Posts tagged "rubber"

How can I reuse or recycle baby bottle teats/nipples?

We’ve had an email from Rebecca:

Love the website, have found it really useful but I want to know if I can recycle rubber teats? I am going to sell the bottles on e-bay for re-use but I know Mums won’t want used teats and we have about 25 of varying sizes and I cannot bear to just chuck them.

Would our local recycling centre take them, is there even a facility for recycling rubber bottle teats?

Would love any suggestions.

Apparently the clear teats are more likely to be silicone than rubber – silicone can be recycled but isn’t done so widely. If they are rubber, there may be a collection bin at your local household waste recycling centre but most recycling of rubber seems to be on a bigger scale – car tyres for example.

So what about reuses? It might be worth calling a local animal shelter to see if they could use them for bottle feeding small creatures – they might need the attached bottles too though.

Any other suggestions?

How can I reuse or recycle silicone awareness bracelets?

awareness-braceletWe’ve had an email from Sally:

Hi. My eldest collected lots of those gel awareness bracelets when they were all the rage a few years ago but now she says she doesn’t want them any more… What can I do with them?

I imagine like other rubber-ish items (like rubber gloves), they could be used to provide extra grip on sometimes slippery or cold surfaces – like metal handles of shovels.

Is there enough give in them to be able to use them as very strong elastic bands?

Any other suggestions?

How can I repair a pair of leaky trainers/sneakers?

leaky-trainersSo first up on our new “How can I repair this?” feature, how can I repair a pair of leaking trainers/sneakers?

I’ve got a pair of canvas trainers that I love – they’re like the ubiquitous Converse ones but No Sweat ones so sweatshop-free. I’ve worn the hell out of them for about five years and now they’ve both developed leaks in the sole – little tiny cracks/tears around the ball but on one of them the upper has come away from the lower slightly at the back too. I’d rather they didn’t become just fair weather footwear – so how can I fix them?

If they were hard soled shoes, I’d take them to a cobbler to be resoled but am not sure if they’d fix soft rubber soled trainers.

What about at-home fixes? I remember reading somewhere that someone suggested using silicone sealant to fix a similar sneaker leak – anyone tried that? Any better alternatives?

How can I reuse or recycle flippers?

flippersWe’ve had an email from Alfonso, asking:

Can I recycle a torn rubber flipper (the kind used for snorkelling)? I know you can get recycled rubber products.

Rubber recycling is quite common – car tyres being the most common thing collected and reused – but while I’ve seen bins for tyres at our local tip, our local tip guys seem pretty strict that it’s tyres only.

Does anyone know of any recycling companies that take rubber from individuals or anywhere it’s collected for recycling?

And what about reuses?

How can I reuse or recycle popped water balloons?

water-balloonsWe’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?