We’ve had an email from Julia, who work for the British High Commission in Abuja, Nigeria.

She explained “I hate throwing away those clear plastic tops from crisp tubes… so started thinking” – and she came up with some reuses for her regional recycling newsletter:

– Use to cover a glass to prevent insects flying in
– Cover a glass for storage in a fridge
– Find the right sized cup and use as an air-tight top
– Punch holes in it, fit over cup and use as a shaker
– Use as a coaster
– Decorate with coloured markers and hang as sun catches

Great reuse ideas – anyone got any more suggestions? I’ve used them under plant pots before now but the lip is so shallow that they’re more like coasters rather than water-catching saucers.

What can you do with the tubes themselves? Any recycling ideas?

(Btw, I can’t believe we’ve been doing this for four years and not featured Pringles tubes yet!)
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We’ve had an email from Rowena asking about reuses for foam egg boxes:

I’ve seen all the ideas for paper egg boxes but I get plastic ones sometimes. I can’t even compost them!! What can I do?

The first suggestion I have is possibly a little unhelpful but “reduce” – don’t get the plastic ones any more. As I said, that’s probably a little unhelpful because I’m guessing that you wouldn’t get them if you had a choice but still, it’s always worth reducing if you can.

One advantage foam boxes have over cardboard ones is that they’re not so easily damaged when they get wet so they’re better for certain reuses – I remember using them as colour palette while painting as a kid. They can also be reused many times for their intended purpose – offer them to chicken-owning friends or take them with you to use when you buy eggs from somewhere that sells them loose (such as certain farmers’ market stalls or markets in general).

Any other suggestions specifically for foam ones?

(Oooh, alliteration!)

We’ve had a Compost This email from Charlie:

Can I compost those paper fairy cake cases?

I’m presuming the question is about used ones rather than a box of new ones (you’re not going to use them? Freecycle!) and the answer is a big, definite ‘maybe’.

The tiny cases I’ve got in my cupboard seem to be just paper so I’d probably risk those but other ones – particularly muffin cases and ones on bought-in cakes – tend to feel waxier. It might be that they’ve just been treated (supercalendered to make glassine) and are still just paper, but it also might be that they’ve been treated with a plasticizing agent, which may or may not be natural, and so may or may not be something you want in your compost heap. If you’re not sure of the composition of the material, it’s probably best leaving them out.

(If you’re baking at home and your cakes are always going to be eaten in the home, it might be worth getting some reusable cake cases – although they tend to be made from silicone so have a higher initial impact than paper ones.)

Thoughts?

Aside from the rain we had pretty much all day yesterday, it’s been a lovely start to spring – I’ve had the washing out on the line on a good number of occasions now, we’ve had a few breakfasts on the sunny balcony with the animals and the cats have been enjoying the novelty of sitting both in sunshine and in the house – something that’s never happened to them before – and they’ve been getting toasty warm … which made me think “what else can I make toasty warm in the sunshine?” (Plus, we got our gas bill through yesterday for the cold winter – even relying on just the woodburning stove in the evenings and wearing lots of layers, it’s still kerching!kerching!

Trying out a solar oven has been on my to-do list for a while – but they’re expensive and hard to get in the UK so it makes sense to make my own instead.

There are how-tos for making them out of cardboard boxes and aluminium foil and better how-tos to make them more efficient – but I wondered if anyone had any suggestions of things to reuse or recycle for the materials involved in such a venture.

And does anyone have any ideas of ways to make things a little more permanent/weatherproof? With our propensity for April showers on otherwise glorious summer days, cardboard outside in the UK sounds like a recipe for disaster, not a nice slow-cooked meal.

Anyone make their own? Anything that’s a must-do? Anything to avoid?

(Photo by margilevin)

We’ve had an email from Jennifer asking:

I was on the verge of buying a soda siphon to make my own sparkling water at home – surely much more ecologically sound than buying bottled sparkling water, right? But my husband raised a concern about the used CO2 cartridges? Are they recyclable?

A not-so-quick Google around suggests that they’re metal (typically steel) so can be recycled with normal metal recycling. Anyone know for sure?

When we posted about water filter cartridges three years ago (cor! that’s ages!), we had a number of people making reuse suggestions – how to clean them to get more life out of the filters – are there any tricks like that for soda syphon cartridges?

Even if they couldn’t be reused or recycled though, it still might be worth considering the syphon route because of the amount of energy wasted shipping heavy bottles of water around the place.

Any other suggestions?