Rejected Material

As long as this practice doesn't lead to hoarding (which is unhealthy), this is a pretty good practice. You never know when you may need specific scrap or leftover material.

Possible items to store:

• Old bottles/containers

  • • The lids of said bottles/containers

• Scrap pieces of wood/metal/plastic, etc 

• Scrap paper

• Scrap fabric, cloth

  • • Buttons, zippers, string, etc

• Old boxes, toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, etc

• Popsicle sticks (useful for crafts)

• Wires, electronics parts, etc

• Plastic bags

For example, using old glass bottles and containers you have lying around to store spices and other ingredients and using the store-bought containers for other purposes, using old cardboard boxes to store items in and transport them, scrap paper for art projects, spare zippers and buttons to replace a broken one....

For example, let's say you need planter boxes for planting some vegetables on your deck. And then you remember that you have some scrap pieces of wood and spare floorboards in your basement, that when nailed together right, would make a perfect planter box. or you need a small bag, and you use some old fabric to make yourself a nice looking bag. Incidentally, I've done the first one, and my sister did the second one.

Making repairs is an excellent way to upcycle. For example, if your office chair's swivel legs are broken, you can take off the swivel legs of your old office chair, and add it to the one you use. Or if you want to give your lamp a standing platform and extra height, use some scrap wood to make a stand for the lamp.

For example, I made a model ship, a steamboat, for a school project out of a recycled cardboard poster display - incidentally from another school project, the Heritage Fair event. I then reused that same model ship and added some features, like removing the steamboat and adding masts for an old fashioned ship, for another school project.