When he can be bothered, John writes a hideously geeky webcomic and we sell tshirts based on the “characters”. To ease the whole packaging and posting process, I use laser-printed mailing labels and while I try to minimise waste by only printing in full sheets of 21 labels at a time (I always need return address stickers), there is always a sheet of A4 ‘waxed’ paper left after I peel off the labels.

I doubt it’s properly waxed paper but it’s got a kinda non-stick coating on it so the labels peel off easily. My betting is that said ‘wax’ is more than likely to be plastic-based so potentially throws up some issues for recycling.

Does anyone know if these spent sheets can be recycled with normal printer paper? And either way, does anyone have any ideas for how these sheets could be re-used around the home or office? I also end up with loads of small ‘waxed’ sheets from customs and Airmails stickers so any suggestions for smaller sizes would be great too.

Had an email from a fellow cat fan Jo White:

Our two cats are developing increasingly sophisticated appetites….they still have canned food but do occasionally like to have the food that comes in small foil trays. I’m loathe to throw them out and I don’t have a garden so re-using them for plant seedlings isn’t a solution unfortunately. Can they be recycled anywhere in the UK?

If they’re just foil, I think they can be recycled along with aluminium foil – is that right? if not, can they be recycled any other way?

And what about reuses? Any non-gardeny suggestions for Jo?

(Photo by Jo)

Annie sent in a suggestion at the weekend:

I have an umbrella cover – it’s a pretty black and pink tough fabric, originally from Accessorise. Unfortunately i left the umbrella that went with it on a train… any ideas what i could do with the case?

I usually have the opposite problem – losing the cover – so I’d probably just stash the spare cover in a drawer until I lost the one from my new umbrella but aside from that, any other ideas? Ones that would take advantage of the cover’s prettiness and water resistant would be best but obviously any suggestions are welcome.

(I couldn’t find a photo of one hence the generic umbrella shot but for those that don’t know, the covers are sheaths of fabric that fit over the closed up umbrella to protect the fabric of the umbrella and if the brolly is wet, to stop water getting all over the contents of your bag etc. They’re usually made from the same fabric as the umbrella and sometimes have a tie/toggle at the open end to tighten it around the base.)

(Photo by vale)

We’ve had an email from Jesse with a suggestion:

I use a French Press for making coffee in the morning, but I’ve gone through them in the past because they eventually crack.

Well, my most recent one finally cracked because of the dishwasher (my mistake…) but now what do I do with it? I’ve been searching the internet for an idea, and came across your site. any help?

We’ve had this problem in the past too (John being the clumsy dishwasher to blame here) so any suggestions? I guess as different bits will break for different people, suggestions can be for either the plunger bit or the body.

(Photo by Gerbera)

I’ve always been a film fanatic and amassed quite a collection of videos over the years until DVDs came along. Most of my pre-recorded ones were given away and the ones we recorded ourselves went to live in the attic along with the VCR itself. A couple of years on, they’re still up there.

I hadn’t thought of them though until I posted the blog on televisions a couple of weeks ago then Brian emailed to say he had a similar collection of now-redundant tapes too – and now here we are: how can we reuse or recycle video tapes?
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