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Reusing aluminum cans to build concrete walls.

Reusing aluminum cans to build concrete walls.

        Using aluminum cans and bottles for constructing walls is not a new idea. Many ghost towns around Nevada show prime examples of construction with bottles. People had to get creative and use whatever there was plenty of. On more than one occasion I have come across ghost towns where bottles were used in construction of buildings. In some cases the walls were constructed using adobe clay and bottles. The type of material used to construct buildings were dictated by the cost and availability of materials. As the local dump usually had a surplus of whiskey bottles this was the primary item used but by no means was it the only item used. Anything and everything was fair game for reusing and in some cases entire towns were moved from one mining site to another, wasting nothing.

Reusing milk jugs and water jugs

Reusing milk jugs and water jugs to make hot caps for the garden. (Note) you should not use clear plastic bottles because they get too hot. Reusing plastic jugs is only limited by your imagination and once you're done using them they can be recycled.

My parents and grandparents were always recycling everything, nothing was ever thrown out or wasted . We reused soup cans, coffee cans and anything else that might have been thrown away. My dads mantra was " waste not want not." and "throw it away only if you can't recycle it." Recycling old mailboxes into garden toolboxes to reusing old garden hose for tool handles .

Don't recycle!

Don't recycle!

This blog is about reusing items that we would normally throw away or recycle. This is not a new idea but it is an idea that corporate America hopes will never catch on.