We’ve had a message from Anita on the Suggestions page:

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…

Yes, I’d avoid composting it in case the smell attracts undesirable vermin to the heap. (If you’ve got a completely sealed composter, it’s less of a problem.) I did wonder if it could be used to attract more desirable wild creatures to the garden – such as being used in making some sort of bird feeder – but from what I’ve read, wild birds are best fed vegetable oils rather than animal ones, and butter is, of course, going to be too runny to make into fat balls anyway. Someone please correct me if that’s wrong.

One reduce idea would be to avoid buying it in the first place – but depending where/when you shop, I realise that’s not always an option.

Like nearly all oily things, butter can be used as a lubricant but I’d probably avoid using to, say, oil squeaky door hinges around the home, because it’ll go off. The oiliness can apparently be used to ease glue off skin and tree sap off skin & cars though.

Other ideas I’ve see mentioned for butter include using it as a hand/foot rub or as an emergency shaving cream – although I suspect it would depend on what the butter was flavoured with (at a guess, chilli butter and shaving would. not. mix!)

Any other suggestions?

(Photo by superfloss)

We’ve had an email from long time contributor Bobbie:

I’d like to make a rain chain out of recycled material. Something beautiful but functional and long lasting – the Wikipedia article which has some beautiful examples.

I hadn’t heard of rain chains before but they seem like a fab idea: rather than hiding rain water in a boring tube, they make the drain/downspout into a feature – possibly not great for in constantly wet places like the UK but useful in dry climes and also as additional downspouts where a normal plastic one would look horrible.

So then, Bobbie’s query: what recycled stuff can they be made from? My first thought when I saw the cup style ones on Wikipedia was bundt cake and other round/ring cake tins – I quite often see baking things like that at our local furniture-focused charity shop, and it would be perfect for someone who loved baking. Old paint cans, painted pretty colours, might work too.

I imagine steampunk fans could make very cool ones with random scrapped cogs and machine parts – and a little light rust would add to the look.

Any other suggestions?

(Photo from The Fun Times Guide)

We’ve had an email from Danielle – experiencing situation that will be oh-so-common at the moment:

My kids love playing with water bombs. There are gazillions of split water bombs all over my garden and garage roof and god know where else. I have also collected a tubful thinking I might do something with them. But what …? Obviously they are all split ones?

We’ve covered foil balloons on the site before but not the rubber type – so any ideas?

Like regular balloons, they’ve got an roll of rubber at the open end – snipped off, they make strong (but quite tight) rubber bands.

As for the larger, flat pieces – anyone know any good ways to fix them together to make a patchwork? While it’s not going to be elegant, it might make a fun splashproof surface for in a kids’ room or used to add grip when opening stubborn jars.

Any other suggestions?

A few weeks ago (I missed it somehow), Courtney posted on the Suggestions page:

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?

If they’re still in pretty clean (whether bashed up or not), I imagine they could be made into a very cool coat rack – or even doorknobs – ideal for a skater’s bedroom. (They might need to be glued into position if the spinning around causing slippage problems.)

If they’re still on an axle and/or easily attachable to a board, they could be used to make a trolley for moving heavy plant pots around the garden.

Any other suggestions?

We’ve covered orange peel, banana skins and pineapple bits, what about melon rind?

During last week’s super-hot (for the UK) weather, John consumed a fair bit of watermelon – leaving slithers of rind behind after he’s eaten the flesh.

A quick Google reveals that after peeling off the green outside layer, the remaining rind can be candied or made into a spicy pickle. Chickens also like pecking at them (in the same way they do just about everything) and if nothing else, it can be composted.

But is there anything else? Can the rind – the tough outer layer – be dried and used like a leather?