{"id":50705,"date":"2022-03-15T07:38:33","date_gmt":"2022-03-15T07:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/?p=50705"},"modified":"2025-12-15T08:51:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T08:51:51","slug":"how-to-refill-and-reuse-at-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/blog\/50705\/how-to-refill-and-reuse-at-home\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Refill and Reuse at Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The latest data from the U.S Environmental Protection Agency<\/a> estimate that the average American disposes of 4.4 pounds of trash every day. However, this has since reduced, especially after the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), introduced the \u201creduce, reuse, and recycle\u201d campaign. More households have already adopted refill and recyclable waste management systems and try to dispose of non-recyclables responsibly<\/a>. In Africa, more than 90% of waste generated is usually disposed of at dumpsites and landfills, often with associated open burning.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

\n
Sign the #PlasticTreaty Petition Now<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

Unfortunately, since only 14% of plastic packaging<\/a> is collected and recycled globally, recycling isn\u2019t a permanent solution to environmental pollution. This is why agencies call on households and businesses to reject single-use options and instead adapt refill and reuse behaviors at home. That said, below are tips for refilling and reusing at home.<\/p>\n\n

  1. Food Waste<\/li><\/ol>\n\n

    While it may seem negligible, 30% of food<\/a> in the U.S goes to waste. Below are a few tips for reusing and refilling food scraps instead of disposing of them.<\/p>\n\n

    \u25cf  Coffee grounds \u2013 they contain nitrogen, which benefits plants and seedlings. You can also use them to keep slugs and ants away. Placing them in your freezer also neutralizes odors.<\/p>\n\n

    \u25cf  Avocado seeds \u2013 contain beneficial fiber and antioxidants. Dry and grind them into fine powder for use in shakes and smoothies.<\/p>\n\n

    \u25cf  Onion skins \u2013 contain healthy vitamins and minerals. You can boil the skins with bone broth or soups.<\/p>\n\n

    \u25cf  Eggshells \u2013 rich in calcium. Add them to your shakes and smoothies.<\/p>\n\n

    \u25cf  Lemon and orange peels \u2013 when frozen or dried, they can be used together with citrus peels and vinegar to create homemade cleaner.<\/p>\n\n

    2.\u00a0 \u00a0Egg Cartons<\/p>\n\n

    Most egg cartons cannot be recycled. Therefore, instead of sending them to landfills, reuse them in the following ways;<\/p>\n\n

    \u25cf  Plant seedlings \u2013 simply add soil to the holes and plant your preferred seeds. You can then transplant the seedlings or bury biodegradable egg cartons with seedlings in the ground.<\/p>\n\n

    \u25cf  Create packaging materials \u2013 line the bottom and top of packaging boxes before sealing when shipping fragile items.<\/p>\n\n

    You can also donate excess egg cartons to farmers.<\/p>\n\n

    \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a03. \u00a0\u00a0Glass Jars<\/p>\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n

    More than 11.6 million tons<\/a> of glasses are trashed annually in the U.S, while only 28% is recycled. Below are simple ideas for reusing glass jars;<\/p>\n\n

    \u25cf  Make an outdoor windproof candle using a heat-resistant glass jar.<\/p>\n\n

    \u25cf  Organize your kitchen using jars to store dry goods and spices in your pantry. You can also use them in the garage to store nuts and bolts.<\/p>\n\n

    \u25cf\u00a0 Used mason jars can be used to store drinking water.<\/p>\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n

    Written by t<\/strong>he Rumpke Family<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

    \n
    Sign the #PlasticTreaty Petition Now<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The latest data from the U.S Environmental Protection Agency estimate that the average American disposes of 4.4 pounds of trash every day. However, this has since reduced, especially after the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), introduced the \u201creduce, reuse, and recycle\u201d campaign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":4262,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"not set","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[30],"p4-page-type":[126],"class_list":["post-50705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-protecttheenvironment","tag-plastics","p4-page-type-blog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50705"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50708,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50705\/revisions\/50708"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50705"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=50705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}