http://www.recyclethis.co.uk Creative ideas for reusing and recycling random bits and bobs Fri, 16 May 2008 10:14:54 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en We've had another email from our wonderfully suggestive friend [Am]: Due to a slow day at work on Friday I killed time by tidying out my drawers which seem to be black holes for all sorts for junk. What I discovered were about two dozen biro lids. After saving ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080516/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-pen-lids We've had an email from Victoria: Just found your site and love it. Anyway, I saw your story on broken chairs and it reminded me how my company always throws out office chairs instead of fixing them when something breaks - so annoying! I know it's probably a health ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080514/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-broken-officedesk-chairs We had an email from Tamara last month that got buried in my inbox but I found it again so here it is: I wanted suggestions on how to recycle pill boxes... like the kind you get with birth control. I thought I could use one as a wallet, but you see, ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080512/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-birth-control-boxes A few weeks ago I was at the HQ of BrightBox, a Ruby-on-Rails hosting company/ISP, and they'd just taken delivery of a huge new computer server thing (apologies for getting overly technical there). Anyway, all the hard discs for it (and there were loads) were packaged up separately so there was ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080509/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-little-plastic-trays-dummy-drives The other week when I was trying to find a picture to illustrate the cardboard cup sleeve post, all I could find were these beverage holders. Just everywhere. Then the next day, I went downstairs and there was one on the sofa. I nearly jumped out of my skin: ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080507/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-cardboard-beverage-holders We've covered the standard food size ones, but what can be done with little tin cans? John gave a talk at the Manchester Free Software group last month and afterwards we all adjourned to a nearby pub where we found these little nuts cans on our table. As I'd just been talking ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080505/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-little-tin-cans We've had an email from Nathalie, telling us about the fab ottoman she made from an old washing machine drum (links includes full instructions). She also links to another site where one has been turned into a floor lamp - very cool. Involving less crafts, I've also seen them used ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080502/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-washing-machine-drums Not a usual "How Can I..." post but I had an email from Jan (who comments as twinks) yesterday about the flowers she makes from old plastic drinks bottles and I thought it was worth a mention. She says: These were among the first flowers I made from all those plastic bottles ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080501/recycling-pop-and-water-bottles-into-flowers We've had an email from Nicole asking what she can do with a big bag of lanyards from a conference that has already taken place. I actually thought about them (but forgot again) a few weeks ago because we've got a few floating around from a conference we went to last ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080430/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-lanyards We've already covered the wheel rims but Erika has emailed asking: I was wondering if there were any ideas about old bike tubes.... I'm presuming we're talking inner tubes anyway - it's quite possible there is another type of bike tube since I'm not a terribly keen cyclist - I live at ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080428/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-bike-inner-tubes We've had an email from Amanda: All 3 of my children are involved in paper routes here in Canada & as such we are left with 50+ plastic strappings twice a week. Our town says they are not recyclable & have to add to my already restricted garbage output. ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080425/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-plastic-strapping We've had an email from Sally, saying: I have several orphaned lids to storage tubs. What can do with them? What is it with tubs and their lids? We also have a collection of now lidless tubs and tubless lids - the tubs can be put to tub-ish tasks elsewhere but ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080423/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-orphaned-storage-tub-lids We've had an email from Katherine, asking: My niece left about half a tube of hair spiking gel behind at my house; I'm not about to change my style and use it myself but it's not worth the postage to post it back... Any ideas on what to do with hair ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080421/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-hair-gel We've had an email from Emma, asking: How can I recycle the spine from a spiral-bound notebook? We've already covered plastic spines so let's assume that Emma means the metal ones - because, well, I've got a couple lying around from old reporters pads after I've recycled the paper part. A lot of ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080418/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-the-spiral-of-a-spiral-bound-notebook We've had an email from Chloe: Legos seem as though they should have infinite uses after they have done their toy duty, and I would love to hear some. I mostly have the chunky toddler type. I know they could be donated, but a nifty second life for them around the house ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080416/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-chunky-lego-bricks