Don’t Throw Away – Upcycle For Another Day!
Upcycling - giving your waste new life
Upcycling is far more than just a snappy new buzzword. It gives solid expression to our commitment to the planet and preserving its precious resources. A vast percentage of the ‘stuff’ that ends up in landfills and refuse tips is still extremely useful. Upcycling is fun and satisfying, and will give you unique, practical, useful, and stylish-looking items while also letting you unleash your creativity!
Here are a few projects to get you inspired to turn trash into treasure!
Toilet paper roll wall art
You know what every single household has in common? Toilet paper! Instead of throwing out the old inner rolls, convert them into gorgeous wall art with nothing more than some scissors and a little paint:
Find out how here.
Transform old tyres into planters
Old tyres are one of the most prevalent discarded items around these days – they are simply everywhere and will be there forever as they are beyond durable!
Here are a few ways you can turn them into stylish planters that will never rot:
Simple planters for veggie gardening.
Eye-catching stacked and painted planters made from old tyres.
Or get really creative with these wishing well planters!
Turn unused maps into cool coasters
Since we now rely on GPS to get from A to Z, every household probably has a few old roadmaps lying around. And if you’ve ever had work done in the bathroom, you might just have a few spare tiles in the garage too. Combine the two, and you’ve got these one-of-a-kind coasters that make great talking points at the dinner table!
Learn to make ‘plarn’ from old plastic bags
Plarn – or plastic yarn – is the perfect material for those crafty individuals who also want to be eco-conscious. It’s ideal for keeping those unrecyclable plastic grocery bags from ending up in our oceans, or just going to landfill.
You can use your plarn for virtually any knitting or crocheting project. Like this amazing beach bag for example:
Homemade windchimes
Amazing wind chime made from an old colander!
The fantastic thing about this project is that you can use virtually any small items you have lying around. For example,
- Broken costume jewellery
- Old spoons, knives and forks
- Bottle caps and wine corks
- Seashells, sea glass and driftwood
- Old keys (isn’t it weird how we can never part with those?)
- Mismatched buttons
- Small trinkets and mementos
- Broken Christmas tree ornaments
- Any small object that might make an interesting noise or just look pretty!
Creative wind chime made from old cookie cutters
To make the top section of the windchime, you could use old coat hangers, small branches, or even an old chipped plate.
Incredible owl wind chime made from an old cheese grater and measuring spoons!
There really is no limit to how creative you can get with these upcycled windchimes, and they’ll add unique interest to your veranda, patio, garden or windowsill.
Of course, if crafting isn’t your strong suit, you can still support great upcycling initiatives by purchasing some of our amazing upcycled laptop bags!
Not only are these bags stylish and durable, they’re made using old PVC billboards and polyester waste that would otherwise harm the environment. They’re Proudly South African and contribute to job creation too!
So, what are you waiting for – get out there, get creative and go upcycle rather than throwing it in the landfill!
