One man’s trash is a pets treasure

Are you sick of hoarding useless junk around your house? Upcycling is the way to go if you want to save money and help the environment at the same time. Plus, your pet will love their new digs!

Here are some tips to get your creative juices flowing:

1. Transform your old furniture into a pet’s dream bed or playground! A dresser can become a multi-tiered cat palace or a cosy dog bed made out of an old chair. And don’t forget about those tables – they make the perfect hiding space for a round of hide-and-seek for our small furies!

2. Don’t throw away those empty containers – they can be repurposed into food dishes, toy containers, and even litter boxes. Your pets will be grateful for the thoughtful additions to their environment.

3. Old clothing doesn’t have to go in the trash. Use sweaters and t-shirts to create soft blankets or rag wipes for those messy moments. And let’s be real, sometimes pets can be messier than a house party in college.

4. DIY toys are always a hit! Use fabric scraps and old clothes to make a tug toy or use an old sock for a catnip mouse. Get creative and have fun!

5. Natural materials like wood, bamboo, and coconut shells can be transformed into toys or decorations for your pet’s habitat. A piece of driftwood can be a perfect climbing spot for your reptile or fill a coconut shell with hay to make a cosy nesting spot for your rabbit.

Here at Ecoshred Bed we have not only made our fabulous recycled pet bedding, we have made water drinkers from used human bottles, hutches from pallets, hay racks from old tyres and every day we think how we could innovate further with our Recycling projects.

We also make recycled water bottles and warm hides for pets from used Coke bottles!

In conclusion, upcycling for your pet’s habitat is a win-win situation. You save money, reduce waste, and your pet gets a new and exciting living space. So next time you’re about to throw something out, think about the possibilities for your furry friend. After all, one man’s trash is a pet’s treasure!

Check out our fabulous How to Guides Here to get more in depth instructions on how to make these things yourself at home!

What is Upcycling?

It is not upside down cycling, Upside down cycling would not be practical and you would end up with a sore head, a cramped neck and you would not move very far. However upcycling taken its modern day definition has many more positive benefits:

“The act of taking something no longer in use and giving it a second life and new function. In doing so, the finished product often becomes more practical, valuable and beautiful than what it previously was.”

All of us have wonderful skills to do this, like the lady in London who reuses discarded crisp packets to make blankets for the homeless, or the fashionable and popular art of taking old pieces of furniture and giving them a retro look and a new lease of life.

Our upcycling on the farm uses egg cartons that are deemed to have factory defects and are not acceptable to the end supplier. These egg cartons are collected unused from the factory that makes them,  and brought to our farm were we start the process of upcycling or recycling them, or repurposing them, giving them a new life.

Our Ecoshred Bed is the result of them heading through a shredding machine, getting the dust extracted and being put into bags ready for use as animal bedding.

They make super cosy, colourful, absorbent animal bedding and are also suitable to make great compost when they have been discarded after use. So we’ve upcycled twice and saved a very reusable product from landfill and being homeless.

However, our future upcycling dream relies on the generosity of others helping us out by understanding our dream to recycle and repurpose and support this by purchasing our bedding. That’s what keeps the wheels turning. Our upcycling relies on our practical, valuable and beautiful bedding finding a new home. I hope you will check Ecoshred Bed out and join us on our upcycling journey, it will be awesome if you can!