As good greenies, we all know that it’s better to REDUCE in the first place before having to think about reusing or recycling so I thought I’d ask a quick “reduce” question — how do you reduce the amount of new (as in brand new, just printed) books you buy? Any tricks to avoid the temptation or favourite ways to buy them second(third/fourth)-hand?

If you don’t buy books in general, but still read regularly, how do you do that?

And if you do buy books, how do you pass on your old ones so that others can enjoy them too?

I suspect some of these answers are obvious – for example, I use our local library regularly and also browse the shelves in charity shops* – but I wondered if anyone had any less common ideas that might be new to other people. I only recently discovered Abebooks – I wonder if there are any other gems I’m missing out upon!

Let us know your book-buying/acquiring secrets in the comments below!

* in that order: if I go to the library before any shopping expeditions, the “I need new input” urge has already worn off a bit and my bag is generally pretty full/heavy so I want to browse and definitely buy less stuff. Libraries are fab!

I’m both a scribbler – both writing & drawings – and a hoarder, which means I have a whole lot of old notebooks, exercise books and jotter containing school/college or work notes, half finished stories and really bad little sketches. I do like flicking through them, remembering different projects & times of my life, but at the same time, I realise that they’re mostly just clutter.

Sometimes I’m good and throw out a bunch of them – removing any clumps of blank pages for use as scrap and, in the case of ones with polypro plastic covers, keep the covers for reuse too (mostly as covers for homemade scrap paper notebooks). Since the ones I’ve had are usually spiral bound or simple stapled notebooks, the used papers can go into recycling, the compost bin or for use as firestarting tinder without any worries about binding glue. But it’s so hard to destroy them. All those hours of work creating the sentences or pictures contained within!

Does anyone have any ideas for reusing or upcycling such notebooks instead of just recycling/burning/composting them? Anyone done anything crafty with kids’ school books to preserve their work?

As I mentioned yesterday when talking about damaged books, it’s easier to revamp or reuse hardback books for practical purposes because they’re that bit tougher. They can be used for everything from statement bed headboards to “floating book” shelves.

On a smaller scale, they can be turned into purses/handbags, clocks, self-supporting photo frames, notebooks, iPhone charging units – and even table legs.

@AlishaAnnn told us about the table below on Twitter yesterday: “Table legs from recycled books with a metal rod through. They are sturdy and spin. Old barn window on top.” Great recycling!

That’s not to say paperback books aren’t without their reuses – their relative flexibility is an asset for things like this card wallet:

Other people prefer to use the pages of old books: either as art in themselves or as canvas for printing/painting, to decorate greeting cards, envelopes, super retro bunting or, on more elaborately, this fantastic paper wreath.

And BellwethersDB on Twitter had a good few ideas for using the pages too: “Tear out the pages and print vintage images on them and frame them! So pretty”, “Tear the pages and mod podge them onto old ornaments, add glitter and a ribbon. Voila! A “new” ornament!” and “Paper beads! Then paint them and string them on ribbon.” @_jennifergrace_ also tweeted us to say she’d used book pages as the background for welcome cards & name badges for a hen weekend, to make her own ideas notebook and as part of a bigger art project.

And speaking of pages, this desk tidy is made with a phone book but any oversized book – old annuals or craft books – would would just as well.

Finally, Alice in Blogland sent us a link to this fab recycling books for booklovers story, such amazingly intricate work!

Have you seen any other great example of reusing, recycling or upcycling of old or damaged books? If so, let us know in the comments!

Thinking about books reminded me about an email I received a while ago (but can’t find at the moment) asking about whether water damaged books can be recycled. Even though they’re nearly entirely paper, the glue used to bind books can sometimes cause problems along the recycling chain so don’t assume they can be added to normal paper recycling bins – check with your local council/the company that collects the bin first. They can be composted though if you have a compost heap at home – tear them up and add alongside plenty of “greens” if you want them to rot down quicker. On a similar destructive vein, my friend Strowger assures me they burn very well, for a long time, in woodburning stoves, although I’m not sure I could bring myself to burn even a damaged book!

Most people I know get clear out their books by giving them to charity shops – but most charity shops, particularly large chain ones, only want them in a very good, sellable condition so they can charge a decent amount for them. People who do carboot sales or run adhoc jumble sales etc are often slightly less discerning (since they generally have less overheads so can sell them cheaper to offset the condition) – I regularly see boxes of books given away on Freecycle/Freegle labelled as “ideal for carbooters” so that might be an option if the books are still readable and you don’t fancy selling them yourself.

Hardback books – particularly ones with interesting, pretty or retro covers – can be recycled into folders for papers or notebooks (I’ll post some links to how-tos in a “upcycling books round-up” tomorrow). Other people scavenge undamaged pages from old books to use for papercrafts or artwork.

Anyone got any particular reuse, recycling or upcycling suggestions for damaged books, or their parts?

There are lots of suggestions out there for making biscuits, cakes or jams, or knitting or crocheting something pretty — but if you’re after a truly frugal Christmas, all those ingredients & yarns add up: what about things which you can make by reusing/recycling/upcycling things from around the home?

