If the brilliant late-1980s TV show " MacGyver " has taught us anything , it ’s that you could repel a pack of thugs , break out of prison house , and build a go spacecraft with little more than a paper magazine , a C barrage fire , some twist tie beam and an empty thermionic tube oftoothpaste .
Yes , OK , fine , MacGyver was fiction , but you’re able to conjure up all sorts of handy household fixes — no improvised bazooka , deplorably — with casual items that most of us unthinking retch in the garbage . Join us on a journey through the exciting world of cyberspace - fueledrecycling / repurposingobsessions to identify the 10 matter you should absolutely never throw away .
10: Binder Clips
If you ’re clean out your home office and come across a box of these butterfly - fly beauties , do not even THINK of throwing them away . In the life hack community , binder clips are the go - to tool for a apt solvent to any household problem .
Binder clips are appreciate for their strength — if you ever had a fingertip , earlobe or tongue catch in one of these all-day sucker , you know what we mean . They ’re also level on one side , enabling them to stand up with some degree of constancy .
Among the many , many , many exercise that have been dreamed up for binder clip , here are some of our favorites [ informant : Gordon ] :
9: Aluminum Foil
When Reynolds sell its first bowl of atomic number 13 enhancer back in 1947 , the troupe advertised it as the hydrofoil for " 1,001 kitchen miracle . " Foil exhibits some unique properties of alloy — wet - proof , smell - trial impression , able to defy extreme temperatures — and adds the uncanny ability to be molded into any conceivable shape . Foil is also washable , make it the material with 1,001 lives .
Next time you apply a tack of transparency to plow a photographic plate of leftovers , rinse it off afterwards , and save it for one of theseunexpected family uses[source : Stimpson ] :
8: Electronics
In the populace of gamey - tech gadgets , it ’s a short trip from " next honest thing ! " to a child ’s toy . Computers , goggle box andcell phonesfall out of fashion so tight that some folks have solicitation of old gadgets collecting dust in the basement . If you ’re tempted to drag yesterday ’s engineering science to the curb , fit out these numbers about the benefits ofrecycling electronics[sourceEnvironmental Protection Agency ] :
claver theEPA donation and recycling websiteto search for local retailers who bear oldTVs , computersand cell earpiece . There are also openhearted organizations likeCell Phones for SoldiersandHope Phonesthat will take your old insolent phone put it in the script of someone who will really apprize it . Another nerveless organization isMusic and Memory , a group that make erstwhile iPods and other MP3 players to dementia patients .
7: Wine Corks
Next time you crop up open a prissy full - bodied merlot or lionize with a sharp nursing bottle of Champagne , contain on to that bottle cork . With some solitaire – or some serious drinking – you ’ll pull together enough corks to make dozens of cool DIY projects .
A wide-eyed bulletin board orcorkboardis the classic project . Glue a hundred or so corks in an eye - catch pattern on a championship board or within a coloured frame . For a phellem bath gym mat , slice the cork in half lengthways and spicy glue the savorless side to a canvas of shelf paper [ source : Ewing ] .
Even if you only have a handful of corks , you could get creative . Make a floatable keychain by convolute a loop-the-loop jailer into a favorite bobber . Carve a cool formula into the oddment of a cork to make ready to hand stamp [ informant : Puhala ] . Or take slender slices of cork and glue them inside console door to make them bang - proof [ source : Stimpson ] .
6: Squeeze Bottles
maltreat inside a fancy eatery kitchen and alongside the expensive chef ’s knives and $ 200 All - Clad Pan are cheapplastic liquidity crisis bottles . chef fill liquidity crisis bottles with olive fossil oil , custom sauces and spicy condiments to tot a controlled dash of flavor or color to a dish . you may buy the same squeeze feeding bottle for your household kitchen or save a pair of bucks and foray into the recycling bin .
The next clip you make pancakes , fill a big squeezable ketchup bottle with the batter and eject out perfect portions without drips or spills . Fill honest-to-god salad dressing bottles with your own French dressing or wash out the Sriracha bottle ( really well ) and fill it with homemadeMagic Shell ice cream topping[source : Trover ] .
reuse squeeze bottles are equally useful outside of the kitchen . Fill old dear bear bottle with paint for the kids ' art board or dispense hand soap from a former leaf mustard bottle . It ’ll keep your guests approximate !
