Every couple of weeks, John shaves his head, resulting in hair clippings and a clump of fuzz in the bathroom sink. Given it makes me want to gip* every time I see it (I start imagining the stray little hairs in my throat and ick), John just usually scoops it up quickly and flings it in the bin.

I believe it can be composted – right? – but are there any better uses for the unwanted spawn of his follicles?

* according to Urban Dictionary, this is a Yorkshire term for ‘wretch’. Despite my upbringing on the other side of the Pennines, I use this word regularly without thinking of it as being a Yorkshire-ism. I am clearly perfectly assimilated in the culture now: bring on my flat cap and whippet on a piece of string.

We flipped to roll-on ones from aerosol anti-perspirants for environment reasons – both big, out-there environment (the aerosol bit) and little, in-here environment (the spray quickly made the bathroom unpleasant as it deodorised your lungs) – but now we’re left with lots of roll-on bottles instead.

I suspect the bottle and the ball are different types of plastic so am wary to throw them in the recycling bin – anyone know if they can be recycled? Does it help if you pop the ball out first?

But better than that, are there any reuses for them? Either complete or in parts.

And what about stick deodorant containers (the narrower, ball-less ones)?
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Shampoo bottles upset me. Not on the scale of, say, world poverty or abuse of political power but a minor gah most times I wash my hair.

I already buy the biggest bottles I can but still, lots of wasted plastic. The bottles seem so rigid and potentially useful but I have no idea what those uses might be, given they’re typically narrow necked and their previous contents preclude using the bottle to hold anything that might be negatively affected by smelling like a chemical approximation of various fruits.

Any suggestions?
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Oh, I know. How very Blue Peter. Except we don’t have very much need for a model of Tracy Island.

We don’t use kitchen rolls that much so mostly have the shorter toilet roll-size tubes lying around the place.

Short of just recycling them in our green bin, what are the alternatives?