Enjoying Outside, Inside: Eco Friendly Crafts
Eliana Thompson • September 22, 2021
May 26, 2021
We’ve all heard of the “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” waste hierarchy, but it can be hard to fully incorporate these principles into our daily lives when not in the habit. Of course, we also know that reducing waste is essential to minimize the effects of climate change and protect our natural resources and ecosystems from contamination. Significant reduction in our carbon footprint may require serious lifestyle changes, but starting on a smaller scale can help reinvigorate the drive to reduce waste. These crafts will save you a trip to the store, or give new life to items that may have otherwise been on their way to the landfill.
- Natural Fabric Dye: To give new life to fading or stained fabric items, try dying them with plant based, homemade dye. Synthetic dyes have many downstream effects such as pollution of our water supply or negative health effects for those producing clothes. Natural dyes can be made from materials such as avocado pits and skins (bluish pink), onion skins (yellow/pink), cabbage (purple), beets (bright pink), turmeric (yellow), or spinach/mint (green). Check out this guide on how to tie dye fabric at home.
- Upcycled drinking glasses from glass bottles: Try this: every time one of your glass cups breaks, replace it with a homemade glass rather than buying a new one. Pretty soon you’ll have a complete set! This tutorial gives instructions on how to make tumblers out of wine bottles using a bottle cutter. If you don’t have a bottle cutter and don’t feel like buying one (yay for reducing!), this tutorial shows you how to cut glass bottles using yarn and acetone. These tumblers also make great homemade candle holders (see #4!).
- T-Shirt Tote: I don’t know if it’s just me, but it seems like no matter how many T-Shirts I donate to GoodwillI I always have too many in the closet. Repurposing T-Shirts into tote bags is a great way to put them to use and still represent your alma mater, favorite nonprofit, or national park. This guide shows you 8 ways to make a bag from a shirt.
- DIY Candles: While this may require you to buy beeswax, coconut wax, or carnauba wax, making candles at home is a more sustainable choice than purchasing them. Use an upcycled wine bottle, old jar, or flower pot as a container, and once fully burned just fill it right back up again! This project is also great because it allows you to formulate a unique fragrance using a blend of essential oils of your choice.
- Homemade Natural Soap: Making homemade bar soap can be a simple project or an extravagant art piece- either way, this is a fun and sustainable project. I love this one because it reduces the number of plastic bottles in the trash and you actually know what's going on your skin! Considering the amount of handwashing we’re doing these days, it’s nice to use gentle ingredients instead of the impossible to pronounce chemicals that are in so many skincare products.
-Eliana Thompson; ethompson@tuleyome.org
Tuleyome Social Media and Advocacy Associate
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