I recycle everything possible! My old roommate taught me how to recycle, and then she taught me how to reuse everything. My next door neighbor finally asked me how I manage to hardly ever use my trash can, and I told her that I do this:
1.) If it is recycleable, it never goes in the garbage at my house. I recycle everything, and I get a $7 discount on my monthly garbage fees for doing it.
2.) If I can reuse it, I always do.
* Jars with lids are used for holding nuts, bolts, screws, nails, garden seeds, drinking "glasses", "watering containers", "vases" or to hold pet or human dry food so that mice and other pests cant get in it.
* Newspapers line my birds cages and are then composted with the poo. Newspapers are also torn up and used as bedding for my elderly rat.
* Plastic containers with lids are used as "tupperware". I wash my ziplock bags and reuse them, and even plastic utensils.
* Grocery bags are re-used for trash bags or recycling containers, which I then never have to buy, and often used as poop pick up bags for walking the dog. I also use them to put food inside, twist close and use as "freezer bags".
3.) If it can be composted, I compost it: coffee grounds, tea bags, egg shells, vegetable and fruit scraps, weeds, garden waste, bird cage papers, rat and rabbit "litter" - anything organic goes into the compost bin that I built out of 5 discarded wooden pallets.
4.) If I dont want it, but it can still be used, I wash it and give it away. This goes for clothing, furniture, dishes, toys and everything else I own that can be re-used. I post free things on www.craigslist.com because someone else always needs them.
5.) I don't buy a lot of excessive "things". When I buy clothing or other items used, then I save money and save them from the landfill. I therefore don't end up with a lot of packaging materials in my home. Almost all of my furniture is used, much of it I've personally refinished / painted, or "dumpster dived" from the alleyway, or received from other people. I'm only directly responsible for a couple pieces of furniture, like my mattress.
6.) I feed my vegetable and bread scraps (as species appropriate) as treats to my rabbits, bird, rat and dog. They all love fresh food that will go bad before I'll eat it, and they can often digest things that human can't.
