how do you recycle in your kitchen?

[alkapal]

1. i re-use plastic ziplock bags that have only had veggies in them, rinsing and drying. meat ones are tossed.

2. i use the sturdy plastic liner from inside the cereal box to enclose meat that i want to pound into scaloppine flatness.

3. i use plastic grocery bags (that have been accumulating) for
a. stuffing inside purses to keep them in shape
b. cleaning out the kitty litter box (far away from the kitchen, and downstairs, fyi)
c. stuffing around goods inside shipping boxes, or packing household goods in boxes.
(i now (almost) always remember to take my cloth grocery bags to buy groceries and wine). i noticed my local giant grocery gave me a rebate of 5 cents per bag, when we used our own the other day.

4. i re-use glass bottles from mayo, relishes, pickles, etc. to store liquid leftovers (soup, sauces, etc.) and also dry herbs and spices that i usually buy in large quantities at the indian grocery. i re-use the really large glass jars (like from a very large giardiniera -- or kirkland marinated artichokes) for dry goods, like grits and rice. <smaller bottles i also use to keep paper clips, or rubber bands, or toothpicks handy).

5. i re-use the plastic bread liner once the bread is gone as a food-safe plastic bag, to wrap a sandwich or veggies, or cover a bowl with food in the fridge. i use the veggie bags as "trash bowls" when i clean the veggies -- if i'm using them all up. e.,g, the corn shucks all chucked into the bag, and twist-o-neat-o!

6. i re-use the good, strong plastic deli containers for leftovers -- esp. the ones from the chinese take-out (like the soups come in -- excellent! ;-)

7. i have three egg trays that i will use this next week to start seeds for the kitchen garden.

8. re-use old accumulated grocery bags for wrapping up smelly scraps to seal up in freezer till trash day -- so it doesn't stink up my trash can and kitchen.

tell me your ideas, please. thanks.

ps, funny how the thriftiness i learned from my mom (a depression child) is now in vogue. good for us. ;-).

[opehlia payne]

I re-use plastic bags and Ziplocs when I wind up with them.

I've purchased reusable mesh and linen bags for produce and bulk dry goods, then store them in jars and plastic containers.

I save vegetable scraps and parings in the freezer and use them to make vegetable stock.

I have a wormery for composting the veggie scraps after making stock; the worm castings make great soil for potted plants.

Re-use spice jars for spices bought in bulk

Take-away containers instead of buying Tupperware, etc.

Pretty much the same things other people have already mentioned here- only I see some other things mentioned I'll keep in mind!

[enbell]

Yesterday I picked up some dry cleaning at a green cleaner (because most regular chemicals aren't so environmentally friendly. Took the sweater out of the bag then tied a knot at the mostly closed end...voila - instant trash bag for kitchen.

[Passadumkeg]

I have a recycling goal. I want start saving all our empty wine bottles (We already save some to refill w/ home brews), and use them to build a wood fired sauna behind the house a la Booker T. Washington, in my retirement.
We also use newspapers, covered w/ straw on the paths between our raised beds in the garden to prevent weed growth. See at left in photo.

[alkapal]

nice garden, passa! i remember your lovely arbor that you constructed, too.

there was a steakhouse in fort myers, florida, on cleveland avenue, that was built with an entire outside wall of wine bottles in concrete, i think the building is still there, but the great steakhouse (pate's? steakhouse) is long gone.

[Passadumkeg]

In the photo back ground is my wood splitter and saw buck. Harvest wood, a renewable resource; no American blood for Arab oil.

[Passadumkeg]

Yogurt & cottage cheese containers. Cut out the bottoms and they make good plant collars for seedlings. Cut off when not needed.

[enbell]

genuis

[cuccubear]

I recycle glass, plastic, and aluminum cans with curbside pickup. The town has dumpsters for cardboard. I compost food scraps (using RR’s “garbage bowl” method). That leaves only junk mail, bones and cans for the garbage.