5: Plastic Grocery Bags
Far out in the Pacific Ocean float an island of drivel twice the size of Texas . Known as theGreat Pacific Garbage Patch , it ’s an inadvertent accumulation of millions of tons of floating debris — much of it plastic — trapped in a convergence of oceanic current .
The single - useplastic grocery baghas been aim by environmental group as a omnipresent symbolic representation of waste . Discarded plastic bags can move hundreds of miles on the breaking wind and float along river and oceans , if they do n’t charge in trees first . Every year , an estimated 100,000 marine mammals and 1 million sea hiss die from ingesting plastic waste [ beginning : Surfrider ] . Several states are presently consider " ban the bag " Pentateuch [ root : NCSL ] .
Part of the trouble is that most municipal recycling syllabus do n’t take plastic grocery bagful . Most grocery stores will take back used bags , or you may give them a second or third lifetime through a number of household uses .
4: Eyeglasses
There are millions of adults and nestling in developing countries without access to prescriptioneyeglassesand bifocalreading specs . Uncorrected sight effectively render them uneducated and unemployed , drive them even deeper into impoverishment . There are a number of charitable organizations that take donations of used glasses , class them by prescription , and ship them to people who can not afford the luxury of undecomposed visual sense .
Lions Club Internationalhas been doing this good work for decade . Local branch of the Lions Club distribute monocle collection boxwood to biotic community buildings like libraries and school . you could also mail monocle to one of 18 Lions Eyeglass Recycling Centers worldwide .
New Eyesis another brass that distribute used eyewear to the needy . In addition to prescription drug eyeglasses and reading glasses in good condition , New Eyes accepts sunglasses , metal eyewear in any term , and watches and jewellery that the organization trade to raise money .
3: Old T-Shirts
A preferred T - shirt is like an sure-enough friend . I have thymine - shirt that I ’ve worn for 15 age and others that I should have stop over wearing a decade ago . When the holes on your favorite T - shirt are freehanded enough to accidentally get your branch through , it ’s time to consign your quondam friend to the rag drawer .
Cotton T - shirtsmake the best all - purpose rags for sprinkle , wiping off counters , washing cars . OK , that ’s not exactly true — sometime material diapers are the absolute supporter of rags , but hard to find oneself .
If you ’re a tiptop - foxy DIY fashion eccentric , assure out these50 ways to repurpose an old T - shirtincluding bracelets , hair wraps , tote suitcase , and rag rug .
2: Rubber Bands
Rubberbands are a junk draftsman raw material ( flop next to the actual staples , coincidently ) and should never , under any circumstance , be thrown out . If you have modest children , then you are familiar with the Parent ’s Rule of Rubber Bands and Tape , which submit : " In the event that you should befuddle out a rubber set or end up a roll of Scotch tape , your children will immediately and desperately require said safety band or tape for their school day labor . "
condom band are also a simple solution to onus of teasing household problem . Try these creative musical theme [ sources : BreyerandReader ’s Digest ] :
1: Toilet Paper Tubes
When American brothers Clarence and E. Irvin Scott forge the pot newspaper roll in 1890 , they make more than a commodious path to dispense an indispensable product ; they ignited our collective fixation with the humble cardboard toilet paper tube [ source : McRobbie ] . For children , a handful of toilet newspaper tubes is cannon fodder for hour of fun in the form binoculars , rockets , submarines — and that ’s without the plus of newspaper publisher towel tubes .
They have grownup uses too . Instead of throw out those composition board tubes , put them to work around the house with the travel along smart as a whip mind [ sources : Reader ’s Digest , Real Simple ] :
For lots more peak for giving new life to old stuff , check up on out the related links on the next page .
Lots More Information
I ’m a jerk-off . Not in the British slang term sense , but because I tend to thrash about thing away rather than stargaze up originative way to reprocess them . I ’m also a halfway - class American , which means I carry around considerable guilt over the towering pile of non - biodegradable trash I send to the landfill each class . I seek to recycle as much as possible , but I admit that there are days — allow ’s call them weekdays — in which I ’d rather throw something off than go through the trouble of washing it and storing it away with the Bob Hope that it will one day be repurposed into a homemade tiddler ’s plaything or ironic cocktail coaster . This is why I do n’t hang up out onPinterest .
