Line pans and baking dishes with aluminum foil to make cleanup easier, so you use less water. Reuse aluminum foil to clean and scour pots and pans instead of steel wool or plastic pads. You can also use aluminum foil to sharpen scissors and garden shears; simply fold a sheet six to eight times and make several cuts.
Two Clever Reuses for Aluminum Foil
Aluminum is pretty amazing. Not only is it naturally non-toxic and durable, but of the most commonly recycled materials, aluminum is the only one that is infinitely recyclable — once produced, it can be recycled over and over without any loss in quality.
Reuse it before you recycle it
Look for recycled foil
You can purchase recycled aluminum foil made from 100 percent recycled aluminum from post-consumer sources such as automobile components, cookware, gutters and siding, as well as scraps from industrial cable. There's roughly an 80 percent reduction in the amount of energy used during the process of turning recycled material into foil, compared to making it from new materials.
Got a handy tip of your own?
Reply and let us know, we love hearing your tips.
This edition is part of the Genius House Hacks archive — 20+ years of tips, rebuilt from the original Handy Hints newsletter. Browse more hacks →