Had an email last week from Kate Spencer. She had lots of good ideas for ways we can develop the sites (thanks Kate!) and a couple of suggestions so here’s the first:

I’m busy tidying up after Christmas, and because I have a 3 year old I have lots of those annoying plastic ties that manufacturers use to fasten toys into the packaging.

She realises there are some obvious reuses – such as bag-ties, “I fastened our Christmas lights onto our balcony with them” and to tie-up plants in the garden – but wanted to know if anyone has any other suggestions.

For anyone not familiar with what she means, it’s little thin strips of wire coated in plastic that can be bent over and the ends twisted together to make a secure (ish) tie. They’re also used in computer components packaging and that sort of thing. The photo is of the lightweight sandwich bag equivalent – because I couldn’t find any others. : )

(Oh, and happy new year everyone!)

At this time of year, a lot people end up eating more than their of own body weight in individually wrapped chocolates and as pleasurable as it is to undo all those little tiny chocolately presents, it’s a whole lot of packaging going to waste too.

Around here (and at my mum and dad’s house), said wrappers instantly become cat toys but ones that are only interesting until the point the cat actually catches them (fickle cats that they are).

So what else can we do with them once the cats are bored? I’m thinking particularly those ones that fold out to be squares of transparent plastic or foil because they seem to be the most obviously reusable but any suggestions are welcome, of course.

(Photo by Gastonmag – insert your own “But Ambassador…” joke here)

We bought a flat-packed side table from Ikea a few weeks ago (to be my home office so my junk doesn’t pile up right across the living room) and its individual flat pieces were wrapped in thin sheets of foam to stop them scratching each other in transit.

The sheets are about 50cm wide and 1m in length, but only about 1mm thick so pretty see-through.

We don’t really have anything we need to pack up at the moment and while I’m not opposed to keeping it around until we have something to pack, if we can use it for anything else in the meantime, that would be good. So any suggestions?

John used to play drums back in the day and has just started to pick it up again so has been cleaning/refurbishing some of his old kit.

He used to specialise in hitting them awfully hard with sticks so the “skins” are a bit knackered – especially since he uses brushes on them now, therefore needs them coated so they sound right … or something (my musical skills begin and end with the swanee/slide whistle).

Anyway, we’ve now got a couple of old drumheads lying around the house now – they’re not torn, just not worn out. For those as musically challenged as me, they’re, well, like floppy-ish frisbees: round and flat (funnily enough), with the edges curved around about 1.5cm (3/4 inch). The skin is thin plastic and, as I said floppy.

Presumably with all the musicians out there, there are thousands of these things discarded every week – so any suggestions what people can do with them? And what about if the skin is torn – any suggestions then?

(Photo by Vierdrie)

Because of all the hoohah over identity fraud, we’re told that bank cards and credit cards need to be snipped up into a million pieces then strewn to the four corners of the earth, preferably into volcanoes and the like. But are there any green (yet still not fraud-risky) ways to recycle them instead?

And what about cards that don’t require such precautions? I have a whole wallet full of plastic credit-card-esque cards that have expired – like discount/reward cards, my old library card and the frequent flyer card from when I frequently flew.

Aside from breaking and entering locked warehouses in movies, anyone got any suggestions for reusing them?

(Photo by LotusHead)