We’ve had another email from our good friend Am (aka Delusion):

Me again, just wondering how can I recycle / reuse empty lipbalm tubes? I use the twisty lipbalm sticks and admit I use them a lot. I have a stash of small tubes with their lid casings and no ideas on how to re-use them.

I emailed the company that I got them from to ask for any suggestions / ideas on if they could be re-used by the company or recycled and surprise, no response! Anyone else help?

I’m also a bit of a balmaholic, particularly in the winter, and seem to have about a half a dozen sticks on the go at the moment in various bags and pockets around the place. I think I might move onto little pots – since they’re been easier to refill/reuse – for some of my balming needs but since I don’t always carry a bag, I’ll have to stick to tubes for those slip-in-the-pocket moments.

So any suggestions?

Apparently you can use Chapstick ones to hide microphones when you want to take down a president but, personally, I think those wires give it away a bit.

If there are any balm-makers out there, can you tell us if it’s possible to make homemade balm solid enough to refill the tubes?

(Photo by asolario)

We’ve had an email from Ashleigh, asking:

What can I do with old flat baking trays? They’re a bit rusty so we can’t use them for food anymore. Can they go in my green bin?

I’m not sure about the green bin because everywhere has different rules and it also depends what they’re made out of but the guys that collect scrap metal around here would probably take them.

As for reuses, the rust might come off with one of those metal scrubber things but it’ll obviously rust right up again if it gets wet a lot again – perhaps clean it up and paint it with some rust-preventing paint. If it’s got a lip all the way around the edge, it could then be used as tray under plants or for kids to use during messy craft session (the lip might help stop things spilling/spreading all over the place).

Any other suggestions? What about suggestions for trays that are completely flat or with just one raised edge?

(Photo (and craving for gingerbread caused) by Jenny Rollo)

We’ve had an email from Sara:

I am in charge of stationery orders at work, and I have recently been asked to order “rubber thimbles” because we have worn them out. So I looked at all these little rubber thimbles, and thought, do these all have to go to waste? Other than being jaunty little hats for stuffed toys around the office, what else can I do with these things?

Everyone has agreed before I order new ones we have to think of something to do with the current ones!

Hehe, I like the jaunty hat idea – I also love that your colleagues have agreed to holding off on reordering new things until the old ones have been dealt with.

Rubber can be recycled but I don’t know if m/any recycling companies would be interested in such small items. Anyone know?

And any other suggestions?

We’ve had an email from Kit:

how can I reuse a broken step ladder? the rungs are alright, it’s the support bit at the top that hold it in the upside down v shape that is broken. i could just give it away for scrap metal but i wondered if there was anything i could do with it instead.

I’m presuming it can’t be fixed or at least not fixed well enough to be trust-worthy (an important quality when you’re 8ft off the ground) – might be worth Freecycling it in case someone is a step ladder fixing expert though.

Aside from that, could the rungs be used as a shelving unit maybe?

Any other suggestions?

(Photo by hortongrou)

Last week, the incredibly eloquent “matheus” left a question in the comment section on our of our posts:

how the f*ck do i recycle chalk?

As someone with a penchant for using 100 words when three will do, I like his succinctness.

So suggestions?

(Photo by Zela)