Here are my favourite ideas for simple & frugal upcycled Christmas presents:

1. Hankies

Handkerchiefs are easy to make from any soft old cotton fabric – bedding or clothing for example. They’re simple but always useful – and help the recipient cut down on their disposable tissue usage too.

Don’t feel they have to be boring white – I made the ones in the picture out of an old pink gingham shirt – and consider monogramming/embroidering them to make them extra special.

(Use 100% cotton fabric where possible and 100% cotton yarn too so that they can handle being washed at a hot temperature if needs be.)

2. Reusable shopping bags

Similarly practical, there are one metric bajillion tutorials out there for making fun shopping bags from pillowcases, t-shirts, scraps of yarn, old plastic carrier bags… You name it, you can make a shopping bag out of it!

Pick your poison depending on your skill set and again, customise/personalise it to suit the recipient.

If you’re giving them other presents at the same time, use the bag instead of wrapping paper to save even more waste.

3. Jewellery

We regularly feature ace examples of upcycled jewellery on here – people taking food packaging and other waste materials, and transforming them into wonderful bracelets, necklaces, earrings and other accessories.

If inspiration isn’t enough, there are plenty of tutorials out there too – for example, turn a drinks can into a flower brooch, or plastic bottle earrings, or a bottle cap charm bracelet.

4. Wooden garden planters

If woodworking is more your thing than sewing or jewellery making, turn old pallets or other scrap wood into wooden garden planters. They’re easy to work with and widely available – keep an eye out when passing skips or in industrial areas.

5. Raid your seed stash – make envelopes & plant labels from scrap

And what about something to go in those new planters? If you grow your own flowers or veg, you probably have a stash of surplus seeds – share your favourites!

Make small seed envelopes out of scrap paper – the insides of security envelopes or brown paper look fab – and write the sowing details on the outside – and how about including an upcycled plant label too? You can make those from lolly sticks or metal strips cut from drinks cans.

6. Personalised notebooks

Or how about making a notebook/journal from an old hardback book? Personalise it by finding something by your gift-ee’s favourite author – or a favourite book from childhood.

What are you making people for Christmas? What are your favourite upcycled handmade items? What would you like to receive from other people!?

• Lynsey from SwirlyArts has been in touch to tell us about two of her recent reusing projects – turning a unwanted old diary into an expenses notebook and how to make pretty padded envelopes out of old books & bubblewrap, as an alternative to boring Jiffy bags.
• The Cottage Smallholder is having a reusing/recycling gardening competition this month – how are you reusing/recycling things to get ready for the next growing season?
• Speaking of getting organised, check out My Tiny Plot for a great idea for keeping up with seed sowing – it’s not strictly a reuse but it could be — an old floppy disk box/card file would be great for this.
• Mrs Green on My Zero Waste has written about a new initiative to recycle crisp packets in the UK.
• I really like the aesthetic of cardboard for home decor so love this idea of making wall art using toilet roll/kitchen roll tubes.
• Julie on Crafting a Green World has written a great round-up of baby projects made from old tshirts.
• And finally, make a feature wall at home a bit different – don’t use generic feature wall wallpaper, use old books (or music scores) instead. As a booklover, I don’t know if I could take apart a still-could-be-read book for such a purpose but it’s a great idea for books that are falling apart.

I saw over on your blog that you wanted to know what people are making out of old rubbish and stuff that is normally recycled. Well I make lots of things in my Etsy store out of products that are destined for the recycle bin and I thought you might like to check them out. I turn egg boxes into sewing kits, old maps and magazines into envelopes, gift tags, badges and stickers and I make chicken shaped doorstops from second hand fabric.

All very cute – and inspiring – stuff. Browsing through Lynsey’s Flickr profile, I particularly liked the Lego box gift tags (so colourful) and the old books (in her case a children’s German dictionary) into envelopes. I, of course, also love the doorstop chickens – because who couldn’t? ;)

Instead of an item that I want to recycle, I’m actually working backwards here – does anyone know what kind of waste could be used to build a sturdy bookcase?

A few ideas spring to mind from previous posts – namely snowboards (and I guess skateboards would be similar), hollowcore doors – and old hollowed out televisions. There is also a suggestion on making shelves out of old books but I suspect that’s more decorative than sturdy.

If you’re interested in an industrial look, you could use stacked metal food cans (or decorated old paint can) between the shelves – and depending how you do it, they could be used for secret storage too – or skip-diving might turn up some breeze blocks or the like (it might get heavy quickly but red house bricks would look cool).

Any other suggestions?

(Photo by GiniMiniGi)

A lot of the technology that John’s interested in moves so fast that the books are practically out of date by the time they’ve been printed and sent out. He’s trying to buy e-book versions instead now but that doesn’t address the collection he’s amassed over the years. General theory books might be of use to someone but a lot of the (very geeky, professional) training-manual types are pretty much obsolete. They’re very specialist and as I said, very out of date so chances are they’d just sit on the shelf at a charity shop until they were thrown out, or someone would waste their money buying them, thinking they’d be more useful than they are. We’ve tried giving them away through our local geek group (WYLUG) but no one wants them.

They’re big, thick, well-printed tomes and it seems a waste just to send them for recycling.

So any suggestions?

(Photo by hatashonin)