After writing about the ridged After Eight boxes the other day, it reminded me about something I thought of the other week. Because John and I are utterly, utterly wild and live a hectic, glamorous lifestyle, the highlight of our Saturday a couple of weekends ago was a trip into Leeds ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080414/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-cardboard-cup-sleeves Andy (previously of the cat litter and bulk building material bag questions) has sent us a clever idea regarding those popular after dinner mints: Here's a suggestion form another Greeny site I visit. After Eight sleeves and the box they comes with, now used as a filing box for seeds. Great idea ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080411/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-after-eight-mints-boxes-and-wrappers We've had a bit of an unusual suggestion from Estelle: I once had these models made of my feet. They used them to generate orthotics for my flat feet. Now I have these cumbersome, heavy plaster-of-paris models sitting around at home... What can one do with them? I don't know how heavy ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080409/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-plaster-casts-of-feet We've had an email from Victoria, saying: My grandfather has moved out of the house and left a very large collection of used razor blades. For what reason he never seemed to throw them out and just let them pile up in a bathroom cabinet. Can this item be recycled? I'm ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080407/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-safety-razor-blades Deodorant bottles were one of the first things we featured on the site but Julie has a bit of a spin on that suggestions: Could you help me with what I could possibly do with toiletries such as deodorant, body lotion that have either not been used or of they ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080404/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-unwanted-deodorant-and-body-lotions We've had an email from Ashley Sue, asking: What is a good sustainable use of 40 lb plastic empty kitty litter containers? I’ve got a bunch of them. not recyclable in our area :( We get our cat litter in paper sacks so I'm not quite sure whether Ashley Sue means bucket-like ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080402/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-kitty-litter-containers We've had an email from Lesley, asking: Has anyone got any suggestions for re-using the "bladders" from the inside of wine boxes? Being both airtight and water-tight, there must be an alternative use for them. Given the springing of spring this weekend and the fact it'll probably be hard enough to ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080331/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-wine-box-bladders We've had another meta suggestion - this time from Kate: How can I recycle a black plastic dustbin? It's true you shouldn't bin a bin! It is true! We've actually got two old bins in our garden - one pre-dating my move here that's filled with soil and has herbs and ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080328/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-an-old-plastic-dustbin We've had an email from Rachel R, saying: We accumulate quite a lot of twine from hay bales used to feed horses at work. We get both the rough, "hairy" and plastic kinds. The only thing I can think to do is give it away at gardening sales this spring or ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080326/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-lots-of-old-twine We've had another suggestion from the wonderful Am (Delusion), and it's a bit of a meta one: As our council have changed our curbside collection from collection boxes for paper & bottles etc to now using our old black wheelie bins, I thought of what could be done with the old ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080324/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-plastic-recycling-boxes It's our third Easter here on Recycle This so this is just a quick post harking back to previous Easter-ish posts: How can I reuse or recycle … excessive Easter egg packaging? (2006) How can I reuse or recycle … excessive Easter egg packaging? (2007) How can I reuse or recycle … shiny ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080323/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-excessive-easter-egg-packaging-3 We've had an email from Lyndall, saying: hi, i was wondering if anybody knew what to do with bread tags. i hate throwing them away, but i don't know what else to do with them. would welcome any suggestions. We don't really have them over here these days - shops seem to ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080321/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-bread-bag-tags We've had an email from Fiona, saying: We eat a lot of dried fruit, nuts and seeds and, when we're in a jam/marmalade/chutney making mood, a lot of sugar too. Which means we have a lot of empty plastic food bags. Would love to know how to re-use or recycle these. I ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080319/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-plastic-food-wrappingbags I spent most of yesterday afternoon in the garden with a few of the neighbourhood children because one of the girls got it in her head that she wanted to dig over our veg plot ahead of this year's planting and I'm a firm believer in exploiting child labour at ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080317/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-an-old-pet-bed A few weeks ago, we had to pick up John's car from the garage after a service/MOT and while we were breathing in lungfuls of carbon monoxide waiting for the mechanic to finalise all the paperwork, I found myself staring at a big box of used disposable gloves near the ... http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080314/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-used-disposable-latex-gloves