Next up in How Can I Recycle This’s Stationery Week theme, we’ve had an email from Agata:

Hi there! I’m still in High School and we use loads and loads of photocopies, mostly black&white.

I want to use them in some crafty way, like jewellery or house ornaments & decos, not just put them in paper savings bin.

Any ideas?

We’ve kinda already covered this before but because Agata wants crafty ideas, I thought I’d post it again to spark that sort of thing.

In the previous comments, ott suggestions papier mache, carrie “hobo notebooks” and Estelle gets her printshop to make stronger bound ones for her. I’ve also made beads from scrap paper in the past - I’ve used coloured paper but I bet the monotone print could make quite interesting beads too.

Any other crafty suggestions?

(Photo by float)

Other stationery items

• How can I make a notebook out of recycled materials?
• How can I reuse or recycle used envelopes?
• How can I reuse or recycle the spiral of a spiral bound notebook?
• How can I reuse or recycle hanging files?
• How can I reuse or recycle glue stick tubes?
• How can I reuse or recycle printer cartridges?

By complete coincidence, I’ve had a run of stationery questions over the last few days so I’m officially naming this week “Stationery Week” on Recycle This ;)

First up, we’ve had an email from Neil asking:

I have been asked about recycling lever arch folders and as they have three main components, I didn’t know how to recycle them. Please could you advise.

I’m a little confused as I can only think of three main components - the outside cardboard folder and the metal mechanism — is there something I’m missing? Either way, I’ve wondered this same thing before and with plastic covered ringbinders too.

Anyone know of any recycling schemes for them as they are? I presume if the cardboard folder bit isn’t plastic coated then once the metal has been pulled out, the cardboard can just go in for recycling as normal - is that the case? Can the metal be recycled too? What about the plastic coated card ones? I suspect they’re very difficult to recycle - anyone know for sure?

What about crafty ideas? If the cardboard is in ok condition, I imagine you could use transform it into a storage binder .. thing. (Words failing me… it’s Monday morning after all.) What I mean is, attach a pocket or strips of elastic to the inside and you could store, for example, knitting needles and the like in there — easy to browse but folds up neatly and sits on a shelf. Anyone done anything like that with it?

Other stationery items

• How can I make a notebook out of recycled materials?
• How can I reuse or recycle used envelopes?
• How can I reuse or recycle the spiral of a spiral bound notebook?
• How can I reuse or recycle hanging files?
• How can I reuse or recycle glue stick tubes?
• How can I reuse or recycle printer cartridges?

As well as finding a myriad of broken belts while tidying our bedroom the other week, I found an assortment of old spectacle cases dotted around the room too.

Most of the glasses have gone bye-bye - either lost or, in the case of my beloved plastic frames last month, snapped in half - but the cases still linger. I use one case for my spare pair and have another for my sunglasses, but that still leaves me with four empties - hard ones from the opticians, from when I got the glasses in the first place. I obviously will try not to accept any more in the future but what can I do with the ones I’ve got now?

While there are a lot of charities that collect old spectacles for redistribution overseas, those that filter them onto Vision Aid Overseas won’t take the cases - because presumably they use their own branded cases or the like during the redistribution process.

So does anyone know of any charities that specifically ask for old cases? Or have any other suggestions of things to do with them?

(Photo by ppreacher)

It’s Guy Fawkes Night in the UK today and so all over the country people will be eating toffee apples, warming their hands on the glow of a bonfire and making things go BOOM.

I’m not a great fan of Bonfire Night - I don’t like apples, I have a (what I consider to be healthy) fear of fire and we’ve had fireworks going off on our estate for the last month (mostly in daylight… I … don’t understand) so the novelty has somewhat worn off - but most people seem to dig it so come tomorrow morning there will be lots of left over ashes in gardens up and down the land.

So what can you do with them?

If you’re reasonably sure the wood (etc) burned in the fire was untreated/unpainted then the ashes can be composted - but too many will turn the heap too alkaline. It can also be used as a fertiliser - but with the same precaution.

Any other ideas?

(Photo by ma_makki)

Loads of people will be wigging out tonight in honour of Halloween but by the end of the evening, their wigs will be somewhat worse for wear.

Cheap novelty wigs aren’t really made to be used again and again, and have a tendency to shed all over the place when brushed or washed.

But what else could be done with them?

Curly ones would probably lend themselves better to used as stuffing - since they’re bouncier - so that’s one thing. What else?

Other Halloween-related posts:

• How can I reuse or recycle things to a make a Halloween costume?
• How can I reuse or recycle post-Jack-o’-lantern pumpkins?
• Not a post but just a FYI: we scooped out our pumpkin last night, made pumpkin & ginger soup with the innards and are drying the seeds. John’s going to carve a spooky masterpiece into the shell this afternoon then once we’re done being all together ooky, I’m going to use it to make a couple of bird feeders. Hurrah for Halloween!

(Photo by andybahn)