I’ll order Wonton soup just for the plastic quart tubs it comes in. That way I can store soup stock, etc.

The main way I recycle in the kitchen is being creative with leftovers. In the winter, I’ll sometimes dump everything in a big pot and make soup – meat, pasta, vegetables, whatever.

I use cloths instead of paper towels and napkins for almost everything. Draining bacon on a dish towel seems weird to me (although I have done it in a pinch)!

[rockandroller1]

We recycle glass, plastic and cardboard (no newspapers to recycle) as well as regular paper, which isn't really kitchen-related.

We wash and re-use ziplocs but try harder to use tupperware when possible.

We always bring our own canvas bags, even to a place like Target, to cut out the plastic bags.

We only use cloth napkins and dishtowels. The only thing we use paper towels for is making microwave bacon.

[lemons]

I have been shocked to discover that many people don't re-use the resealable plastic bags. Just had a stepgrandkid look at me like I was nuts when she saw me rinsing one after I'd washed it. The ones with leaks I will sometimes pitch, but they often hold my knirring, depending on what I'm working on.

[alkapal]

i especially recycle the big freezer bag lovelies! one is drying over the olive oil bottle as we speak! ;-).

maybe stepgrandkid will "get with the program" once she sees how you do it!

[smrits]

A friend of mine gave me one of those scent diffusers - little reeds in a bottle. I use it to dry washed resealable baggies. I also reuse bits of aluminum foil.
I bought a bunch of cloth kitchen towels and have eliminated paper towels. However, we keep some paper napkins in the house for guests. For a while I was using cloth napkins, but they seemed to intimidate my friends, who didn't want to dirty them.
My kitchen currently has no purchased tupperware. I use the durable plastic containers that I get with chinese take out, margarine and yogurt containers, and glass jars from salsa, pickles, etc.

[lisavf]

One that I haven't seen written about yet is, I reuse the nonstick aluminum foil until it tears. I just wipe it off and use it again and again. I am generally using it to reheat leftover pizza, that type of thing, so it doesn't get really messy anyway.

[alkapal]

i re-use aluminum foil that isn't dirty, but just brush off crumbs, to use in the bottom of my sheet pan for heating texas toast, or the like. it's also good to wrap a grilled sandwich in to keep it warm for a bit.

[Scargod]

Aw, Texas toast! Everything's bigger in Texas. Do you have a Texas-sized toaster?

[alkapal]

don't beat me up, but this is the delicious product i'm referring to: http://www.pepperidgefarm.com/Product...

i've never had "the real thing", but i loved this pepp farm texas toast when i tried it in march for the first time at my sister's house.

[Scargod]

Kiss, kiss! Jus' kiddin'! I'd never smack a lady. Toast is OK. Just don't care for plain white bread anymore (even with Q).

[alkapal]

scargod: alright, my fair chick magnet, i like your concept. though ... have you tried that pepp farm t.t. product? it's gooooood! esp. the next morning with some eggs & bacon.

[Scargod]

OK, my pultritudinous Rooster magnet! I'll see if I can find Pep Boy's "Texas Toast" in New Haven. I doubt they'll have it in CT. Only neutered Texans come here to retire! Sad, but true...
I'll have to make some sausage gravy.

[alkapal]

scargod, i'd forgotten that you were in ct (because i haven't looked at your chow profile in such a long time. i just thought of you in texas)! you should have a chowdown with my chow-soul-sista kattyeyes (sung to the tune of "sister goldenhair surprise" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ3ax8... ).

(and if you're gettin' "texas toast" at "pep boys," then it means you're probably needing some work on that transmission).

and what IS real texas toast anyhow? is it ALL about the size?

[Scargod]

You missed this?: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/5753...
It's just twice as big in thickness as regular white bread, and no, it doesn't come pre-toasted!

[alkapal]

excellent report! sounds like you all had a wonderful feast. ps, i'm going to practice kattyeye's "chow-sign."

