We’ve had an email from Alice who wants to turn this whole crazy thing on its head:

Instead of an item that I want to recycle, I’m actually working backwards here – does anyone know what kind of waste could be used to build a sturdy bookcase?

A few ideas spring to mind from previous posts – namely snowboards (and I guess skateboards would be similar), hollowcore doors – and old hollowed out televisions. There is also a suggestion on making shelves out of old books but I suspect that’s more decorative than sturdy.

If you’re interested in an industrial look, you could use stacked metal food cans (or decorated old paint can) between the shelves – and depending how you do it, they could be used for secret storage too – or skip-diving might turn up some breeze blocks or the like (it might get heavy quickly but red house bricks would look cool).

Any other suggestions?

(Photo by GiniMiniGi)

We’ve had an email from Heather:

I have a former airbed — the pump has failed mechanically and is built in so it can’t be replaced — so I could cut the material away from it if I had an idea what to do with it. the bottom is just pvc sheet, the top is the same but with a fabricy surface.

I suspect some of the suggestions for old inflatables and (from a plastic sheeting point of view) old shower curtains may be relevant – but has anyone got any specific suggestions for Heather?

(UPDATE: Sorry for the downtime this evening – unexpected and unplanned. Grrr, computers suck sometimes.)

The post about hair gel last month reminded me that I’ve got an almost full canister of hairspray in the back of our bathroom cupboard.

I bought it way back in the day one summer when I was trying everything and anything to try to stop my curls turning instantly to frizz. It didn’t work so was relegated to the cupboard of forgotten toiletries.

I don’t know anyone else that uses spray – all by friends either have shaved heads or prefer their hair to move instead of being rock solid – so 1980s-theme parties aside, I won’t be able to find a good home for it that way. But the responses to the hair gel suggestion made me wonder if it could be used as an adhesive or something like that instead. Anyone know?

Or anyone got any other suggestions?

We’ve had an email from Chelsea, who has very nicely been pimping this site to her family:

I told my mom about this site and she asked if there was anything about coffee cans. She saves all the ones she has, and just uses them for storing nails and such. Any better ideas?

In the UK, most coffee tends to come in either jars or bags but we’ve got some old Illy cans knocking around from before John discovered our fab local coffee supplier, the Just Coffee People (if you’re in Leeds, you should really try it – coffee fans tell me it’s great from there and we also heart the tea – and if you read the about page you’ll see it’s a great Social Firm too. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes..). The Illy cans either came with a screw top lid or a rubber cap, depending on the size of the can, so have way more reuses than a standard more-difficult-to-reseal food can.

Like Chelsea’s mum, we use them for nails etc in the cellar, storing other teas & coffees in the kitchen, a pen pot in the office upstairs and I’ve got two in front of me in the living room right now working as money boxes for our spare change. I’ve also used the screw on lids as saucers under plant pots – they’re silver and quite deep so look fun.

Any other suggestions?

We’ve had an email from Sam, saying:

I have a child’s car seat that has been involved in a minor accident, so can no longer be used as a car seat. I don’t want to put it in landfill. Any suggestions?

If car seats had been around when I was a kid and we’d been in this situation, I’m sure the seat would have been commandeered for bottom-of-the-garden dens – a comfortable seat ripe for imaginative on-a-rocket-into-space games or whatever. We were lucky we had loads of space for that sort of thing and also sorts of junk ended its life down there.

But what if that’s not an option because of space or the child’s too young etc? Any more practical or creative suggestions for the seat as a whole or its foamy/plastic parts?

• How can I reuse or recycle other baby related stuff?