14 things we’ve recycled/upcycled in our tiny UK garden

The word “recycling” has been a part of our lives for a long time, especially now with caring for the environment in mind more than ever. Many have been recycling since the 60’s when it became mainstream, but it was being done to a degree even back in Roman times. And more recently, the Great Depression of the 1930’s drove many from that generation to hoard and find re-uses for lots of the things we readily discard today.

Many of us now have our own recycling bin and recycle our paper, plastic, and glass while everything else we need to dispose of just ends up being picked up in the household waste bin. And large items, like refrigerators have to go to a council amenities site (at best) or get dumped in a random place away from the owners home because the person is too lazy to take it to a site or doesn’t want to pay the council to pick it up. Many of us don’t really think much about our waste beyond that.

So, what else can we do about it I hear you ask?

Upcycling

The new word now is “upcycling,” and for those of us who didn’t know, or aren’t crafty, it is “the creative reuse and process of transforming waste materials, and unwanted items into something new.” (Thank you, Google!) It is basically something people do with old junk to make something that will instead serve a new purpose and usually at low cost.

Quite often upcycled items are made and sold at what can sometimes be astronomical prices, since some people will pay well over the odds for a one-of-a-kind item, especially if it is now useful, for artistic value, or simply so they can boast that they’re part of saving the environment in their own way. A nice way to make a tidy profit; some people will buy anything these days– make the most of it.

So what have I done?

I have gone to a different level completely and thought about what recycling and upcycling can do for me and my garden. Over the past few years I’ve been keeping an eye out for things that people have dumped outside. (Often, the day before the bins are collected people throw things away.) And while usually they are things you wouldn’t want to touch with a barge pole, let alone bare hands, there are completely random occasions where I’ll see something and think…I can find a way to use that.

Of course, there have been times when I’ve picked up things thinking I’d use them only to then leave them sitting around for a year before realising that, if I was honest with myself, I was never really going to find a use for it. We regularly have a good purge and take the time to properly dispose of our disused “junk” at the local amenities site. And it’s this approach that has generated some real gems of the upcycling world.

See for yourself…

I’ve created a video to show you what I’ve picked up and how I’ve put it to good use in my garden. I think some of these will surprise you, and a few may make you smile. One or two may have you sympathising with my long-suffering wife.

But, with all of these items and their re-uses, I beg you to think about the stuff you’re planning to throw away and consider if it could serve a different and potentially better purpose than being trash. It could be a TV table or something as simple as a plastic bowl with a hole in it. Stranger things have happened.

So, take a look at the video below and see 14 items that I have saved from the trash and reused in my garden.

Here’s an example

One of the items I filmed is an old washing up basin that had a crack in the bottom. It was obviously no longer able to hold water, but it could hold compost which in turn can hold a plant. Straight away, a decent sized plant pot which has saved money (gardening equipment is not cheap). And after the plant has finished, I’ll find another use for it– I hope to be able to make it into a small pond for wildlife such as birds and hedgehogs who can have a drink, and hopefully attract some frogs. I’ll have to reseal the bottom of it first, though, for that.

Positive results

So, the end story is this. By thinking creatively about the trash around us we can:

• make something useful that saves money. (And who doesn’t need that in their life these days?)
• sell our artistic creations to make money, (although Sandy and I tend to keep these for ourselves since we like the results) And most importantly,
• do our own little bit for the environment by not adding to landfills, especially with things that may take decades to degrade.

What about you?

I hope this article and video influence you to open your creative eyes. You might even find something you can make into a one-of-a-kind gift that no one else will have, and save money on alternatives. No one HAS to know where you obtained the materials, but you might actually be so proud of your trash to treasure project that you make it one of its key features.

Please do share this article and video with your friends and family to get their creative juices flowing, too. And let us know what you’ve recycled or upcycled by posting us a message below or a comment on the video.

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