Our good friend Tim posted this question on Twitter yesterday:

Anyone have good craft ideas for a synthetic England Flag? There may be lots of them on the streets or landfills soon

There certainly will be! A4-ish size car ones, towel sized ones, super-sized ones… a whole lot of squeaky synthetic white fabric with a red cross on it — all of which will be instantly discarded as soon as the team are knocked out. (I’m speaking from experience about the disappearing – the photo was taken on our old estate by John during the last World Cup and they all disappeared the day after the losing match.)

Of course it would be great if everyone reduced – didn’t buy as many (if any) or kept them to reuse for future events rather than buying new each time but that doesn’t seem to happen.

So any reusing, upcycling and recycling suggestions?

We’ve had an email from Alfonso, asking:

Can I recycle a torn rubber flipper (the kind used for snorkelling)? I know you can get recycled rubber products.

Rubber recycling is quite common – car tyres being the most common thing collected and reused – but while I’ve seen bins for tyres at our local tip, our local tip guys seem pretty strict that it’s tyres only.

Does anyone know of any recycling companies that take rubber from individuals or anywhere it’s collected for recycling?

And what about reuses?

We’ve had an email from Holly:

Our kids’ trampoline has gone rusty so is unsafe for them to use. We can give the metal legs to scrap but what can we do with the mat?

According to Wikipedia, the mats are usually made from canvas or woven Polypropylene. The latter is recyclable – it’s number 5 plastic – so is in theory recyclable wherever number 5 plastic is collected.

As for reuses, a waterproof mat is always handy in the garden – it could be used as a picnic mat or a groundsheet under a tent. Depending on how tight the weave is, it also might be suitable as a dust sheet to protect floors while painting or the like.

Any other suggestions?

(Photo by kermer)

John is very taken with the idea of getting an exercise ball to use when he wants a change from his desk chair in our new office. He’s used them at other people’s desks and he likes the idea of bouncing while he works.

I’ve always poo-poohed the idea because we have cats who like to stretch up against furniture then dig in their very long, very sharp claws – not exactly compatible with inflatable furniture – but a friend told us his cat did that too and it wasn’t a problem because the PVC plastic is so thick. Then suddenly, mysterious, he found himself sitting considerably lower in the chair thanks to a claw-sized slow puncture. Claws one, inflatable thing nil.

So we won’t be getting on now but what are the options for reusing an old exercise ball? A single puncture or two could probably be repaired with a bicycle puncture repair kit but if the problem is more systemic, it might not be worth repair – so what else can be done with it?

I suspect with a bit of handiwork, they could still be used as seats – filled with beanbag balls instead of air – but I wonder if the sliced up “skin” could be used for anything else too…

Last week’s post about super thick rope made me think about climbing ropes.

For safety reasons, they have to be replaced regularly – I read someone suggest they are replaced when the outer layer gets to a level of fuzziness comparable to a wool blanket or if they’ve sustained a fall – but that doesn’t mean they can’t still be used for other non-life-risking purposes.

Because they’re a thin but strong, lightweight rope, they’ll be great for a huge number of practical purposes around the home and garden – supporting tree branches, tying down roof racks, generally tying, um, things to other things…

But can they actually be recycled? They’re usually polyamide/nylon but are there any particular places that collect them for recycling?

And has anyone made any fun things with them? I wonder if they could be coiled up to make a fun basket or something… Any ideas?