Green Challenge: Repurpose Your Plastic

20-25% of landfill weight is from plastics. An average plastic container takes about 500 years just to begin the decomposition process. The timing varies depending on environmental conditions and the chemical makeup of the plastic.

Picture courtesy of: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/dec/29/japan-leads-field-plastic-recycling

I wanted to come up with a way to make people understand how many plastic products we go through. I don’t think we always realize it, myself included, because we view plastic bottles and containers and the like as disposable. They hold no true value to us.

So, this week, as an eye opener, you’re not allowed to throw out (even into the recycling bin) plastic products. With every plastic product you use, you must either reuse it or repurpose it throughout this week. This will probably be a little cumbersome and obnoxious, but hopefully, that will help you understand how much you really go through and motivate you to avoid or reduce plastic use in the future.


Here’s a list of things you can’t throw away this week:

-Plastic water bottles
-2 liter bottles
-Plastic take-out containers
-Plastic silver ware and cups
-Grocery bags
-Sandwich bags
-Milk/ Juice jugs and containers
-Any others you can think of

On Sunday, talk to your family and brainstorm ways that you can reuse or repurpose these items. Starting Monday, keep a list of everything you use and set the items aside to tinker with in your free time. You will find a lot of crafty ways to upcycle things in this list if you browse through Viridorari’s past editions of “Recycling Projects for Kids”. A simple web search of “recycling projects” will yield many more creative results for you to choose from. Be sure to include your children in these projects; chances are, they'll really enjoy them and find fun in the challenge of repurposing.

Please, take pictures of the things that you do with your plastic “junk” throughout the week, and send them into Viridorari. I will feature them on the next “Green Challenge” post. Share your “Green Challenge” experiences either by commenting on the posts or emailing me at viridorari@yahoo.com. Don’t forget to follow Viridorari on Twitter!

Helpful projects on Viridorari:

Bird feeder out of 2 liter bottle
Apple gift boxes out of plastic bottles
Piggy banks out of plastic bottles
Scooper out of plastic jug
Water sprinkler out of plastic bottle and pens
Firefly toys out of plastic Easter eggs
Garden watering can out of various plastic containers

Here are some other websites that can help you find ideas to turn trash into treasures:

http://www.artistshelpingchildren.org/artscraftsideasplasticbottlesprojectskids.html
http://www.ehow.com/list_6365527_projects-recycling-plastic-bags.html
http://www.favecrafts.com/Earth-Day-Crafts/16-Recycle-Crafts-for-Kids
http://www.ehow.com/info_8412700_childrens-projects-recycling-plastic-bottles.html
http://www.allfreecrafts.com/recycling-crafts/containers/
http://www.allfreecrafts.com/recycling-crafts/kids/
http://familycrafts.about.com/od/toppicks/tp/recycleprojects.htm
http://ecoble.com/2009/04/27/extraordinary-reuse-projects-10-amazing-ways-to-recycle-plastic-bottles/

Thank you for reading this post on Viridorari, and, as always, good luck with this week’s challenge. I will be participating in it myself.

Sources:
http://green-plastics.net/news/45-science/93-plastic-biodegradation-in-landfills
http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4928812_does-plastic-container-start-decomposing.html