The basic rules for environmentally conscious living are simple: avoid waste and don't waste anything. But what does that mean in concrete terms? Among the following tips, everyone is sure to find a few more ways to reduce household waste and protect the environment.

There are things that are carelessly thrown into the rubbish and recycling bins without realising that they can still be useful in the household and even make cleaning easier and thus help to save cleaning agents.

Plastic bags

Plastic bags from shopping, outer packaging and fruit and vegetable bags can be used in many ways in the household:

1. frost protection for plants in winter. Simply wrap the plant with plastic and tie the bag tightly. 

2. protect your shoes from mud. If you only have to go out into the garden for a short time and it is muddy outside, you can simply wrap your shoes in old plastic. When you enter the house, you take off the plastic and there is no dirt in the house. 

3. make the grill easier to clean. After grilling, wrap the grill grate in a plastic bag (when it is cold) and spray with oven cleaner before closing the bag. Leave it well wrapped for a day. The grill can then be easily wiped clean.

Plastic bottles

Plastic bottles that have no deposit value do not have to be thrown away straight away either:

4. boots can be put on the bottles so that they keep their shape in the cupboard.

5. you can store opened colours in sealable plastic bottles so that they last longer and take up less space. Put a few small stones in each bottle so that they can be shaken and mixed easily later. Don't forget to label the bottles.

Plastic cover

6. old plastic lids can be used to keep your fridge cleaner by placing juice or yoghurt containers on top. They catch liquids that run down and thus extend the time to the next fridge cleaning.

7. old plastic lids make good coasters for children.

8. teflon pans cannot be scraped out with metal, but they can be scraped out with old plastic lids if they are very dirty.

9. depending on the size, you can use lids to shape hambug meat or grated patties and freeze them separately that way.

Empty cracker tins 

10. drawers can be better organised if the small parts are stored in individual plastic boxes. 

11. empty shopping bags can be folded and put in a plastic container so that they do not fall around in the cupboard.

12. rags can be kept in old plastic tins so that they are at hand when needed. 

13. they also serve well as containers for screws, nails and other small items in the work cellar.

Old coffee cans

14. an old coffee can is wonderful for soaking used brushes that you need again the next day.

The coffee cans or lids can be placed under drips where you are painting, so that dripping paint is collected.

Cork

Used corks from wine bottles should be collected because they often prove useful.

16. a wine cork can be used to close opened cola bottles whose stopper has been lost, so that the carbon dioxide does not escape.

17. they also make a good stand for earrings so that they do not get lost.

18: You can make an original curtain for a child's room with lots of old corks. Simply drill a small hole through the cork and string a row of brightly painted corks on a string.

19. with flat pieces of cork glued to picture frames, pictures no longer hang crooked on the wall because the cork holds them in place and prevents them from slipping.

Cardboard boxes

20. storage container for toys in the children's room.

21. larger cardboard boxes can be imaginatively cut and decorated as cars or little houses.

22. no more hammering of the fingers if you protect the fingers with cardboard. Pierce the nail through the cardboard before hammering it in and hold the cardboard in place with your fingers instead of the nail. Then tear off the cardboard.

Beer mat

Knock old beer mats flat with a hammer and use them as a nut washer under screws.

Milk cartons

24. cut old milk cartons to size, decorate and store pens in them.

25. nine old milk cartons make good cones in the house for children.

26. collect food scraps for the compost or organic waste bin in old milk cartons.