Had an email from Ben H:

here’s a suggestion. one of my trusty rucksacks straps broke the other week. i’ve tried to sown it back to the bag a couple of times but each time it snaps again because of all the stuff i carry on my back.

i’ve decided to buy a new bag because the zip is past it too but still, i am reluctant to throw the old one away. have you got any ideas?

(Photo by worack)

And from toothpaste tubes to the toothbrushes themselves.

John has a habit of splaying the bristles all over the place in a single use so we go through quite a few. We’ve got a small collection of them in the bathroom cleaning products cupboard with the idea that we’ll use them for cleaning around taps (something that rarely happens and when it does, a cloth usually suffices) and they occasionally get used to cleaning the cat hair/food/assorted beverages out of computer keyboards – but has anyone got any other suggestions from how we can use up the stash?

They’re mostly bog-standard manual toothbrushes but we’ve got a few to go on the top of an electric toothbrush from John’s short dalliance with power-assisted cleaning so suggestions for both the long and short would be appreciated.

(Photo by kadrip55)

Every now and then, one of those upright toothpaste dispensing tubes makes it into our bathroom cabinet and when we reach the end of it, I stare at the solid plastic case and wonder if there is any way that it can be refilled, reused or recycled?

Does anyone know if the companies take them back at all?

Or if there are any other alternatives? It seems like it should be refillable with something or other (liquid soap?) but I’m not sure how I’d go about doing it – any ideas?

After some in-depth testing last week (closing one eye then the other, note blurriness, rinse, repeat), I suspect it’s time for me to get some new glasses.

I get new glasses every other year or so: partly because with the ones I pick, it’s about the same cost to get completely new glasses as it is to get lenses replaced in my existing frames and partly because after wearing them for at least 12 hours a day, every day, after a couple of years I fancy a change.

Anyway, I have a number of old pairs of specs hanging around the house – as spares and for wearing when decorating etc. But what else can I do with them?

I have a feeling some charities collect them for redistribution overseas – anyone know of any charities in particular?

Or does anyone know any companies that make it financially viable to replace just the lenses?

(Photo by capetan)

Because we so often get caught up doing other things (and/or are lazy), John and I have take-out about once a week. Sometimes this is pizza, as I’ve mentioned before, but recently we discovered a new Chinese place open up nearby and we have been partaking in its various offerings.

Long gone are the days of foil tubs and cardboard tops – everyone in the take-out world seems to use microwaveable plastic lidded containers these days. While I have worries about storing food in plastic for any length of time, we kept the first few rounds of tubs to use for leftovers from our own culinary exploits and the like. But now we have more tubs & lids than we know what to do with – we have more than enough for use in the kitchen and around the house – and storage is getting to be a problem.

We can’t doorstep-recycle them because they’re Polypropylene (type 5) and our council only recycles types 1, 2 and 4 (as seems standard) – and I don’t know anywhere else that recycles them. I doubt the take-out places could take them back for their re-use for hygiene reasons – and ditto anywhere else that might find them useful but lacks sterilising equipment.

So any suggestions? Recycling ideas or uses outside the normal ones around the home (food tubs in the kitchen; nuts/bolts/screws in the cellar; under plants..)?