Video
LIFESTYLE NEWS AND VIDEO - Our waste has had a damaging effect on our environment. Stats SA reports that 90% of an estimated 59 million tonnes of general waste produced in South Africa in 2011 ended up in landfills.
Despite government intervention to try and introduce recycling initiatives to curb the waste problem, people still do not recycle their waste effectively.
Here are some creative solutions for your household scraps.
1. Use onion skin and vinegar to dye clothes
Who says you need chemicals to dye your own clothes? Start collecting all your onion peels and store them in one place. Just take your onion peels and boil them for 30 minutes, put them in a basin with the item of clothing you want to dye. Add some vinegar, water and leave overnight. The item of clothing will change colour depending on the type of onions you use. You can also try this with other fruits and veggies like carrots to try different colours.
2. Make your own fly trap with a plastic bottle
Fruit flies can be very annoying in the house especially during warmer temperatures. Instead of throwing away your plastic cooldrink bottles, cut the bottles in half, turn the top upside down so that it sits on the bottom half, add some sugar water to attract the flies and place it in an area where the flies hang out the most.
3. Use your recycled wine corks in your garden
There are many things you can do with your used wine corks around the garden. One of the solutions is to shred the wine corks into smaller pieces and sprinkle them on the soil in your garden. They keep moisture in the soil and help improve soil fertility.
4. Don’t throw away your apple core
A lot of organic fruit waste can have other functions. Take apples, for example, once you’ve eaten them, the inner part can be used for a number of things. Just collect a few apple endocarps in a jar, add sugar, water, ferment for two weeks and strain the bottle. Add vinegar to make apple cider vinegar, add vinegar and lemon for an all-purpose cleaner or simply add lemon as a face toner.
5. Turn your orange peels into candied oranges
Collect your orange peels in a jar, cut them into smaller pieces and boil for 45 minutes, add some sugar, drain and put them back into the jar. Now add sugar again, leave them to dry for 4 to 5 hours in an airtight container.
Watch a video below.