[Scargod]

When she walked into the restaurant I did a rabbit with one hand (close enough?), and went woof - woof. We had a good giggle.
What kattyeyes was really doing was shielding her identity. She's pretty cute.

[alkapal]

bless you for woofing!

{;^D.

[ScarlettNola]

I have a storage bin in my mud room and we recycle the following:
Newspapers, magazines, cans, bottles, paper bags, pizza boxes, styrofoam containers, packaging from boxed foods, shampoo bottles, mouthwash bottles, milk cartons, etc.

I only shop with cloth bags and have done so for years, prior to the recycling craze. IT has become a way of life and I am sometimes made fun of by friends, when I have a party and request that they recycle their wine or beer bottles

[lucygoosey]

I love the idea of using egg crate for seeds and want to add using strawberry baskets as drawer dividers/etc. Better if doubled.
Also I reuse water for watering garden. Water from heating tea pot, waiting for bath to get warm, blah, blah.

[Jetgirly]

I use cloth shoppings bags when grocery shopping. When I get plastic bags from stores I use them as bathroom garbage bags.

I have been using the same set of Ziplock plastic containers for three years, and the same set of Ikea plastic food storage containers since 2002.

I buy a lot of things bulk (rice, lentils, beans, granola, some spices, BANANA CHIPS) and the health food store lets me bring my own containers (they just weigh them first).

I label Ziplock bags with a Sharpie and use them over and over for the same type of food (bread, grains, trail mix, veggies, candy... I don't eat meat). Rinsed or thoroughly washed between uses.

Most of my cooking utensils belonged to my mom when she was a young single girl (thirty+ years ago).

[Passadumkeg]

In addition:
Newspaper to cover walk ways between raised beds in garden; newspaper and egg cartons as fire starter (We heat w/ wood from our property);wood ah fron wood stoves go into garden and are used as slug protection; yogurt containers and can w/ bottoms cut out as collars to protect new seedlings in garden from slugs; refill beer and wine bottles w/ homade beer and wine; make trivets frrom wine bottle corks, and giving used motor oil (I change my own.) and cooking oil to a friend w/ motor oil furnace and biodiesel car.

used motor oil from changes to friend w/ waste oil furnace; old cooking oil to friend w/ bio diesel car.

[roro1831]

When I was a kid we used the brown paper grocery bags to cover the text books at school. Do kids even do that anymore?

[Passadumkeg]

Yes.

[Sal Vanilla]

My husband made a garden wall and decorated it with wine bottle bottoms and I used them to surround a raised bed in my backyard. If done sparingly it is cute.

[Scargod]

Bentara, a restaurant in New Haven, CT (which I like very much), decorates their restaurant with hundreds of used wine bottles. For your use, OK, but I don't think much of it as interior decorating.

[Scargod]

We do at least 50% of what you do. Plastic egg cartons become mixing trays for paints. I re-use a lot of jars for storing things. Plastic, metals, cardboard, newspaper, mail, all gets recycled. I take all non-meat items and compost them. I save many to-go containers for storage containers in the garage.
I go to the dump about once a month in my little car. We grow a lot of our food. I save twist-ties for the garden.

[bagelman01]

And I was thinking, tonight's corned beef (Thursday in New England) is tomorrow morning's has to go with my eggs, and then it dawned on me,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
THIS IS THE NOT ABOUT FOOD BOARD.
I can dream can't I?

But on a serious note.
We line the small waste baskets in our bed and bathrooms with the supermarket plastic bags. This saves us using two neww 33 gallon plastic bags each week when collecting trash around the house.
I have been selling a lot of my old books, and I cut brown paper grocery bags and use them to wrap the books for mailing. We have 2 one gallon jugs from Hawaiin Punch (they have a great handle and grip indentations) in the fridge being used for ice tea and lemonade. We use to reuse qt mayo jars for freezing soup. Now that they are 30 oz and plastic, there aren';t good for freezing, but I do pack microwavable saucy (pasta, stew, etc) lunches in them to take to work.

