Suggest an item
Do you have something to reuse or recycle but you just don’t know what to do with it? AND we haven’t had the decency to feature said thing on “How can I recycle this?” yet? Gosh, we’re terrible, aren’t we?
You can either leave a message in the comments section below or send us an email if you have any ideas. You can include a picture too if you’ve got one to hand. We’ll give you a thank you nod when we make the post and you’ll, hopefully, get lots of ideas about what to do with your item.
Email us at: items@recyclethis.co.uk
If you want to make something reusing or recycling things (for example, how to make a piggy bank, or a shopping bag, or jewellery), or repair something, or reduce your use of something, we’d also love to hear from you. Again,
Email us at: items@recyclethis.co.uk
Or have you reused or recycled something in an interesting, clever or creative way and want to show it off, but can’t wait until we get around to featuring that item? Just tell us what you did and send a photo if you can, and we’ll feature it on the site when we can.
Email your ideas to: clever@recyclethis.co.uk
I would like to have all the roll on deodorant bottles anyone could send me. I will pay the postage.Please contact me at sar.arose@live.com for the address.
what to do with vinyl siding
what to with used pvc pipes
Old maps of any kind make great summer place mats as well as having decorative and educational properties. I bought a very large and hideously expensive but outdated set of nautical maps of Cheseapeake Bay for $3.00 at a thrift shop, laminated some of them with clear contact paper and had a life-time supply of conversation pieces…at least until a little boy begged the rest of the artifacts off me. It turned out he collected maps.
Any kind of old maps can be laminated and/or nicely framed for atmosphere in a library, or den, or for use in a wine cellar.
Nice idea, Gina.
We covered old maps on the site last summer – I’ll add your comment to the suggestions over there too.
-louisa :)
use freecycle.org, take what you are not using and let someone else who wants it, use it… simply post it in your local group, and the odds are that someone will want to take it almost immediately after your post goes up… Spread the word!
how can I recycle or reuse styrofoam packaging peanuts?
We covered that a few years ago:
How can I reuse or recycle foam packaging peanuts?
-louisa :)
what can i do to reuse/create something useful out of old sports trophies? i have only seen ideas for coat racks, but i already have one. these are the “plastic-people frozen in place and mounted on a block of stone” type ones.
ive also heard about giving them to a trophy shop to recycle. but what else??
donate to special olympics or similar event
Great idea Kaye, I’ll use it on the site next week and see what people can come up with :)
-louisa :)
old yoghurt pots cottage cheese pots etc make useful seed trays with holes punched in the base. they also make nice painted flowerpots with another one slightly bigger used as a drip tray in matching colour. old leftover emulsion paint is good enough.Empty margarine containers are good for bonzai trees as well as seedlings.
food pots with lids make nice sweetie pots when covered in glitter or painted, especially for older friends.
I reuse 2 litre water bottles for keeping cutting from my garden. I cut them in half and place the top part into the lower part and fill with rain water (collected in water butt) and there you have perfect place for cuttings to take root and they fit easily on window sill.
Also plastic trays that are used far too much for vegetables etc,I use them for standing plants in to be watered.
What can i do with pistashio shells?
That was the question that started this whole site nearly three years ago:
How can I reuse or recycle pistachio shells?
-louisa :)
in the states i saw old pecan shells powdered down then mixed with a resin, put into moulds (for statues). These seemed to be the old rubber type. Some of the statues were very impressine after they had been buffed up.
What to do with laminated signs?
I work in a 6th form College and various signs etc. are produced as a3 or a4 and laminated. However, eventually some details become out of date.What could I do with these? there are only so many placemats /craft messy mats anyone could need!
Hi Ruti,
Good question – I’ll put it on the site this week.
-louisa :)
How could I recycle a wedding dress? I sewed it out of white satin and it is a skirt, bodice and separate train, also quite a bit of spare material and some small bits of netting (I’ll keep the veil). I don’t really want to give it away, but I’m not going to wear it a second time! So far I’ve thought of christening gown (if I ever had a girl), undies/nightdress and kiddy angel costumes. I’d kind of like to make some really frilly baby room accessories if I ever had a girl, but has anyone got any non clothing suggestions?
And this one will go on the site this week too :)
how can i recycle christmas gift wrap bows? I have a few bags worth and was thinking of decorating the fridge but maybe this site can find some more ideas.
x x x
Hi fishcake,
good suggestion – I bet lots of people have spare bows hanging around now – I’ll put it on the site this week.
