Alternate uses for “waste”.
I’ve mentioned before that you can search for alternate uses for your waste such as charities that benefit from recyclable materials, but you can do much more in and around your house.
Glass:
With a simple LED and battery setup, you can make waterproof out-door lighting in case you have a party. Just put the jars on the ground and tables.
When you screw the lids of jars to the underside of your kitchen cabinet (I recommend baby food jar sizes here), you can store herbs in them. This also works on the underside of shelves in your cabinet itself for a more neat look. Bigger jars can be really useful in the same way near a workbench, for screws or small tools. (The same can be done for filo clay, or anything else you’ld like)
Jars (and some lidded bottles) can also be great for storing (tomato) sauces, home made pesto, and more things that could stain your plastic containers.
Keep bottles of (drinkable) water in the fridge, this saves energy (less loss of cold when you open the door) and you have cold water handy if you’re thirsty. Water in glass bottles stays cool much longer than in plastic ones!
Candles:
This is something you should only do when you really will do something with it, or it will just clutter up your house, but making candles can be a very fun and rewarding thing to do for grown ups and kids alike. Save up old candle stubs, melt them down and make new ones. Much more fun than the store bought variety!
Broken tableware:
This too is something that could seriously clutter up your house, but you can make mosaics from broken plates, tiles etc. You could make a table top, a little wall hanging or anything else you’ld like.
It can also be convenient to keep some handy in case you need to cover up the big holes in the bottoms of planters.
Fabric:
You can make pillow cases out of your old sweater, or save up for a “memory quilt”.
Old jeans can be made into shorts for around the house, or even a skirt with a bit more effort.
Your favorite old t-shirt with that awesome print might still work as a dress, or boxers, just lay down something on top of it as a pattern, draw it, cut around it with a margin for the seams and sew it together.