Robert Adler, one of the guys that co-invented the remote control, died last week.

I suspect when a piece of remote-controlled equipment dies, people just sling out the remote too but are there any way to reuse them? Let’s assuming getting the equipment fixed isn’t possible or feasible, are there any uses for the now-redundant remote control?

Or are there any places that re-sell them? We lost our tv remote control a few years ago and after searching everywhere, bought a replacement – but the replacement was brand new, when a second-hand one would have sufficed. Then, because life is just like that, we found the original and so now have a spare – is there any way for us to pass it on?

After the post the other week about umbrella covers, it made me think about the umbrellas themselves.

I have repaired my current umbrella on a number of occasions whenever the cover become detached from the spikes but the fabric at the tips is getting weak now from its frequent visits from the sewing kit. I’ve also had to throw them away in the past because they’ve done that inverting in the wind thing, snapped a prong and refused to close properly from then on.

So any suggestions on how the mechanism or the (cute, strong, water-resistant) fabric could be reused? Any tips for fixing them would also be appreciated!

(Photo by neza)

We’ve already covered a number of Valentine’s Day type things:

• Dried fresh flowers – such as roses
• Greetings cards
• Wrapping paper

And while we’ve thought about the wrapping on individual chocolates, we haven’t thought about the chocolate boxes themselves.

Some of them – particularly the high end, Valentine’s Day ish ones – are quite pretty and I’ve used them in the past for storing letters and the like. But what about other reuses? Have

Some boxes have formed plastic to hold the individual chocolates – like cake packaging – so it would be great if anyone had recycling ideas for those too.

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We’ve had an email from Hannah Phillips asking if anyone has any ideas on how to recycle old water filter cartridges.

Hannah started using water filters because she thought it would be less wasteful than buying bottled water – less plastic etc – but now has the cartridges to dispose of instead.

Brita brand filters (which seem to be one of the most prominent in the UK as far as I’ve seen) say all their cartridges can be recycled but what about other brands?

And how about reusing them rather than sending them in for recycling?

(Photo by jan-willem)

Had an email from Bill about a bathroom suite:

I have a perfectly good condition bathroom suite, bath, WC basin and pedestal that have been removed during an upgrade.

Any ideas please?

I’ve already suggested Freecycle to him to see if anyone else could use it as a bathroom suite and I also think it could look pretty cool as alternative garden furniture – but any other suggestions for reusing bits of it or a whole?

(Photo by sbennumi)