Many of us have refrigerators stocked with disposable beverage cartons — milk, orange juice, and the like. And while most of us might be in the habit of recycling or throwing away those cartons once they're empty, one creative Redditor is putting their cartons toward a different one of the three R's: reuse.
This gardener posted their innovation to the subreddit r/Anticonsumption. In the shared photos, over 100 oat and almond beverage cartons are organized and stacked in garden trays, ready for their next use.
The post explains, "We collect our disposable beverage cartons throughout the year and reuse them to sprout vegetables in the spring."
To prepare the cartons, the Redditor explained that they cut them in half and put four to six drain holes in the bottoms.
In the garden trays, the cartons can be bottom-watered occasionally, as well as misted, especially before anything sprouts.
"By the time these are ready to be transplanted into the garden, the cartons are starting to soften and are easy to tear off the budding root ball of each plant," the post continues.
Reusing disposable household items for a new purpose is a simple and sustainable way to engage in a plethora of activities, including gardening. This resourcefulness can save at-home gardeners money on supplies and breathe new life into used beverage cartons.
Gardening itself is a great way to save money on produce, as well as a joyful activity that can improve our mental and physical health. It also reduces our environmental impact by decreasing the demand for mass-produced, store-bought, and globally shipped produce.
In the comments of the post, fellow Redditors were impressed by the innovation.
"In our country we can recycle tetra pak," one user commented. "This looks just as good."
"This is such a neat way to get another use out of something you've already paid for and didn't have to go buy a new thing to do the same task," said another.
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