We already know what to do with narrow-necked glass bottles like those used for beer or lager and plastic screw-on caps, but what about the metal bottlecaps?

Like so many little random things, these lids seem infinitely usable – I just can’t think of many ideas to use them up.

Any suggestions?

(Photo by trelin)

We’ve had an email from Sara R, asking:

What can I do with plastic forks? I always used to carry a proper one in my bag so I didn’t have to pick one up when I got a pasta pot for lunch but now the forks are inside the pot so I can’t refuse them. I’ve now got a stack of little forks that I don’t know what to do with. I reuse or recycle the pot itself but I don’t know about the forks.

Wikipedia informs me that plastic cutlery is usually Polystyrene – type 6 plastic – and that can’t usually be recycled easily so I guess we’re looking at reuses.

I guess they could be melted/moulded into jewellery or some of the other suggestions we had for metal cutlery but any plastic specific ideas?

(Photo by asolario)

We’ve had an email from Carla, saying:

I’ve recently developed an obsession with sardines and my green bin is now full of cans! Is there anything I can do with them?

We’ve already covered standard food cans but most of the ideas take advantage of those cans’ cylindrical nature and height.

The shallow nature of sardine cans might make them useful for under small plant pots (but watch out for rust) or for candles – both to catch drips of tall ones or a mould/dish for making new ones.

Any other suggestions?

(Photo by stroinski)

We’ve had an email from Ann:

Hello – we regularly receive medications shipped to us in a foam cooler, packed in plastic-wrapped foam cold packs (with some sort of liquid embedded). It’s easy to recycle the little cooler at the recycling center, but I wonder about the cold packs, since they contain the liquid. I hate to send them to the landfill. Any suggestions? Thanks.

I can’t find any pictures illustrating what Ann means but she assures me they’re “they’re liquid filled packs with a spongey, foam material inside too”.

If they’re suitable, I’d be tempted to keep one or two coolers and cold packs for using on picnics or the like – but that’s only one or two and by the sounds of it, Ann needs a more long-term solution.

So any ideas?

UPDATE: Ann’s sent me a link to the packs on the manufacturer’s website and said she’s going to contact them to see what they suggest – and hopefully she’ll feedback to us if she hears anything :)

When we get together with our friends, we’re just about the wildest, craziest group of trendy 20-somethings you’re ever likely to meet.

We’re so wild in fact that the other night some of us had MORE THAN ONE LOLLIPOP while we were sat around chatting. (I stuck to one because I don’t want to develop an addiction – it was very nice and orangey though).

By the end of the night, there was a small pile of plastic lolly sticks on the table and I wondered “how can I reuse or recycle them?”

So how can I reuse or recycle them? For those that aren’t as wild as us lollipop-heads, they’re a thin, cylindrical tube of plastic about 6cm (3inches) long and just a couple of millimetres in diameter. I guess they’re similar to plastic Q-tip/cotton bud sticks.

(Photo by Bubbels)