Don't Throw That Away! Reuse your Plastic Baggies!

Over 1 trillion plastic baggies are thrown away worldwide each year!  Although they are advertised as disposable, many times these bags are not soiled beyond reuse.  Get creative and build your own plastic bag drier.  Check out these easy and creative plastic bag driers:

Check out these other bag driers made from household items:

This Lego drier is great with towers of adjustable heights and placements.  Your kids or grandkids will love making this one.

Scrap wood and four $0.27 dowel rods from Walmart took only 15 minutes to make.  No glue required.

Do you have extra K'Nex laying around the house? This bag drier took 5 minutes to build.

For the more sophisticated K'Nex Master Builders.  This one spins!

Another use for scrap wood and dowel rods.

Make your plastic bags more fashionable and durable!

Your plastic bags don't have to be transparent and boring.  Spice them up a little AND flaunt your individuality by reinforcing your plastic bags with duct tape!  Check out the video below or these simple instructions.

Check out these other awesome crafts you can make with your left over duct tape!

Thank you to everyone who participated in our bag craft at Welcome Sunday! The kids had a great time making bags and were excited to start using them in their lunches.

Save the Sandwich Bags! Packing a Waste Free Lunch

Did you know the average students creates 45-90 pounds of lunch trash per year?  Encourage your child to create a waste-free lunch.  Make it a game!

Check out the videos below to find out how to pack a waste-free lunch.  Don't forget to encourage your child to bring home food waste to feed your worm bin or compost pile!!

How to pack a Waste-Free Lunch:

Easy substitutions for common school lunch trash:

Waste Free Lunch Box/Packaging Ideas:

Like what you see?  Check out these items on Amazon.

Feeling crafty?  Check out these videos on how to create y our own reusable lunch containers.

Don't want to buy reusable lunch containers?  Check out our post on reusing Ziplock bags.

Earth Friendly Wrapping Paper

Tis the season... almost!  Recycle your news paper and wrap your Christmas gifts!  It's inexpensive, Earth friendly, trendy, and saves you a trip to the store.  (Not to mention it saves money on gas AND releases no fuel emissions into the atmosphere.)

Check out these sites for great alternative gift wrapping ideas.

• 15 Awesome Alternatives To Gift Wrapping Paper That You Already Have In Your Home
• 6 Eco Friendly Gift Wrap Alternatives
• Google image search: newspaper gift wrap
• Google image search:  alternative gift wrap 

Create a Worm Bin Today!

Creating a worm bin is very easy!

You can purchase a worm bin on Amazon, or you can create your own using the instructions on one of the sites below.

Click Cheap and Easy Worm Bins to find instructions for making your very own worm bin.

Check out the videos below for additional instructions to make your own worm bin.

If you are handy, you may choose to make this hybrid worm bin.

Benefits of having a Worm Bin:
Why should you keep a worm bin?  

• Worm Composing Help
• Sierra Worm Compost
• Vermicomposting

Getting Started:
The sites below have some great tips for getting started on your very own worm bin.

• Six Easy Steps
• Red Worm Composting
• Cathy's Crawly Composters

Maintaining your Worm Bin:
No one likes smelly worm bins.  Check out the sites below to learn how to properly maintain your worms.

• Maintaining a Worm Bin
• Composting in Santa Cruz County
• Compost Mania 

Thank you to everyone who stopped by our worm bin exhibit at Welcome Sunday!  For more information or starter worms, contact Kathleen at kathleen.wilke@gmail.com. 

Check out all of the fun we had!  As you can see, the girls really enjoyed playing with 
the worms, despite wearing their Sunday best.

With Halloween just around the corner, don't forget to share your discarded Jack-O-Lantern with your new wiggly friends!!