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)

Renee, from Friday’s glue/tape cartridge question, also asked about bottle cap liners.

Again, I wasn’t sure what she meant but thankfully she included a picture —>

I don’t see them used that much over here (or at least not in the things I buy) but I think they’re basically a washer to help the seal between the cap and the top of the bottle (??).

I think I’ve seen some waxed card ones (which usually get soggy so are good for little else after their intended task) but these ones that Renee are asking about look to be circles of plastic.

In searching for more information about them, I found this very cool bowl made out of 100 of them and I guess they could be used for oversizedtiddlywinks too. But what else can be done with them?

(If you’re interested in other bottle cap related stuff – we’ve covered plastic screw-tops and metal caps elsewhere on the site.)

We had an email from Lori the other day about the bags and things she makes out of old jeans.

You can be a “jeanius” like me, too!! RECYCLE!

As lover of both recycling and puns, how could I resist? ;)

Her range includes bags and accessories just using the fabric and items more obviously a former pair of jeans/denim skirt – ready-made pockets = win!

She also has some random fun things for sale – like this cheque book sleeve made using an old M&Ms wrapper. I think this is very cute and fun but unfortunately now have an insatiable desire for sugar-coated chocolate treats. Thanks Lori, thaaaaanks. :)

Anyway, you can find Lori’s things at http://loriforney.etsy.com

• How can I reuse or recycle old jeans?
• How can I make a bag out using recycled things?

We’ve had an email from Iain Porter in which he tells us about the wonder of banana boxes from supermarkets for moving houses:

Supermarkets appear to be more than happy to give away boxes. I made a trip each morning of our packing and got about 20 Banana Boxes – big enough without becoming too heavy, rectangular for neat storage, with optional lids – perfect.

Indeed they are – last time I moved house (about eight years ago now, cor! that’s ages!) I used them and we used another load when helping a friend move earlier this year. With the lids, they’re really quite strong so ideal when the movees are booklovers like we are or when they need to be stacked for storage during transit.

But when, about two years after moving in, I finally finished unpacking all my books, I didn’t really know how to reuse the boxes so just recycled the cardboard – but Iain has an idea for that too:

Rather than buy stylish new boxes from Ikea for storing jumpers etc., we covered the banana boxes with nice recycled paper for cheaper, friendlier, and even nicer results!

(And because there are ventilation holes in the side, the clothes etc. shouldn’t get as musty or moldy as they would in a more sealed box.)

I’d tempted to get some for use on top of our wardrobes for our out-of-season clothes and might decorate them with the same wallpaper and paint as the bedroom for camouflage-a-go-go.

Any more ideas for ways to reuse them?

We’ve had an email from Janelle for our new reverse Recycle This section:

hi. i’d love to have a go at making a shopping bag out of recycled plastic but don’t know where to start. any ideas?

I’ve knitted carrier bags into a new bag before now – except I picked thicker than normal bags which were a PAIN. Aside from that though, it was pretty straight forward – I just garter-stitched a strip as wide and twice as long as I wanted the finished bag to be, then folded it in half and sewed up the sides. The (short) handles were made in the same way, just handle-sized dimensions instead. It looked more rugged than it felt though – but I think my knitting/sewing skills were to blame for that.

I love the bags woven from old packaging and am planning to give that a go once I get my million other projects out of the way – anyone got any hints or tips on how to get started? Or what types of packaging to use?

Away from plastic, I’ve made a few shopping bags from old/charity-shop pillow case – either standard tote ones (using the bag part of the pillowcase) or slightly bigger one I made with a little help from the cats the other week (it’s great and seems far stronger because of the wider strap).

Other materials: Ecoist, amongst other people, also makes bags from old movie posters; I’ve seen bags made from old bamboo blinds/placemats (the wood stained a fun colour and fabric used for the gusset); the tops of jeans make good rucksack-type bags (built-in pockets!); and I’m tempted to play with making a wallet or possibly clutch bag using drink cans – the cans cut into strips then woven into a flat sheet (easier than reweaving them into a can again…).

Any other suggestions?

(Photo of a non-recycled but colourful & shiny bag by paiviti)