We’ve had an email from Diana:

What can I do with the plastic pots my moisturizers and hand creams come in? They’re round plastic with screw lids but because they’ve had chemical creams in them, I don’t want to use them for food.

Why not check if you can bulk buy your favourite moisturiser/hand cream and refill the existing pots rather than buying new ones each time?

You could also make your own creams – or give them (possibly via Freecycle/Freegle) to someone who does.

As for other reuses, they’d be perfect for storing small things like beads/button or nails/screws — and would give you an instant maraca-type instrument too ;) . They’re also pretty water tight so might be useful for small emergency kits – you could probably fit a pack of matches, a few tea lights and maybe a mini LED torch/flashlight in there.

Other suggestions?

Righty, we’re back in Blighty now and if I have to leave the house today, it’ll be a disappointment. We arrived back home about 10:30pm last night after an elaborate performance of airport security theatre, and boy, were the cats glad to see us again. It’s freezing cold here today but I don’t mind because I’ve got three furry hot water bottles attached to me :)

Anyway, this recycling thing. As well as noticing the great procedures in place for recycling glass bottles in Madrid, we also noticed a great love for lotteries in the city – every official office had a queue 90 miles long outside it (at all times of the day, every day) and there were lots of street vendors selling scratchcards too. Of course, because I’m a recycling nerd, I started to wonder what the options are with recycling scratchcards.

Once all the scratchy stuff has been scratched off and hopes dashed again, they’re just normal cardboard – right? So they can be recycled with other card – right?

If they’ve still got a lot of the scratchy stuff on them, can they be recycled? It’s typically latex based apparently.

Any fun reuses for them? Anyone doing any crafts with them? Gift tags perhaps?