Who needs new toys when you have a full recycling bin?

My 6-year old daughter refers to herself as a 'reuser.' "Mom, I can reuse anything." If you were to look at our playroom, you'd see empty pasta boxes and milk jugs and metal lids and bottle caps and wonder if the raccoons had gotten into the recycling bin. Nope, just my daughter. When Renee and I gave a talk to her kindergarten class last year about the Reduce / Reuse / Recycle trifecta, she was impressed. What impressed her was that Reuse is superior to Recycle and thus she must save whatever waste she can from the fate of -- dun, dun, duuuuun -- RECYCLING.

While I'm proud that she's catching on, it is a little annoying and messy. It's hard enough to keep the regular toys picked up without the added challenge of the recycling detritus. The kids already had a recycling can in the playroom, which of course never had anything in it, so we decided to add a reuse box. All of these bits and pieces go into the reuse box, and when they are finished reusing them, they go into the recycling can. The kids have an art table in the playroom, so ripped paper or unsatisfactory (to them) artwork goes into the can. Still, there's not much in there.

And what, you may ask, could they possibly be doing with all this stuff? Small food boxes make perfect beds for small stuffed animals. Toilet paper tubes have endless possibilities (telescopes, towers, hiding places for small animals). Bottle caps are buttons in a spaceship made from a large box, and shoe boxes can be turned into a rocket. My daughter now has a drawer in her dresser specifically for these projects in progress, as they can be delicate and need "extra protection." Sigh. It's all good though. Why would she ask for new toys when she has a bin of freebies out in the garage?

Do you have a 'reuser' in the family?