Whilst essential for many baking recipes, you can put the humble packet of bicarb soda to many other household uses. Here are five ways to reduce your grocery bill and minimise your impact on the environment by incorporating bicarb soda into your daily routine.

•  For whiter teeth, you could try gargling (but not swallow) a mixture of water and bicarb soda.
•  Apply bicarb soda directly to a damp cloth, and use it to wipe down your kitchen benches.
•  Dissolve half a cup of bicarb soda into your bath water for a relaxing soak.
•  Soak away the annoying tea and coffee stains on the rims of your teacups and mugs. Rub stain with a damp cloth and bicarb soda, or leave to soak in a small amount of water.
•  Sprinkle your BBQ hotplate with bicarb soda, scrub away grime, and then rinse with water.

Downcycling is the process of converting materials into products of lesser market value, whilst upcycling creates products of higher value from existing waste materials. Downcycling converts a mix, or hybrid, of plastics into lower-grade plastic, while upcycling aims to turn waste into desirable and higher quality objects. Upcycling is an appealing aspect of recycling, because it places emphasis on the aesthetic design process.

Here are some examples of how upcycling can be put into practice.

•  Making a wallet from old car tyres.
•  Using wood off-cuts to create whole pieces of furniture.
•  Creating laptop covers from old jumpers.
•  Reusing pulp from newspapers as building insulation.
•  Creating jewellery and cufflinks from old typewriter or cash-register keys.

Craft-lovers of all ages can find enjoyment in paper-making, and it is a great way to recycle unwanted paper scraps. You can use practically any paper type. You could use newspaper scraps to make grey paper, old magazines for dark coloured paper, and tissue paper for delicately fine paper. Here are some steps to take for simple paper-making.

These are the basic steps involved in making your own paper;
•  Tear up scrap paper into small pieces.
•  Soak the paper in warm water.
•  Press the paper scraps in a wire paper-making press, and leave to dry overnight.

A pre-made paper-making press will streamline the process. Otherwise, you can make your own press by stretching an old window screen or fibreglass screen across a picture frame, and stapling it in place. By adding liquid starch to your paper mix, it will create a smoother finish, allowing you write on your paper with greater ease. Some recipes recommend to add gelatin to your mix to ensure that ink doesn’t bleed on your finished product.