Another of Alice‘s “Reduce This” questions is about cleaning products:

How to reduce the amount of cleaning fluids I use, especially the ones which damage the environment the most? See my blog for an idea for free limescale remover…

Whenever I talk to anyone about this sort of thing, I always make a joke about how we’re being green (as opposed to just lazy) when we don’t keep our house all shiny and polished but there is some truth in it – a lot of people use a lot of chemicals to keep their house a lot “cleaner” than it really needs to be. (I’ve put cleaner in inverted commas because filling your house with harsh chemicals isn’t really health-clean either.)

My friend Katherine swears by E-Cloths and we use a lot of vinegar, soda crystals and borax here.

What do you use? Got any techniques to help cut down the amount of stuff you do use?

We’ve had a rather specific question from Douglas but we sometimes get incredibly informative responses to these type of questions so I thought it was worth posting in case anyone knows anything:

I was wondering if you knew of a way that I could reuse blocks that have been milled using a CNC machine (as known as rapid prototyping) The block are made out of zirconia and are use for the 3M Lava milling center. I hope you can help although i understand if not as this is and incredibly odd request since it is so specific.

So … anyone? I’ve not been able to find anything particularly useful on Google and I’ve sent a message to 3M about it but not heard anything back yet. Anyone else in a similar position?

We’ve had an email from Alice with so many ‘Reduce This’ questions that I’m going to have to run them two a week to get through them ;)

First up:

I want to reduce my use of Tesco, which I use because I don’t have transport and it’s the only one-stop place I can walk to with my rucksack for my weekly shop, but I’d be interested to hear any ideas people have for reducing personal dependence on the “Big Four” evil supermarkets.

In an ideal world, we’d all manage our own allotments and shop at local, independent shops, who source good quality items from local farms & producers. In the real world, this isn’t always possible – there are a limited number of allotments available and people have time constraints that don’t exist in the fantasy world – it’s hard to shop at small shops that are only open 9-5 when you have a 9-5 job.

Because of the big supermarkets, there are also obviously a lot less small shops around – right now, we live close to a local high street which is almost completely filled with chain stores and the house we’re (hopefully) moving to is very close to a big supermarket so there are no local shops at all.

So what have you done to reduce your use of the big supermarkets? How have you fitted it around your busy life? What would you recommend? What would you not recommend? And what about non-food items?

We’ve had an email from Sue:

I’d be grateful if you could help me. I am trying to find somewhere to take an old motorbike helmet for recycling – I have googled but the only useful suggestion I could find was to take it to an old ambulance station for them to use to practice taking off dummies! I live in London but am willing to post it somewhere to be put to good use.

I’m presuming the helmet is damaged in some way that it wouldn’t be safe for use on a motorbike any more – if it is ok, just no longer wanted, it could go on Freecycle/eBay for re-use for its intended purpose. UPDATE: Ok, turns out they shouldn’t really be used secondhand (see comments).

What if it is damaged/potentially compromised though? I love the ambulance station idea or using it as an educational aid in other ways – anyone know of any initiatives/organisations that could use it?

Are there any creative reuses for them? I wonder if they could be turned into themed furniture/houseware for a motorbike fan – I have half a memory of seeing one turned into a lamp but can’t find anything about that now. The only thing I can find is a link to an artist who builds on them to make scary alien/fantasy creature heads – which isn’t the same things at all ;)

We’ve had a “Can I Compost This?” email from Wynn:

Can I compost fish heads?

The answer to this, like meat & animal products, is usually no. Unless you have a sealed composting system or the like, the odour of the fish might attracted unwanted vermin to your compost heap and unless your composting area is really far away from your house, it might get a bit stinky for you too.

But like other animal bones, you can though use fish heads and skeletons to make fish stock. There is often quite a bit of meat on the heads of bigger fish like salmon, so don’t forget to save that: it can be used anywhere you’d use mashed up fish (salads, fish cakes, seafood risotto…) or in the stock to make a hearty soup. Like all stocks, it will freeze well if you’re not going to be able to use it straight away and if nothing else and you’ve got cats, the stock will make you a firm favourite with your felines.

Any other suggestions of things to do with leftover fish bits?

(Photo by mama)