Jen of the tape dispenser suggestion had another query:

Another suggestion is all those old metro cards that I’ve been keeping… I’m not sure what I want to do with them yet. Any suggestions?

I’m such a sucker for keeping old train tickets too – credit-sized bits of card – because like so many things, they seem like they’re really useful. I’ve used them folded up under wobbly chairs/tables in restaurants on occasion but this really isn’t enough to justify keeping as many as I do.

So suggestions?

(Photo by eurok)

Just a quick post to point you in the direction of a few ideas for reusing and recycling all those Valentine’s Day gifts.

We’ve got:

• How to reuse or recycle dried fresh flowers – such as roses
• How to reuse or recycle the plastic wrapping from a bouquet
• How to reuse or recycle greetings cards
• How to reuse or recycle wrapping paper
• How to reuse or recycle chocolate boxes
• How to reuse or recycle wrappers from individual chocolates

So there are plenty of ways you can show your love for the environment after someone’s shown their love for you :)

We’ve had an email from Jen, saying:

So I was wondering if you knew any good ways to reuse Tape Dispensers when it runs out of tape.

The tape dispenser that I use can just be “refilled” – just slotting another roll of tape onto the wheel – but I did break manage to break the wheel while doing the swap at one point so it’s not as useful as a dispenser now.

I suspect Jen’s dispenser is less easily refillable though so does anyone have any non-tape reuses for a generic reasonably heavy contraption with a cutting blade thing at the front?

(Photo by Nbauer)

We’ve had an email from “Pondering of Bristol”, saying:

Sorry to be a bit morbid but my daughter’s pet rat, Ellen, is on the way out and we are wondering what to do with her once the inevitable happens? We don’t have a big garden, just pots, so can’t really bury her. Should we put her in the compost?

I wouldn’t put a dead animal in an open compost heap for the same reason I would steer clear of composting any animal products – it may attract other unwanted vermin or insects to the heap while it’s decomposing. People using sealed composting systems are usually more happy to do this type of thing though.

We’ve always been able to bury our ex-cats in their favourite spot in the garden so I haven’t really thought about alternatives – does anyone else know about this sort of thing?

(Photo by puellakas)

We’ve had an email from Dom, saying:

I just rescued a set of dining room chairs from a skip. With a bit of a sand and coat of paint, two of them will be fine for use in my kitchen but the other two are broken. The supports under the seat have broken on one and the frame of the back on the other. Any suggestions?

Like with broken electronics and the like, I’d suggest giving fixing them a go because, at the end of the day, you’re not unlikely to break them any further and if you do, you won’t really have lost much (start with a broken chair, end with a broken chair) but might have learnt something along the way which will help you next time. (Or, if you know someone who likes fixing stuff, see if they’ll do it since they might be able to get them as good as new.)

We have a rickety old chair in the bathroom for throwing our clothes on – broken ones might be sufficient for that type of job – and we have a bizarre, stylised metal-frame one (which we inherited when we bought the house) in the garden and put plants on the seat: they’ve got room to trail and to climb and are out of the evil clutches of slugs too.

Any other suggestions?

(Photo by _H_)