Earth Day is coming up soon, and I got to be honest it’s one of my favorite holidays. It’s an easy way to share fun projects that help reduce some of the pollution on the planet. Below are a couple projects that I’ve done here on the blog that are great ways to celebrate Earth Day!
Upcycling Coffee Containers
If you have a couple of old plastic cans, you can use old coffee filters to decorate them into fun containers for your desk or night stand! It’s a great way to recycle and design some containers just laying around. Just make sure to get all the coffee grounds off the filter before you use it. How does this help the environment? Up-cycling an old container will help it not land into an landfill, plus getting your own customized container to use to save coins, loose items, etc.
Bottlecap Thumbtacks
If you have a collection of bottle caps, you can glue thumbtacks on the back of them and create a cool, unique collection with some acrylics and ink. Or just show off some cool caps you’ve collected. How does this help the environment? A lot of times these are just thrown in the trash, so creating cute bottle cap thumbtacks keeps them out of the landfills. Plus, a lot of cities do not take it for recycling, so creating cool crafts out of them helps them stay out of the “pollution cycle”, and the ocean, for a little longer.
Repaint Knick Knacks
Maybe you have a couple knick knacks you’re thinking of throwing away. Why not redecorate them to add some variety to your place? How does this help the environment? Like most of the items on this list, a lot of knick knacks can not be easily processed and recycled. So by repainting and up-cycling them to your latest taste helps keep these out of the landfills. Plus, you can recycle them into cute gifts for friends, or fun party/holiday decorations!
Secret Compartment Book
If you have an old planner or book laying around, why not make it into a secret compartment book to hide some memories away in? How does this help the environment? Yes, paper can be recycled, but the hardcover books are tougher to do this with. By creating a secret compartment book, you can hide some money away for a rainy day easily.
Upcycled Watch Tin
These little tins can be very toxic to the environment, so if you have the ability to up-cycle them into something useful for you, a friend, or family member, you just prolonged the life of this little trinket. How does this help the environment? This is one of the many items that will hurt our cycles in little ways. By keeping at least your one little piece out of the “system,” you’ve already help change the way people look at this usually trashed item.
Coloring Page Bookmark
Is it not fun to keep a coloring piece from your child, or yourself, for a little longer? By turning these into bookmarks you create a cute gift with a special meaning. How does this help the environment? I’ll be honest, this is the one with the least amount of impact on the environment. Why? Because paper is one of the easiest items to be recycled. However, with that being said, it has a short time that it can be recycled. It’s said that it only can be about seven times before the fibers in the paper is too short to be reused.
How Do These Help The Environment?
If you find a way to reuse an item, you’ve extended the life span of the item. Which means that you won’t need to go out and buy a new container for your, let’s say for this example, paintbrushes. Instead you save an old pringles container and decorate it up. By doing this you not only save money, which is always nice, but you’re also not going out and buying a plastic container that can not be recycled. If enough people do this, it encourages the creators of the plastic container to try to find a way to please their customers and try to find a new way to create their product. Maybe one that’s better for the environment.
Not only that, but the pringles container has went from being immediately being thrown into the trash and adding to our ever growing trash pile, to being kept for a couple years in your house. It’s usefulness has been extended, and sure, it’ll eventually break. It just means you’ll have to treat yourself with buying some more pringles. That doesn’t sound like a bad thing to me.
What do you think? Is upcycling worth it?
I hope some of these projects have helped inspired you to create your own unique up-cycled item.
If you do get the chance to create one, please tag me! I would love to see your beautiful creations! Or you can e-mail some pictures of them to me at artsyrobotz@gmail.com.
ArtsyRobotz 