IN A bid to reduce waste and help the environment, gardeners have been offered six tips on how to re-use rubbish outdoors.

Experts from GardenBuildingsDirect.co.uk have revealed how households can find alternative uses for lollipop sticks, old CDs and even light bulbs.

Gardeners can get involved with the war on plastic by using old bottles to make vertical gardens and self-watering planters, while glass jars make fantastic slow-release irrigation tools.

Even used packaging like the bags that coffee and rice come in can be opened and reused for storing seed collections.

A spokesman from the firm said: “Doing our bit to save the planet has never been more important, and it’s true what they say – every little helps.

“So, before you throw out your old CDs or even food packaging, see if you can find another use for it outside.

“Most things can be upcycled or re-used in the garden if you think creatively enough.”

Here are six top tips on using household rubbish outdoors:

1. Plastic

Plastic bottles make great planters, including trendy vertical gardens and self-watering planters. They also make good watering cans, and could even be cleaned and stuffed with plastic wrappers to create eco-bricks.

Plastic bins with lids can also be used to make propagation boxes.

2. Glass

Glass bottles and jars can also be used for sleeker self-watering planters, slow-release irrigation in garden beds or holders for rooting clippings. You could also reuse them for kitchen products like homebrewed apple cider, pickles, preserves, and more.

3. Packaging

Used packaging, like bags from coffee or rice, can be opened carefully and reused for storing the next batch of beans from the garden, or seed collections.

4. Lollipop sticks

Save lollipop sticks to make customised markers for your garden or seedlings. All you’ll need is a permanent marker and a reusable cloth. Apply a few drops of a solution of warm water and sea salt to the ends of your lollipop sticks, then use the reusable cloth to rub off any remaining stickiness. Let the sticks dry outside for at least an hour, then label them with permanent marker, and use them to mark plants in your garden.

5. Light bulbs

Once the electrical components are removed, light bulbs make perfect homes for air plants and water-saving succulents. If you’ve never tinkered with a light bulb before, consult a tutorial, and then once your bulb is cleaned out, all you’ll need is some succulent potting soil and small potting pebbles – and your plants, of course.

6. Old CDs

Using string or fishing wire, hang a few old CD discs off the branches of nearby trees or fix them to fences or walls to create a DIY bird scarer. Birds are often deterred from landing on or near garden vegetables if their vision is distracted, and a shiny, reflective CD hanging near the garden provides just the right movement and distraction needed to keep the birds away.