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If you have a number of old CDs you no longer want then don’t just through them away, and think for a moment if there are any ways in which you could recycle them. If they are still in good condition you could donate them to a charity shop or sell them online on an auction site such as eBay, and if you don’t want to go to the trouble of creating individual auctions for them you could put them on all as a bulk listing.

If the CDs are too scratched and worn then you could try incorporating them into a craft project if you are a creative person, and with very little effort you can make them into funky mobiles and drinks coasters. The shiny reverse side of CDs is also an effective deterrent to help prevent birds from eating seeds and new shoots in the garden so you could thread old CDs onto a piece of string and them hang them in your vegetable patch and new borders.

There are also several companies who specialise in recycling CDs and their packaging into new materials such as Polymer Recycling, and you can visit their website to find out more about this service at polymerrecycling.co.uk.

There are so many ways to reuse plastic bags you should never need to throw any of them away, and even ripped or torn bags can be used for craft projects and other practical applications. Here are just a few easy ways in which you can reuse your plastic bags:
· If you are handy with knitting needles then you can cut up any worn or damaged plastic bags and then use the material to knit yourself a new, stronger plastic bag for carrying shopping in. To make the plastic yarn for your project cut the bags into spirals to get long strips of plastic, then use a spindle to turn your strips into a long length of yarn to knit with, and to attached two strips together just overlap the two ends and the spinning action will secure them together. Once you have your plastic yarn then pick out a simple shopping bag pattern and get knitting. Plastic yarn is surprisingly supple, strong and long lasting and this is an excellent way to turn damaged plastic bags back into a useful item again.
· Plastic shopping bags can be used to line your kitchen bin, and this can not only save you money on buying bin liners but it also means you will be putting your plastic bags to another use before throwing them away.
· In Store Recycling – most supermarkets now offer ‘in-store’ plastic bag recycling and this is a good way to recycling large amounts of plastic bags that you may have built up in your cupboards.

Recycling nappies is actually an old concept, as before disposable nappies were widely available most parents had to use cloth nappies for their babies which could be washed and reused any number of times. Although this can seem like a chore, it is much better for the environment for you to cut down on use of disposable nappies as these account for a large percent of all landfill waste and on average over 8 million nappies are thrown away in the UK alone every day. Disposable nappies can take up to 500 years to decompose, and not only can you save on waste by using cloth nappies but you could also save as much as £500 a year, as you will not have to buy expensive nappies only just to use them once and then throw them away.

If you do want to use cloth nappies then it is a good idea to have a tumble dryer as you can go through a fair number of nappies a day and you will need to be able to wash and dry them quickly so that you don’t run out.