We’ve had an email from Christina Albertsen:

My colleages and I throw away loads of used staples every day where we work, and I was just wondering if there’s a way of recycling them somehow!

If you have any ideas (apart from buying one of those stapless staplers, which I will be doing) that would be great!

They seem so small but I remember reading in a book a few years ago that a colossal amount of steel is used to make staples. Unfortunately I can’t find the book just at the moment so I can’t find the exact figure but it was a very big number for what seem to be small and insignificant bits of bent metal.

The book recommended using paper clips or treasury tags instead since they’re reusable – and of course there is Christina’s stapleless stapler idea – but aside from that, as Christina asks, are there any ways to recycle (or reuse) staples once they’ve been squished?

When I was a kid, I used to make chains of them for fun but it was fiddly and they had sharp ends so couldn’t be used for much – or could they?

Had an email from Rani:

I’ve saved up the stems of old qtips (cut off the used cotton part) and now have a bunch of little paper sticks.

I’m planning to make a picture frame out of them but would like other more practical ideas before I do something decorative.

I’ve thought about this before too – we try to buy the paper sticked ones but sometimes can only get plastic ones (boo) – at least the paper ones will compost.

So any suggestions for little paper or plastic sticks?

(Photo by solneman2)

A couple of months ago, John read something about how poisonous Teflon is when it gets scratched and starts flaking – and immediately our two old frying pans were cast from the pan cupboard onto, well, the dining table where they’ve sat for the in-between weeks waiting for me to take a photo of them for use on here. I’m not the promptest girl in the world.

Researching it now, I can’t find anything to support the poisonous claim – most sources say flakes will pass through the body without being absorbed but super-heated (237°C – the sort of hot hot heat you might use to fry up a thick steak) Teflon can give off dangerous fumes (particularly for birds in the vicinity – so no more letting the budgie cook up bacon unsupervised).

Either way though, these frying pans are a pain to cook with in their current state given they’re half non-stick, half-stick. So any suggestions for bringing them back to life? (Is wire-wooling off the remain Teflon an idea?)

And failing that, reuses? recycling suggestions?

We’ve had an email from Diana Meyrick-Thomas asking if there are any recycling schemes for false teeth – anyone got any ideas? Are there any groups collecting them for redistribution overseas?

And what about reuses? As a veteran humourologist, I’d be tempted to make them into gag items for around the home (bottle opener? cookie cutter? biting doorbell cover?) but has anyone else got any more sensible suggestions?

(Photo by Fugue)

We had our leaky roof fixed last week and needed to replaster the leak-damaged part of the ceiling in the attic room. Our plasterer could only find giant bags of plaster for sale but it was only a small bit that needed fixing, so we’ve got about 20kg of powdered plaster left.

The plasterer said he won’t be able to use it before it went solid so he left it with us: we figured we’d be able to get rid of it one way or another.

I’ve put it on our local Freecycle group with the hope that someone can use it but if it doesn’t disappear down that route, anyone got any suggestions on how we can reuse or recycle it in the next few weeks? Or does anyone know any way to stop it going solid – will an airtight container suffice?

According to the bag, it’s “one coat plaster” that is “suitable for most internal surfaces” but we have no internal surfaces that need plastering. Can it be used for craft things or is that a whole different type of plaster?