[alkapal]

bagelman, i'm gonna "recycle" some leftover red pepper alfredo pasta sauce by adding some ouzo, throwing in some mixed seafood, and cooking up a pot of tagliatelle! ;-).

[bagelman01]

You could go GREEN by using a Pesto sauce

[alkapal]

ah, good one. ;-).

[Scargod]

Forgot! One of my favorite containers, since I do a lot of gardening, is reusing the large, 300 oz. ALL laundry detergent bottles for mixed fertilizer and such. Has that nifty spigot and another screw cap. Almost like they thought about people reusing them...

[Caralien]

I don't know if this applies to kitchen things, but we found that an (unused) fertilizer sprayer was perfect for washing the car, and our dog. :)

[Sal Vanilla]

I do that too. I make compost tea in them. When you finish your detergent and bleach fill the bottle most of the way with hot water and shake. Use that water to clean used garden pots and your garden tools.

I saw someone else is using cardboard egg cartons for starts. Just to add - they make great containers for finicky garden starts (like they do not like to be transplanted. I start plants in there and then before transplanting I soak the cardboard and tear off the bottom, but leave the sides so the roots do not get mussed up. Plant it in the dirt just like that.

NOTHING goes to waste in my house. We have a phenomenal compost pile in our yard - worm haven!

I am a seriously frugal girl. It is an obsession.

[Caralien]

-Blue bottles from Reislings to store water in the refrigerator or put atop the windows when they're closed; clear wine bottles for tea

-Take away containers for lunch, storage, picnics, etc. I still haven't had the need to buy Tupperware.

-mustard jars are great for 2 things: making salad dressing as well as shaking up flour+milk to thicken gravy

-spice bottles re-used for bulk purchases; actually most glass and plastic containers are reused unless they're either so smelly (fish sauce) or horrid (maple syrup container shaped like a pine tree)

-Plastic bags are used for dog poop; we don't get many (aside from the sliced bread kept in the freezer) as we have cotton bags left over from our wedding; most stores here credit $.05-.10 per bag or container. It was odd, though, when I happened to have a (clean) container in my purse which I filled with olives from the olive bar; the checkout person didn't recognise it and asked twice whether it was even from the store (I could have gotten away with a free pint of olives, but that's not very nice)

One local store even has bulk soaps (dish, body, laundry), so those containers are re-used until they die

I'm not a fan of paper towels, but know that the rollscan be used (as well as tp rolls) to start seedlings

Aside from meat bags, we don't get much in plastic; everything is tossed into the cotton bags, so much that we actually had to BUY "biodegradable" dog bags because we no longer had spares (I don't know which is worse).

I liked the "gravel" at The Place in Guilford, CT; we thought they were rocks, it turned out they were clam shells from the past 35 years (being added to daily). I don't know if my new neighbors would appreciate it if I started something at home along the same vein.

I plan to try composting (having convinced husband that no, I won't keep a rotting pile in the kitchen--it will be taken out nightly to the bin...). Usually, I use the less desirable parts in pureed soups or for stock.

We're not 100% green, but we do our part.

Great post!

[alkapal]

down in florida, in the old days more than now, oyster shells are used for driveways.

[mpjmph]

Oyster shell driveways and parking lots are still fairly common in eastern NC too (including my grandmother's)... I would guess that they are common along most of the east coast, but not very far inland.

[roro1831]

We had one of those growing up in New Orleans until I guess my father could afford to pave the driveway. Either way, it still hurt to fall on it.

[cassoulady]

I do much of the same except no seedlings. Plastic bags, which I dont get often since I use canvas when I can and the store I go to typically only gives paper bags, but when I do get plastic ones, they are kept for dog bags ( though sadly now I am down to one lab, poor Starrie was put down on Sat). Jam jars are used for making dressing, bringing dressings to work etc. I have a paper bag by the trash for cans, bottles etc. One interesting thing we do is save all paper ( envelopes, flyers etc) cut them up into index card size and use them as scrap paper. We keep a pile in the drawer, these are great for lists, notes to eachother etc.

