We’ve had an email from Julie:

What can I do with old sewing pins? After years of faithful service, they’re all really blunt or really bent or both (since one leads to the other). I know they’re tiny but what can I do with them?

Most pins I’ve come across are made from steel so could probably be recycled with your normal metal recycling. It’s such a tiny amount of metal though, it hardly seems worth the bother but it’s still better than them sitting in a landfill dump somewhere.

As for reuses, blunt dressmakers pins with plastic heads could be chopped down (with wirecutters) and used instead of push pins on a notice board. I also imagine they could be used in costume jewellery making – any specific ideas?

Any other uses?

(Photo by drniels)

We’ve had an email from Brennan:

After a quick search on Recycle This, I noticed nothing popped up for paper-wax cups that are popular at fast food restaurants or 7-11 stores.

I was wondering if you had any recommendations on how to recycle or reuse these cups since local curb side programs refuse to collect them due to the wax lining inside.

Yes, we’ve covered plastic cups, sippy cups and even cardboard cup sleeves but not those oh so common waxed paper cups – it’s funny the things I forget about sometimes :)

There is, of course, a big argument for avoiding getting them in the first place but sometimes it’s pretty much unavoidable – so what can be done with them?

I know regular waxed paper can be used to lubricate things around the home, lightly protect wooden surfaces and help prevent rust/grime on garden tools etc – I wonder if the wax coating on cups is waxy/transferable enough for that… Anyone know?

We’ve had an email from Alison:

I have loads of the washing liquid balls that come with washing liquid such as Persil. It seems a shame to throw them away if I could use them for something useful.

Like with measuring spoons in baby formula and allen keys at Ikea, it’s annoying when manufacturers include stuff by default with every purchase even though, presumably, most of their customers will already have a spoon, key or liquid ball from their last pack. There are products out there that don’t include such waste – EthicalConsumer has a list of the greenest laundry products, taking into account packaging, alongside animal testing and chemical make-up of the product itself.

But what about the balls Alison already has at home?

The washing stuff we use doesn’t come with balls but I’ve got a few very old ones in my laundry cupboard for measuring out the different powders and potions, and transporting them over to the washing machine (I’d probably use way too much if I tipped it directly into the drawer). They’d also be useful as scoops/measures for other cleaning products.

Away from housework, the balls with the flat bottoms could be used as paint caddies during kids’ (or grown-ups’) art sessions or turned into mini-sewing kits/pin cushions: fit it with a cute, cushioned lid for the pin cushion, and pins & other supplies could be kept inside.

Any other suggestions?

Around our area, it’s unusual to see a take-out place without empty big cooking oil cans outside.

Hopefully they’re recycled as part of a commercial doorstep recycling programme but most of time it seems like they’re going to landfill – here they were next to a skip filled with other random rubbish. Very frustrating.

If we took some of them, what could we do with them? I know after intensive cleaning, crude oil barrels can be made into woodburners/rocket stoves and barbecues – could these essentially big tin cans be used for a similar thing on a smaller scale or is the metal not heavy duty enough?

With the top taken off (and the edge made safe), I imagine they could be turned into planters for the garden – albeit ones that might rust over time.

Any other suggestions?

We’ve had another email from Lesley:

When I replace worn out hot water bottles, before throwing them out, I always remove and save the stoppers as spares. (I don’t know why really – it’s just something my mother always used to do!). Now I’ve discovered that some of the stoppers are no good as bottles now have wider tops requiring wider stoppers. Has anyone got any ideas for using the old ones?

They look like one of those things that, one day, will be the answer to one’s DIY prayers – something I’d run about holding aloft and ever grateful for the day I thought to put the orphaned stopper in our random stuff drawer. I don’t know what need it would be filling (stoppering up a water butt’s tap or a narrow necked container?) but wow, it would fit it perfectly.

Any suggestions for what they could be used for?