We’ve had an email from Megan McDermott, saying:

I just put my Christmas tree up this week and was disappointed to find that three strands of lights aren’t working. I hate to throw them in out, but what can I do with them?

It’s early in the festive season but I suspect a number of people will be hitting the same snag around about now. I’ve seen Christmas tree lights used in all sorts of non-festive places - but they’ve all been working.

Given the amount of little bulbs and wire involved, it’s probably one of those things that is, unfortunately, cheaper to replace than to fix these days - but has anyone got any trouble-shooting tips to get them working again?

But if that doesn’t fix the problem, what other options are there to reuse them either in all or in parts?

(Photo by singhajay)

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Because I run a number of websites as well as generally having been around the whole internet thing for a while, I get a LOT of spam. A ridiculous amount. Thankfully most of it gets caught by my spam filter these days but it does get a bit over-sensitive sometime so I have to go through my spam bin about once a week to check there aren’t any false positives in there. (Handy hint: when doing so, sort by subject - makes it far easier to scan through.)

Anyway, the other day I spotted a message with the subject “joysticks” in my spam bin. Oh!, I thought, what a great Recycle This idea, there must be bazillions of obsolete and broken ones lying around!. Except it wasn’t that, it was a spammer trying to give me stock tips. Sigh.

But still though, what CAN be done with all those old joysticks and console game pads? Jewellery out of the buttons/D-pads perhaps?

(Photo by shikaz)

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We’ve covered the toner/ink cartridges in the past but have now had an email from Wendy Johnson Houghton about the machines themselves:

I have recently purchased a new printer for my personal use.

I now have a printer which sort of works, but not brilliant - and I want to know whether it is recyclable?

If it’s still working - as you say it is, someone else might prefer to take a chance on refilling the existing cartridges or replacing them with cheaper ones - so it might be worth offering it on your local Freecycle group.

Any other suggestions?

(Photo by brokenarts)

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We’ve had an email from Greg Charles:

I replace the windscreen wipers on my car quite regularly and hate having to just throw them away. I considered making a house window squeegy out of them but don’t know where to start.

I wouldn’t know where to start either (other than just lashing them to a pole and giving it a go) or if they would be angled right - I thought wiper blades usually had a small curve to them but could very easily be wrong.

Any advice or other suggestions?

(Photo by loyalrogue)

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The suggestion-tastic Am (aka Delusion) has been in contact again:

Me again! The company I work at has just got rid of a number of software sets. The CD discs are shredded and recycled as it’s confidential waste however the DVD style boxes are not taken.

Is there anything they can be used for? I have used a few to replace damaged DVD cases I have but other than that, I’m a little stumped! If they can’t be reused, how about recycled?

I suspect a lot of the suggestions - like giving them to your local library - will have been covered in the CD case post from last year - but any DVD-case specific suggestions?

(Photo by heltje)

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