We’ve had an email from Judith:

My electric steam iron gave up the ghost last year. I was told it was not economical to repair it and had to buy a new one pretty quickly. The old one has been sitting in the cupboard ever since as I hate to landfill it.

Any ideas?

Yes, irons are in the same “annoying cheaper to replace than fix” category with toasters, kettles and numerous other household electricals. Grrr.

As a minimum, in the UK, you can take it along to your local household waste collection spot for proper disposal and recycling where possible and for proper disposal where that’s not an option – many retailers also have “take-back” schemes when you buy your replacement from them.

But what about reuses? If it’s not too heavy, it might be suitable for children playing house – but any other ideas?

(Worrying photo by lusi – people iron towels???)

Apparently, Victoria Beckham has pledged to reuse a pair of fan’s underwear that was thrown onto the stage during a Spice Girls gig the other day.

While I’m somewhat sceptical of her promise, let’s see if we can come up with some non-“shower-cap” ideas for how she can recycle them.

Our old pants usually go in our cleaning-rags bag but any more creative suggestions?

(On a related topic, we featured old bras a couple of years ago – lots of ideas for those babies!)

(Photo by nilob)

Christmas and all that seems a distant memory now but we’ve had an email from Alison, saying:

We took our decorations down last week and some of the long chains broke. They’re the shiny foil type – can they be recycled?

Now I’m not sure whether they’re actually made from foil – I suspect it is more likely to be plastic but I’m not sure. Anyone know?

If they are made from plastic or are even just part plastic, I doubt you’ll be able to recycle them with your normal foil/cans/metals recycling so any reuse suggestions?

When I was a kid and our decorations used to get too scratty to use in the living room etc, I used to snag them to use in my bedroom instead so maybe keep them for kids to use next year – or shorter lengths could also be used to decorate a cubicle or the like at work.

You could also take advantage of the fact they’re light and for want of a better word, fluffy, and use them for protective packaging when sending items through the post or around presents in gift boxes.

Any other suggestions?

(Photo by bugdog)

We’ve had an email from Emmie, asking:

How can I recycle used highlighters? I am a med student and go through these very quickly…

I bet you do, Emmie. I wasn’t anything as hard working as a med student and I still went through them by the dozen when I was at uni…

So any suggestions?

(I’ve included felt tip pens in the post too because they’re essentially just the same thing – a plastic shell with a shaped fibre tip.)

(Photo by adamci)

We’ve had an email from Katie Beedham, saying:

I found some old apples at the back of my fridge today. They haven’t gone off, but they’re not crunchy enough to eat raw. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas what I can use slightly soft apples for?

My immediate thought was “apple pie?” but I know nothing of the way of the fruit since I don’t partake and for all I know you might need really fresh apples for that.

As for non-culinary uses, if you have oily skin, you can use apples to make a facemask: most guides, like this one suggest mixing some grated apple with honey, and maybe a little oatmeal for a bit of exfoliation, then slapping it on your face for ten minutes or so, then rinse it off with cool water.

I also have a feeling they’re useful for making some sort of metal sparkly clean but the computer manufacturer is hogging all searches – anyone know if they can be used for household cleaning?

And what about other suggestions?

(Photo by darotyka)