I hate waste, do you? 

One thing that brings me joy is being able to reuse and give new life to things that would be sent to landfill.

Reuse and recycle is in my blood

I think its because of how I was brought up, by an Irish immigrant and both my parents being born just after the war. My parents scrimped and saved for everything. Instead of having a honeymoon they put down a deposit on a house miles away from their families and had to commute over an hour each way to their work.

To carpet the floor they used carpet samples. I grew up at car boot sales and jumble sales. We bought secondhand from the classified and dad had intense joy when he spotted someone throwing something out he could use. He would also invent tools etc he could use. He invented a wallpaper stripper just before Black and Decker brought out theirs. 

Upcycling and recycling is 2nd nature to me.

I let others enjoy our items after we've used them

It gives me joy to be able to give away my children's clothes and know another child will enjoy them too. My children's old toys and bikes now bring joy to other children.

Since moving to Wales we've been collecting people's unloved and unwanted items to help us furnish our home.

I love the Olio app

Another way I've found to save waste is by using the Olio app where people offer food they no longer want as well as other items. Lots of food stores use it to distribute the food they can't sell too which stops food going to landfill.

Infact I am now a Food Waste Hero FWH and have weekly collections from supermarkets and I can now distribute free food to my community, and I've managed to distribute food to many in my area as well as social supermarkets and foodbanks.

I now am learning to make apple cider vinegar 

The food that we can't distribute goes to feed our animals or to compost but I've found a way to even use those. I've been making apple cider vinegar with the left over apple slices.

Recycled items bring joy to kids too

We use a lot of recycled materials at our children's craft workshops led by Belinda Rea at our Community Camping and Healing Gatherings nr Llanelli, so as well as keeping stuff from the landfill we bring fun to children's lives.

A new life for socks too

I've been creating a rug from old socks which I'm delighted about as I hate throwing out the odd socks.

Glass jars have a healthy use now too 

I reuse our glass jars and my neighbours to store my collected and processed herbs for my teas and tinctures and we will use these jars as we teach others how to use plants from the land to heal at the Herbal Remedies for home healing (Learn how to create your own Apothecary) weekend in August. 

Do you hate waste?

How do you stop items going to the landfill?