Hopefully most people already return wire and plastic hangers to their dry cleaner so they can be reused. If this is not already a common practice in your home, it’s an easy way to be just a little more environmentally friendly. It’s quite easy; when dropping off soiled laundry at the cleaner, bring back all of the hangers that seem to accumulate so quickly in the back of the closet.

We’ve been doing this for years and feeling good about the fact that the hangers are being reused, as is. They do not have to be melted down or transformed into something else for a completely different use. They’re simply reused, locally.

Also, for years, we’ve been repurposing the clear plastic cleaner bags as our recycling bags. Our waste removal company requires that all recycling be sorted and placed accordingly into clear plastic recycling bags for pick up. We used to actually BUY the clear bags, all the while tossing the cleaner bags in the plastic recycler. Hellllloooooo! At some point one of us college grads realized that we could tie the top of the cleaner bag into a tight knot, turn the bag upside down and fill it up with recycling. This saves money and the environment.

However, these bags seemed to be multiplying in the dark recesses of our closet. They clung together into daunting massive balls of plastic taking up valuable shoe real estate. We could not reuse them fast enough. Desperately I ran to my cleaners demanding a solution for the excessive bagging. I mean really…does each shirt require it’s own? Their answer was unbelievably simple, “Oh, didn’t you know you can refuse them?” Um, NO!

Just say “I refuse bags”. Your account gets noted and voila! Problem solved. What could be easier than that?

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and REF– USE.