We’ve had an email from Elizabeth:

I have quite a collection of recharger plugs for stolen or broken mobile phones, cordless drills, etc. These never seem to fit the newer versions. What should I do with them?

I believe in the UK they’re covered by the WEEE Directive and nearly all household waste sites have specific points for electronic equipment to ensure they’re disposed of safely.

That’s just disposal though and it would be better to reuse them if possible. If you still know the maker/model of the original piece of equipment, you might want to try putting them on eBay - or selling them at a car boot sale or giving them away on Freecycle - to see if someone else could use them. Some charities that collect old mobile phones might also welcome old chargers - they usually say whether or not they want them on their websites.

(There is a move to make a universal mobile phone charger - nearly all the major manufacturers have agreed to use it - so hopefully that’ll cut down this problem slightly in the future.)

Any other suggestions for reuses or ways to recycle them?

We were around at our friend’s house the other night when John spotted a very cool looking piece of computer circuitry in the bin - a broken motherboard.

I’ve been wanting broken circuit boards for repurposing for a while - but there were too many big plastic slots/connectors on it for what I had in mind (namely using pieces of the circuit board to make jewellery or large flat pieces as notebook covers).

What else could be done with it? Are there any companies/organisations that specifically collect them for cannibalising/reuse/recycling or should they just be disposed of with other electronic waste?

We covered audio tapes on the site a long time ago but we’ve had an email from Mark about the cases:

I have someone who wants the cassette tapes, but does not want the boxes they come in.

I am sure the material is the same as CD jewel cases, so would you be able to recycle that?

A number of companies recycle CD jewel cases so they might accept cassette cases too - see our post on the jewel cases for more information. There are also some charities still using audio tapes for spoken newspapers and the like - they might welcome a batch of cases in good condition to replace broken ones, as might libraries who still stock tapes as well as newfangled media.

Aside from that, how about reuses? They could be used as a retro business card case or a credit card wallet. Or to mix the old and the new, you could use them to protect USB keys and memory cards instead of having them lose in your bag.

Any other suggestions?

(Photo by kerppu)

We’ve had an email from Rebecca:

I have a grill I no longer need, but it’s a bit grotty so I don’t think I could sell it on. It looks like this –>

Are there any facilities for recycling items like this? It seems a waste to bin it, but it’s difficult to clean so we couldn’t get it into a resaleable state.

In the UK, it will be covered by the WEEE Directive so the place you bought it from might take it back - or if nothing else, there should be an electricals spot at your local “household waste sorting site” (ie, the local tip), where they’ll get disposed of properly.

If it still works though, it would be a shame to scrap it just because it’s a bit grotty. If you don’t think you can sell it, try giving it away on Freecycle instead - someone might be grateful for it in whatever state it is in - particularly if they have a non-food use for it. The only non-food use that springs to mind instantly is for making shrinky-dinks but I bet someone with some electrical knowledge could use the heating element/timer for something fancy and useful.

Any other ideas?

We’ve had an email from Karen, asking:

Do you have any suggestions on how I can recycle 35mm slides in wallets?

I suspect that on a crafty level, they could be used in similar ways to photo negatives and the like but as Karen is a Environment & Waste Management Officer at a university, I suspect she might have more than can easily be reused - so does anyone know if there are any ways to actually recycle them?

Any other slide-centric reuse suggestions?

(Photo by Hutschi)