[alkapal]

my mom uses the backs of scrap envelopes for grocery lists, and the like.

[buttertart]

I use plastic grocery store bags to cover bread and rolls when rising. I use a bag to cover the bowl of dough, then once the dough is formed, I cut off the handles, split the bottoms, and cut them in 2 to make pieces just the right size to cover my half-sheet pans. I use them with the printed side up to avoid contact with the inks. I spray the dough with Pam before putting the plastic on them. While I expect that these bags are not ideal for long-term storage or close exposure to foodstuffs, I don't think that a hour or two in contact with the dough will kill anybody. The texture of this plastic is much better than plastic wrap for the purpose.

[lgss]

1. vegan, so no meat
2. usually buy cereal in just bag, no box
3. We use cloth bags but my clients give me their plastic bags to give to libraries and thrift stores.
4. we reuse hummus containers for staples: beans, amaranth, etc. I've used peanut butter jars and baby brussels sprouts green mesh bags to hold TJ's beverage lids (no pulp oj, extra pulp oj, lemonade, and almond mylk) as checkers for quilted fabric checkerboards I've made from the small pieces of freecycled fabric left from making cloth napkins for the cafe at work and the group homes run by the agency where I work.

We reuse spice bottles for those we buy in bulk.

My parents were also depression kids.

We walk our food waste to the city's collection point for compost.

[lgss]

A peeling non-stick muffin tin got retired to the basement for sorting nails and other fasteners and plastic containers with broken lids or permanent odors have also been relegated to the basement for storing or mixing various things.

We also use junk mail paper for lists, notes, etc.

[LindaWhit]

I also do your #1, #3b, #3c, #4, #6.

For #4, I usually keep smaller spice or baby jam jars for when I have to zest a bunch of lemons and then dry the zest for use later OR for when I've made my own spice mix and the recipe makes more than I need for that night's dinner. Larger (pint) jars are used for shaking up flour, water, and spices to help make gravy for chicken or beef.

If twist-ties or plastic bread ties are still in OK shape, I keep them for re-use.

ETA: Small CVS-sized bags and the bags that my Sunday Globe newspaper comes in are used for my bathroom wastebasket. Larger bags from Kohl's, Macy's, etc. get used in a large wastebasket in my bedroom.

Newspapers get saved if I need them for packing something up. I shred various bills or personal things and use that shredded paper for packing as well (always fun to send presents to my nephew and get an EMail from my brother saying "gee thanks. Shredded paper ALL over the living room!" But he gets me back by packing my presents with the empty wrapping paper roll, empty tape dispenser, etc., so *I* have to throw it away! LOL)

That's all I can think of right now.

[Gio]

1. We recycle all our newspaper printed with colored ink, keeping the black & white pages for the compost bin.
2. We recycle all plastic containers with type 1 (PETE) and type 2 (HDPE) designations: some plastic bags, detergent containers, and milk, soft drink, juice, cooking oil and water bottles.
3. We reuse plastic grocery bags much as you do.. plus use them as waste basket liners.
4. We've been using canvas grocery bags for years. Makes such sense to me.
5. We reuse most of the other things you mentioned ... though we don't have a cat and no longer start seeds but your use of the egg trays is brilliant!

[alkapal]

well, we actually lost our dear kitty, sally, last year, but we used to do the litter box clean up with those bags.

mom also uses the bags as small trash can liners, like for the wastebasket in her bathrooms. she also uses them for her kitchen trash, as it is small and light and easy to handle for an elderly lady.

[scoopG]

Great green habits alkapal! I try to cut down on plastic paper bags by using sturdy canvass bags while grocery shopping. (Food Emporium in NYC gives you two cents off.) I'll clean and re-use any type of plastic bag. Also I compost - putting every imaginable food scrap (except meat or fish products) into a bag and schlepping it to the Lower East Side Eco group at Union Square.