Recycle This regular Lizzie has asked:

Any suggestions for Nesquik tubs? I think Nesquik is probably the greenest solution to my chocolate milkshake addiction , but what, oh what can I do with the bright-yellow rectangular-ish tubs?

Google informs me that there are several types of Nesquik tub but the Nesquik website has a picture of this sort – curved plastic oblongs – so I’m going to go with that — hopefully Lizzie means this sort.

I would imagine they’d reseal pretty well – in order to protect the contents between milkshakes – so they could be reused as a container for other dry goods. If I had one right now, I’d use it for rice as we’ve got a too-big-for-me-to-hold sack of it or to keep opened packets of flour or sugar dry and air tight.

Assuming the label peels off and you’re left with a plain yellow tub, the fun colour also lends itself to be used as storage in a kid’s room – I suspect it’ll be just too small for most pencils/felt tip pens, but crayons would fit in it as would small figures/toys.

Any other reuses spring to mind?

As for actually recycling it, I can’t find out online what type of plastic the tubs are made from – anyone know?

(Btw, on the Nesquik website, “mums” and “dads” have separate sections: the mums section is about nutrition and convincing your kids to drink milk because “we know it’s good for them” while the “dads” bit is about having fun, spending time with your kids and being nostalgic for the Nesquik taste. Sigh.)

We’ve had an email from Diana:

What can I do with the plastic pots my moisturizers and hand creams come in? They’re round plastic with screw lids but because they’ve had chemical creams in them, I don’t want to use them for food.

Why not check if you can bulk buy your favourite moisturiser/hand cream and refill the existing pots rather than buying new ones each time?

You could also make your own creams – or give them (possibly via Freecycle/Freegle) to someone who does.

As for other reuses, they’d be perfect for storing small things like beads/button or nails/screws — and would give you an instant maraca-type instrument too ;) . They’re also pretty water tight so might be useful for small emergency kits – you could probably fit a pack of matches, a few tea lights and maybe a mini LED torch/flashlight in there.

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?

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..)?

A suggestion from Jo:

My husband and I are both on a monthly contact lens package. We are accumulating vast numbers of lenses cases which I do not have the heart to just chuck in the bin! There must be something you can do with them other than make salt & pepper containers for when you go camping!

I await inspiration!

I’m a glasses gal so I haven’t faced this problem – but I’d love to hear if other people have used them for anything or if anyone’s got any suggestions : )

(Photo by jocan)