We’ve had an email from Nicole asking what she can do with a big bag of lanyards from a conference that has already taken place.

I actually thought about them (but forgot again) a few weeks ago because we’ve got a few floating around from a conference we went to last year (shoutout to LUGRadio Live) – they’re great for hanging your nametag around your neck while you’re there but afterwards…

Actually one of our friends uses an old one to hang his keys around his neck (his trouser pockets are always holey, disturbingly holey) and another friend uses one on a USB key so it doesn’t get lost as easily – but that’s only a few uses, possibly only good for my disorganised friends.

Any other suggestions for Nicole?

(In case you’re not familiar with them, lanyards are usually just a loop for webbing, like a wide shoe lace, with a metal clip or ring at one end. They’re usually about 50cm in length.)

We’ve already covered the wheel rims but Erika has emailed asking:

I was wondering if there were any ideas about old bike tubes….

I’m presuming we’re talking inner tubes anyway – it’s quite possible there is another type of bike tube since I’m not a terribly keen cyclist – I live at the top of a steep hill and prefer to tackle it on foot. If there is some other ‘bike tube’, please feel free to answer about both ;)

(Photo by kikashi)

We’ve had an email from Amanda:

All 3 of my children are involved in paper routes here in Canada & as such we are left with 50+ plastic strappings twice a week. Our town says they are not recyclable & have to add to my already restricted garbage output. Whilst we are pushing the paper company to change the way they deliver & bundle the papers, we need to find ways to keep these strappings from the landfills.

I’ve never been enough of a morning person to have a paper route and I initially thought Amanda meant cable-tie-esque bindings but Google suggests they’re more like the straps I’ve seen around flat-pack furniture or the like – quite tough strips that are impossible to tear by hand but are reasonably flexible lengthwise. It is quite possibly polypropylene but I wouldn’t swear to that (just putting two and two together after reading a number of websites).

I’ve got a bit of a thing for weaving stuff like that so would be tempted to make them into a bag or something – but anyone else got any other suggestions?

We’ve had an email from Sally, saying:

I have several orphaned lids to storage tubs. What can do with them?

What is it with tubs and their lids? We also have a collection of now lidless tubs and tubless lids – the tubs can be put to tub-ish tasks elsewhere but the lids…

I’ve used a couple of flimsy take-away food ones as saucers under plants but have a tendency to over-water causing spillages because they’re too shallow. I’ve also used them for stray animal feeding. But we’ve still got a (in)decent collection waiting for reuses.

Suggestions then?

We’ve had an email from Katherine, asking:

My niece left about half a tube of hair spiking gel behind at my house; I’m not about to change my style and use it myself but it’s not worth the postage to post it back… Any ideas on what to do with hair spiking glue other than spike hair?

The brand, if this makes a difference, is Schwarzkopf ‘Got2b’. If I were a chemist I might be able to work out from the ingredients list whether it can be basically used like ordinary glue!

We’ve got a few half-tubes of gel in our bathroom cupboard too – donated from by a friend who no longer needed them when John was going through his faux-fro phase last year – so I’d like some ideas for this too. I guess we could repeat the donation but I don’t know anyone who would use it – like with the other half-used toiletries, it could go to a shelter I guess but I don’t know whether they’d prefer just practical things.

I suspect hair wax/oil type products could be reused for lubrication purposes in the same way as most greases but gels tend to dry sticky or crispy so couldn’t be used for that.

Any suggestions though? Or ideas about the glue thing? I wonder if like toothpaste it can be used as a temporary fix for, eg, sticking light posters to walls… anyone know or care to test it?

(Photo by asterisco)