-louisa :)
Hi iv collected a few incandescent bulbs and im wondering what to do with them
The element in the old bulbs is tungston carbide and worth a lot of money by the oz or lb.Look for a buyer
on Yahoo or google search
I made holiday ornaments out of them. With metal end up, spraypaint the glasss part, use markers and stickers to decorate, wrap ribbon, twine or chenille stems around the metal base (glue as you go) and leave a loop to use to hang them.
Look great on my Christmas tree and on the mantle.
my husband cut different lengths, drills holes in them and silcones them together to make unusual hiding places for fish in his aquarium
with your old cooking oil you can run a diesal engine on it as long as you put at least 10 pounds of diesal in as well as old cooking oil i have been running mine for 2 years and it is still running as good as new
If suggestions mustn’t have aurl in them, this would be the age to mention it. Or tell us any other rules, so people don’t ose their suggestions needlessly – as I think I have just done!
Suggestions can have links/urls in them – they just get tend to get sent to the moderation or spam queues. Your message got sent to the latter but I’ve restored it now.
Can we have suggestions for what to do with divided yoghurt pots, you know the kind that have muesli in a small triangular pot with larger triangular pot for yoghurt? I mean beyond using as paint and water pots…. I have used them for the basis for papier mache. We go through tonnes of them and give them to school and playgroup but wondered if anyone had converted them into anything unusual.By the way, there are more recycling workshops lined up by Red Dot exhibitions in Liverpool to tie in with an exhibition in March.
How to re-use the plastic strips that are used to bind up newspapers. I have 1 bracelet craft for this, but it only uses up small amounts.
I’d love some more crafting suggestions.
Hi Ruti,
Do you mean this type of thing:
http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20080425/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-plastic-strapping
If so, plenty of suggestions there – lots of weaving stuff.
(It took me ages to find that even though I could picture the article – I hate the search on this site: we have plans to improve it though!)
-louisa :)
Ignore that last one I’ve just found it under plastic strapping.
Hi Guys. I have a large amount of empty cans and wine bottles lying about and I’m not sure what to do with them. Anyone got any ideas on how to recycle glass bottles and aluminum or steel cans. Thanks in advance.
Make lamps out of old wine bottles’make letters of the alphabet out of aluminum cans ,seal the steel cans and use for a fish bobber
one person made fishing hats or bonnets out of aluminum cans and sold them $15 each
I was wondering what to do with roll-on bottles. (deodourants,sunscreen etc.), as my council will not collect that type of stuff for recycling.
thanks for any suggestions =D
oops, ignore last post, sorry . when I searched, i didn’t put a hyphen between the roll and the on =D
What can I do with baby food jars?
how about ur own homemade snowglobe… stick non dissolving or eroding things like those little plastic santas they use to decorate cakes (make sure it fit inside the food jar when u recap d bottle) on the inside of the bottle cover. if it doesnt fit, just get some confetti or glitters, fill d jar with water, then hot glue the cap.
donate to church or school for craft projects
I am re-cycling bathroom cramic tiles to make birdhouses. Use an outdoor grout on almost any old birdhouse. Seal edges with silicone. You have really cool bird houses or bird feeders that can look natural or cool & wild.
where can i get horse poo from
i live in the uk
How could you make a bag out of recycled things? (especialy a tote bag if possible)
Hi nelly,
We covered that a few months ago
How can I make a bag out of recycled things?
Tote bags (and similar) are super-easy to make from old pillowcase or old clothes: short skirts or the bums of old jeans work best – just sew up the bottom and add straps. It’s a great way to get a more live out of old favourites :)
-louisa :)
What could I do with those nice Camembert cheese boxes ?
Like this one:
http://www.markys.com/caviar/customer/image.php?type=P&id=16845
How can I recycle my baby’s sippy cup? The no-spill cups that young children use before learning to drink out of a “grown up’s” cup.
Great suggestion!
http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20090422/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-a-babys-sippy-cup
I have a large box of spare buttons, all odd, different colours, different sizes, the ones you get on items of clothes incase you lose one.
Does anyone have any useful suggestions for re-using?
Looking forward to your suggestions
I love buttons!! :)
http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20090420/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-random-spare-buttons
Hello, right now I am staring at a metal-central-bit-of-a-ringbinder , and wondering how to repurpose it. I had a leather diary with it in the centre, with the pages on it. When trying to write on the left-hand page, the metal rings got in the way. I am in the process of turning the leather part into a handbag, and am more succesfully using the pages, now being held together by a treasury tag, but what to do with the six-ringed central metal bit…any suggestions?
http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20090427/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-the-metal-bit-of-a-ring-binderfolder
Any ideas on how to reuse children’s drawings ? My daughter brings a bunch of them from pre-school every day. I don’t have the heart to throw them away, and I can display only so many !
Great suggestion!
