Every now and then, one of those upright toothpaste dispensing tubes makes it into our bathroom cabinet and when we reach the end of it, I stare at the solid plastic case and wonder if there is any way that it can be refilled, reused or recycled?

Does anyone know if the companies take them back at all?

Or if there are any other alternatives? It seems like it should be refillable with something or other (liquid soap?) but I’m not sure how I’d go about doing it – any ideas?

After some in-depth testing last week (closing one eye then the other, note blurriness, rinse, repeat), I suspect it’s time for me to get some new glasses.

I get new glasses every other year or so: partly because with the ones I pick, it’s about the same cost to get completely new glasses as it is to get lenses replaced in my existing frames and partly because after wearing them for at least 12 hours a day, every day, after a couple of years I fancy a change.

Anyway, I have a number of old pairs of specs hanging around the house – as spares and for wearing when decorating etc. But what else can I do with them?

I have a feeling some charities collect them for redistribution overseas – anyone know of any charities in particular?

Or does anyone know any companies that make it financially viable to replace just the lenses?

(Photo by capetan)

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..)?

Had an email from Christine about electric cars and car batteries:

For a year I drove the Think electric city car before Ford called them all back in for crushing (they ended up in Norway after Greenpeace kicked up a stink) and now I’m on a quest to get them back over here. My husband was a transportation planner in his earlier working life, so he’s trying to get the new owners of Think to talk to the Scottish govt about building them over here from kits. How cool would that be???

Anyway, it made me think – what can you do to recycle [car] batteries of any kind? Or is that a no-go area? I’d love to come up with a workable idea as the batteries are always targeted by the unbelievers when electric cars are touted as green vehicles.

Any suggestions for recycling – or (I suspect a long shot) reusing – them?

Had an email from Tom Beaumont, who has found some out of date condoms in the back of his bathroom cabinet.

I don’t fancy risk using them for their intended purpose for obvious reasons but thought you might be able to come up with some other suggestions!

The first thing that springs to my mind is testing whether the boiled condom over a phone box thing is an urban myth or not – but that’s not terribly practical (because a. it’s pointless really and b. phone boxes are hard to find these days).

Any better suggestions?

(Photo by Wazari)