Reuse means to use something again. You don t just ride your bike once and throw it away, do you? No. You reuse it, over and over again.

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1 Reuse means to use something again. You don t just ride your bike once and throw it away, do you? No. You reuse it, over and over again. There are a lot of things we reuse every day- sinks, tennis shoes, hair brushes, toothbrushes, and computers- and the list goes on and on. There are a lot of things we don t reuse- candy wrappers, paper plates, the packaging from crackers- and this list goes on and on, too! But you can change this! You can help!

2 Some of the things we throw away and don t reuse can be reused with a little creativity. How about making a terrarium for your plants using a 2 Liter Coke bottle? Here s how: This way, your mom and dad can grow herbs inside without worrying about remembering to water them. Or, you could grow your own plants in your own room without making a mess! 2 Liter Coke bottles also make great funnels if you have Dad or Mom cut them about 3 inches below the lid. They can also be useful for watering plants that are up high or often forgotten about. You can find the part that hooks onto the bottle and sticks down in the soil at a home improvement store like Home Depot or Lowes. See the pictures below to see what I m talking about.

3 You can also keep old toothbrushes to use for cleaning small things. You can refill your water bottles with Gatorade, lemonade, or tap water, to keep from throwing them away. Save old mint containers for small items like jewelry, Barbie shoes, Polly Pocket items, and anything else that s tiny and you don t want to lose. You can use empty tissue boxes to store plastic grocery bags.

4 That s another thing- those plastic grocery bags your mom or dad bring home from the store can be brought back to the store for recycling. Or you can keep them at home to wrap fragile items in when you re moving or packing. They re also great to take on a trip with you to put your dirty clothes or wet bathing suits in. Those plastic bags also make good trash bags for small trash cans, like the one in your bathroom. Or keep one with you when you re cleaning your room and toss in toys you don t play with anymore to take to Goodwill or Toys for Tots charities. More things you can reuse: Spray bottles from cleaners like Windex, can be refilled with water and vinegar to clean kitchen counters (except Granite or Marble. It could ruin the counter). The most important thing to remember when reusing spray bottles from cleaners is to make sure you clean them out REALLY well. You never, ever want to mix two cleaners together.

5 Small lotion bottles can be reused and refilled with more lotion, shampoo, conditioner, and other things for traveling (so you don t have to pack the big bottles). Glass spaghetti sauce jars can be used as storage for nails, screws, and other small items. They re great because you can see through them. Baby wipe containers make a great holder for G.I. Joes, Pokemon Cards, Lego sets, Barbie clothes, pencils and other art supplies. Use your imagination! They can hold just about anything small. You can also decorate them for gifts to give to someone with a new baby. You could also decorate them to use as a jewelry box or travel tissue holder.

6 Sanitizing wipe containers are tall enough to hold pencils, pens, paintbrushes, and markers. The best part- you can tear the labels off of them to decorate and label each container. As you can see, there are many things you can reuse in your home. Just use your imagination. Even if the item is recyclable, you can recycle it right in your own home without sending it to the recycling plant. Then, when you ve used it again and again and you re done with it, throw it in the recycling bin. Then it will be made into something else, and you ve gotten plenty of use out of it. So what happens when something does end up going to the recycling plant? You ll find out in our next lesson!