I featured that here for you:
http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20090501/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-childrens-drawings-and-paintings
broken bike helmets.
light bulbs.
Hi Jami,
Thanks for the suggestion – we covered broken bike helmets for you here:
http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20090506/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-a-broken-bike-helmet
We’ve also covered lightbulbs in the past:
http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20060608/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-dead-light-bulbs
http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20070320/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-energy-saving-lightbulbs-and-tubes
Ho can I re-use the little glas containers for vanilla pods ? They look kinda like test-tubes…
They looki like this:
http://ninecooks.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/09/20/vanillapod.jpg
Does anyone know what to do with burnt incense ash? Surely there must be something that can be recycled with it. I’ve noticed that one person has used it to make sculptures with it. Does anyone have any other suggestions?
I have some old, defunct keys for cars that have long since gone to the junkyard, and for other locks that no longer exist. Is there another purpose they could serve? If not, do they need to go to a special facility to be recycled?
Hi Elise,
We’ve featured old house keys on the site and there seem to be a lot of people collecting them for one reason or another – I imagine many of them would take car keys too.
…how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-old-house-keys
Hello,
I was wondering if you have any ideas for an empty tabasco sauce bottle? They are so pretty, but due to the very narrow neck (so that you can only shake out small droplets at a time) it is unsuitable for storing anything that I can think of?
Thanks for the suggestion Rhiannon – we covered that for you here:
http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20090518/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-tabasco-sauce-bottles
What can I make with/of stuffed animals or plushies?I have about a ton of them,and all my neighbour kids are too big to play with them!
Hi WeshUonowa,
We covered that here:
http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20071210/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-teddy-bears-and-other-soft-toys
I have been given a shed full of random stuff to make crafts out of. Most of it I’ve managed to use but I can’t find any use for these skateboard wheels. What can I make with skateboard wheels?
I want to buy all kind of VHS cassettes If any one have the VHS tape and want to buy then mail me at my e-mail address : bc030400331@gmail.com
I have a number of plastic jiffy bag clips for which we no longer have a use, has anyone any suggestions on where and how we can recyle these please.
If you already have this item maybe someone can direct me toward the answer :) How do I recycle blown-out broken headphones? and CD players(i haven’t checked the site for this one yet) Can I put them in my house recycling bin?
Hi Sierra,
We’ve covered in-ear headphones here:
http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20070110/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-in-ear-headphones
As for the CD player, I don’t think I’ve heard of any doorstep recycling schemes which include electrical goods but in the UK (& EU in general) there should be an electrical goods section at the local tip to ensure the items are disposed of correctly. If you’re outside of Europe, you should probably check your local authority’s advice on how to deal with it – most have websites about that sort of thing now.
-louisa :)
Help! I have a beanbag which has flattened over the years and so I want to know a) what recycled stuff to refill fill it with and b) what to do with the useless little squished styrofoam bits. Craft suggestions, if there are any, might be helpful for other people but please can I have suggestions that don’t mean I have to handle the styrofoam; I have a deep and ridiculous fear of the stuff and can’t bear touching it, looking at it, or the squeaky noise it makes when handled. Odd, I know, but as fears go it’s pretty harmless.
Help! How do you recycle flavored butter that doesn’t taste good? We get heaps of it on prepackaged fish, but we don’t use it, now we have a lot of it. I read that you can’t compost it, which was my first inclination…
Lately, the Keurig coffee machine has gained in popularity. However, they coffee they use are in “K-Cups”, little shot-glass size pieces of non-recyclable plastic. After making coffee with them, you can remove the grids and are left with open top, shot glass size plastic cups with a hole in the bottom (maybe large enough to get the bottom of a ballpoint pen through). Any ideas on what to do with them?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-Cup
We have started a business designing and creating bags of all sizes, wallets, bike bags and more from used inner tubes. Costs are low because we work with bicycle shops and clubs to collect tubes. We will start putting together kits with patterns soon.
Thanks for your support.
flower pots from Pallets Picked up from the trash at the end they look really cool and make great decor for the garden. Some paint and a good looking drooping flower is what they need. I’m looking for a market if you want more info post a reply with your request here.
how can you recycle or reuse old magasines, especially things creative or pretty :D
At the bottom of each spindle of CDs or DVDs that I buy, there is one transparent plastic disk. It looks like a CD, but it’s made of completely clear plastic. I’ve a sun-catcher using window colours: http://www.flickr.com/photos/the_eternal_voyageur/3056626216/in/set-72157621694523589/
But I’m sure that there must be many more creative uses for this !
Funnily enough, I was spinning one of those around my finger last night — I’ll feature it on the site next week :)
-louisa :)