This week is going to be all about the creative ways we can use the plastics we already have from our regular use.
So now we’ve switched to a less plastic-consuming way to drink clean and safe water (my previous post). But… what about all the empty bottles we have from when we used to buy water in plastics every now and then? Well if you haven’t thrown them (all) away, you actually can reuse these bottles in very simple way even around your house or place of living.
A plastic bottle only becomes waste if you have no use for it anymore. And luckily we just used these bottles for water so we don’t have to spend any time or resources cleaning anything or getting anything in shape to be used again for something else. And the ‘something else’ that I’m going to use mine for, is a trash bin.

Photo credit: Author
I have a friend and housemate at my university, studying architecture, who’s a little fascinated with reusing materials or pieces of one thing to make or build something else. I believe it’s the blend of conservation and creativity that interests him. Anyways we both decided to take the empty 5 litre and 8 litre bottles and reuse them as mini trash bins that we placed conveniently around the house. We used old plastic bags inside them as trash bags too. For smaller bottles, we use them now as containers for detergent, salt, sugar and the likes. I’ve also even decided to use empty 200ml plastics as coin holders that i have on my shelf in my room. He keeps everything else as “material” for future school or personal projects, turning everything now into basically something useful.

Photo Credit: Author
You too can decide to take something you don’t use anymore and find ways in which they can be beneficial to you. It could be with empty plastic bottles or plastic bags, the fabric from old clothes, it could even be paper. Any way that we change how we use or dispose things like this, little or not, can eventually become for our environment.
Together, we can make a difference.
By Feyisayo Akinola
