linen » Sift Blog

Source: Flickr the red chair #17 from Jasperroz

Reusing something that has become a waste item as a new item is a bit of a zig zag as ultimately it will end up in landfill at some point in its lifecycle.

One example is instead of using paper towels to clean up around the home or office cut up old clothes, tea towels and towels to a handy cleaning size. You can even hem them using a sewing machine (simple zig zag stitch) so they don’t fray. This gives the material once used as a sweater, skirt etc a new life as a cloth and will also cut down on paper waste (and the plastic film used for packaging).

Use materials made from natural fibres like cotton, linen and wool so that when they do get to landfill they will break down a lot faster than synthetic materials.