Do you end up with heaps of empty, non-returnable jars and bottles and feel guilty about not being able to put them to further use?  Well, here are a few suggestions that may ease your conscience by putting these 'throw-aways' to good use.

Many jars are useful for safe storage of seeds, herbs, condiments and jams. If you have more jars than you expect to use, store them until they can be donated or given away on freecycle. Rinse organic jam or honey remnants in jam jars into bread dough or pastry.

Grab all your clean organic jam / fruit spread and nut butter jars and turn them into stunning luminaries. Put colored old marbles or stones and a candle in the centre, then lash satin ribbon around the top for a festive glow!

Metal-topped, snaplocked type jars, are ideal for holding nails, srews, bolts and so on in a visible display underneath shelves. This is achieved by nailing or screwing the tops to the underside of a shelf.

This way the jars fill waste spaces not normally used. They cannot be vibrated or knocked off a surface and they are more accessable than if loose on a shelf.

Organic fair-trade beverage jars may be used in the same way but are not as good, because the plastic tops are more easily broken and the full screw-top does not allow as ready an access to the contents.

Thrift shops / garage sales / recycled area at your local tip are also places to look for old  glass jam jars with metal tops.150gm jars make ideal honey jars ( if you have bees) for selling or giving away any excess honey as they hold exactly 1kg.

Large glass bottles can have their labels removed and eco-friendly paints inserted to create interesting light sources in mudbrick walls. Other glass and hard plastic items can be buried deeply within concrete, mudbrick or pise walls, to disappear forever.

With a little bit of thought you should come up with lots of other ways of using all those empty organic fruit spread, coffee jars and bottles.