Archive for the "packaging" category

How can I reuse or recycle … cd spindles?

Cd spindleAs I’ve said before, we go through quite a lot of compact discs. John tends to buy them in 50 or 100 packs and sometimes gets them on a fancy spindle thing.

If you can’t quite see it from the photo or know what I mean, it’s a plastic base with a spindle sticking out the middle, with a clear(ish) lid over the whole thing.

The spindle thing is useful for keeping the blanks in one place but once you’ve burnt them all, it gets to be a bit of a pain to have to sort through the whole stack whenever you want a particular disc.

So any suggestions about what we can do with the spindle box – and its lid – when we’re done with it?


How can I reuse or recycle … matchboxes?

Match boxWe have an old gas cooker without an integral flint so we go through a lot of matches. We tried one of those clicky flint-on-a-stick things but got too annoyed with it to continue so we went back to good old flame.

We throw the used matches on the compost heap but every few weeks, we have a empty box too. We buy cook’s matches so they’re quite big boxes – any suggestions on what we can do with them?


How can I reuse or recycle … contact lens containers?

Contact lens packagingA suggestion from Jo:

My husband and I are both on a monthly contact lens package. We are accumulating vast numbers of lenses cases which I do not have the heart to just chuck in the bin! There must be something you can do with them other than make salt & pepper containers for when you go camping!

I await inspiration!

I’m a glasses gal so I haven’t faced this problem – but I’d love to hear if other people have used them for anything or if anyone’s got any suggestions : )

(Photo by jocan)


How can I reuse or recycle … pizza boxes?

Pizza in a box
It’s Friday and it’s been a busy week at Recycle This Mansions so we are, I very much suspect, going to be dialling in for food tonight.

We’re lucky that we’ve got a few good pizza places in the vicinity so will be on cheese-highs by bedtime (weee, cheese dreams!) but we’ll wake up remorseful tomorrow, after our binge tonight, because we won’t know what to do with the cardboard pizza boxes that will be covering the living room floor.

We usually just fling them in the cardboard-recycling bin but any other suggestions?


How can I reuse or recycle … sandwich packaging?

Sandwich packagingA suggestion from Heather:

I’m so bad. Every day, I buy those prepacked sandwiches rather than making my own. Sometimes I go to Pret and buy cardboard and cellophane wrapped ones, and sometimes I go to the yummy bakery up the road and get them just wrapped in cellophone but most of the time, sigh, I have to get those standard pre-packaged sandwiches in the triangular plastic wastefulness. I do feel bad while I eat them and not just because the sandwiches are bland and tasteless yet just cost me £2. What can I do with the packaging when I’m done with it?

(Photo by Asterisco, c/o sxc.hu)