How to recycle household waste in the garden: 7 sustainable tips to keep your plants thriving for free

What better way to benefit the planet while helping your plants thrive than reusing your household waste in the garden?

It's no great secret that there are several ways you can reuse and recycle items from your home to benefit your garden. From using cardboard as a weed barrier to repurposing old towels for frost protection, thinking more sustainably can massively reduce your waste output.

As with most sustainable garden ideas, they'll also save you money in the process, whether that's enriching your soil with homemade compost or reducing the need to buy more pots or trays.

How to recycle household waste in your garden: 7 expert tips

Sustainability will always be an important garden trend and there are endless reasons for that. Just look at the rewilding trend, it's not only the most low-maintenance form of gardening but it's great for your plants and wildlife.

"Much of the waste we generate at home can be reused in our gardens," explains Fiona Jenkins, Gardening Expert at MyJobQuote. "Recycling everyday items and repurposing them for use in the garden can help you to save money as well as significantly reduce your carbon footprint."

Fiona Jenkins

With over 25 years of experience under her belt, Fiona is a trained gardener who offers advice and insight to several trade companies and homeowners. She has also been featured as a gardening expert for several publications.

1. Plastic Bottles

From helping protect your plants from slugs to providing a greenhouse effect, plastic bottles can be extremely useful when growing seedlings.

"We all end up collecting these and they can make amazing mini propagators," says garden designer and influencer Ish @Gardening.with.ish on TikTok. "Simply take some scissors to cut a line along the middle, open it to add in a little bit of soil, then plant in one or two seeds,"

"Chuck the lid half back on top and this makes a nice humid environment that will hold in the heat and moisture that will get your seedlings started," he finishes.

Thanks to the durability of plastic, you can reuse the bottles for years to come.

2. Toilet roll tubes

You might be surprised by how many ways you can reuse cardboard in your garden, toilet roll tubes are just one efficient method.

“Toilet roll tubes make perfect biodegradable seedling starter pots," explains Joe Aldworth, a gardening expert at The Old Railway Line Garden Centre. "Their flexibility allows you to easily shape and fold them to fit your seedlings, whilst the cardboard naturally decomposes over time,”

“When your seedlings are ready to be re-potted, you can simply cut off the bottom and place the entire tube into a larger pot - no mess needed. The cardboard will break down into the soil, promoting healthy root growth without disturbing the plant,” he adds.

3. Compost bags

If you pride yourself on making your own compost at home, then you might not buy many bags of store-bought compost throughout the year. However, if you do opt for the store-bought bags, there are ways you can reuse them.

Fiona says, "We all know that compost is great for the garden but don’t just throw the bags away when you have emptied them! Use them again as grow bags for vegetables, to collect leaves that have fallen onto your garden, or as liners for seed trays or plant pots."

4. Plastic food containers

Should you need another excuse for that weekly Saturday night takeaway you can now use this. "These containers make a great starter home for plants and are an excellent place to sow seeds," explains Fiona.

"Containers such as yoghurt pots are the perfect size for seedlings, simply poke some holes in the bottom for drainage, fill with compost, and plant your seeds inside, remembering to give them the adequate light and water needed to grow."

It's the perfect way to get those seeds you gathered from your garden started, and similar to the plastic bottles you can use these over and over again.

5. CDS

While it's certainly a sad day to find your favourite CD scratched, luckily, there is still some good that can come from it. Just be warned: If you're looking to attract birds to your garden, this is certainly not the hack for you.

"With the trend towards playing music through streaming services from our phones and other portable devices, many of us will have old CDs lying around that haven’t been played in years," says Fiona.

"Stringing them up around your garden can cause a reflection that will deter birds from attacking crops without keeping them away from your garden entirely, and without causing any harm to wildlife," she continues.

This is particularly useful if you've just started vegetable gardening for beginners, keeping birds away from your berries and veggies will mean a more bountiful harvest for you.

6. Ice Cream Sticks

You may already use leftover wine cork bottles in your garden for labelling crops, however, if you have more of a sweet tooth there is an alternative.

Fiona says, "Wooden ice cream sticks can be great for labelling flowers, crops, and plants. Simply clean them well, dry them off, write on the appropriate labels, and stick them in the soil. This is particularly useful for labelling seedlings to identify them as they grow."

8. Egg cartons

It's not just eggshells you can use in your garden to help your plants, the cardboard packaging eggs come in is also super handy for seed sowing.

"Egg cartons can be used in the same way as toilet roll tubes in your garden," says Graham Smith MCIHort, Horticulture expert at LBS Horticulture. "Sow a seed in each compartment of the carton, and then when they are ready to transplant, separate the compartments and plant them directly into the soil."

Graham Smith MCIhort

Graham has extensive knowledge in the horticultural and gardening industries, and prides himself on using this to help gardeners of all skills create their perfect outdoor space.

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While it's not exactly recycling, another household item you can use in your garden is white vinegar. It has a surprising number of benefits from cleaning to protecting your plants from fungus.