No need to put your old milk jugs in the bin just yet – experts recommend one savvy way to reuse them to boost plants in your garden and cut down on plastic waste
Don’t toss out your old milk bottles the moment the last drop has gone – eco-experts say they can be put to far better use in your garden instead.
While it’s tempting to toss away your milk cartons as soon as your done with them, it’s not great for the planet. According to a Greenpeace survey, UK households throw away an estimated 1.7 billion pieces of plastic each week – which works out at about 90 billion pieces per year.
When plastic ends up in landfill sites, it doesn’t just go away. Plastic takes between 500 to 1000 years to degrade, which means it can easily be blown back into the environment.
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Plus, as plastic waste degrades, it turns into tiny particles known as microplastics. This poses a massive threat to the environment, as these small particles can easily make their way into our water systems and animal food supplies.
Luckily, there is a fantastic way that you can reuse your plastic milk bottles. Experts from Give Me Trees reveal that they make great watering cans for your plants.
Give Me Trees explains: “You can reuse milk jugs as a watering can by heating a needle and using it to poke small holes in the cap. These jugs last a long time and are an excellent way to recycle old waste.”
Plus, there are plenty of other great ways to reuse old materials for your garden. If you’ve been eating a load of banana recently, there’s no need to throw out the skins.
Banana peel is incredibly rich in potassium, which is a mineral needed by many plants for growth. Therefore, you can easily transform your old banana skin into an effective fertiliser.
Simply soak the skins in water over a few days until they partly ferment. At this point, many of their nutrients will have leeched into the water, which you can then use to water your plants.
Similarly, old coffee grounds also can be reused to benefit plants. They enrich the organic matter of the soil and also help make it more acidic, which helps certain flowers, like hydrangeas.
As a bonus, the strong aroma of the grounds also helps to deter pests like slugs. This reduces the chances of them chewing up your plant beds or spreading disease.
Conversely, if you want to lower soil acidity, you can always use ground up egg shells. They also will give your plants a calcium boost!