3. Coffee ground

• You’ll need a lot of coffee grounds to fill the tubes surrounding your tomato plants that will prevent tomato worm devastation.

4. Fabric scraps

When I was a little girl, I remember wondering at the rolls of snips of fabric and lace that my great-grandmother collected. Now that I’m older and wiser, I now know that she knew the many uses they had.

Use these to make:

• Braided rugs
• Scrap-covered braided baskets
• Patchwork quilts
• Reusable not-paper towels
• Chicken aprons or chicken saddles

5. Glass jars, especially the pretty ones

Reusing glass jars is a great way to decrease your use of plastic. You can use them for:

• Making candles
• Making homemade air freshener (a great gift!)
• Storing everything from buttons to cake sprinkles and spices

6. Apple peels and veggie peels and scraps

There are so many uses for peels!

An easy way to save them is to keep two containers in your freezer, one for apple peels and one for veggie peels

Use apple peels (and cores) to make apple scrap jelly or apple pectin.

Once you have a good amount (at least a quart) of vegetable peels, cover them with water and boil them to extract the flavors.

Strain out the peels, and you’ll end up with delicious vegetable stock that can be used as a soup base or consumed alone. Supplement with onions or garlic to enhance the savory flavor.

The scraps go to the compost pile or to the chickens. Be sure to check that the scraps are suitable for chickens. Even though apple seeds are on this list of things chickens shouldn’t eat, my chickens love apples, and I just squish them and let them pick at them, seeds and all. Just don’t feed them a handful of apple seeds.

7. WATER!

I revised this post because I forgot what is arguably the most important thing to save and reuse.

We tend to take the availability of water for granted, but one summer of drought reminds us of how fragile the resource can be.

You can save and reuse water by:

Is it a little inconvenient to collect, store, and reuse water? Yes, somewhat. But consider how important this life-giving resource is and make it your mission to think twice before you put it down the drain.

8. Bones

At my house, bones are never discarded. The nutrients in bones are too precious to waste. With or without meat attached, they go into the freezer for making bone broth and soups like turkey soup and pea soup.

9. Old toothbrushes

Ok. I don’t save every old toothbrush. But having a couple around can make cleaning a lot easier.

Simply give them a swish in a good cleaner like Spic N Span or Pine-Sol and use them to clean those gunked-up cracks that drive you nuts.

I use them to clean window channels, refrigerator and freezer gaskets, and dust-catching woodwork details.

10. Newspapers and paper bags

• Gifts wrapped in newspaper and tied with burlap or bright red cloth ribbon (which, of course, I save and reuse) look lovely!
• Newspapers and paper bags are very good ways to keep weeds down. Don’t use colored print, but black and white print is fine. Lay the paper between plants and rows and soak it with water. Hold down with spikes or rocks. They will eventually degrade into the soil.
• We keep paper bags for reuse to tote anything, start a fire in the wood stove, and steam roasted peppers for easy peeling.

Leave a comment below and tell me your favorite things to save and reuse. I especially want to know what you do to save water. Let’s get this list up to 100!