How can I reuse or recycle baby stair gates and play pens?
We’ve had an email from Karen:
How can I recycle a baby cot, stair gate and play pen?? Cant bear to throw them away but seems difficult to give away!!
It doesn’t have to be difficult to give them away – join your local Freecycle/Freegle group, post an “offer” message and chances are someone will come to collect it from your house, at your convenience, within a few days if not hours (or post an ad on GumTree [like Craig’s List in the UK] or on eBay – if your goal is to get rid of it, start it at 99p and mark it “collection only” and it’s almost sure to go).
Or give them to a charity shop – it might have to be a furniture focused charity or charity shop but there should be one of those near you – and some places even collect furniture donations. The NCT also regularly organise local “nearly new” sales – for parents to pass items onto new parents in need.
As for reuses, we covered baby cots a few weeks ago – some nice ideas on there including making the cot into a bench seat/sofa for the growing kid’s bedroom. Stairgates are also used by people with dogs as well as babies, to keep pesky mutts in or out of certain places – if you know anyone with dogs (particularly small ones), they might be interested. Ditto a play pen to some extent – they’re useful for penning in all sorts of small animals, not just baby humans – someone who breeds cats or puppies might like to use it for a birthing area, or it could be used as a temporary run for ill/pregnant/new rabbits or chickens.
If they’re still in good condition, it would definitely be best to pass them on – any other suggestions for how to pass them on easily? Or for reuses/recycling ideas?
(Photo, which illustrates my doggy point, by ewen and donabel)
See if anyone with puppies, kitties or other fluffy animals would need one.
Maybe the local animal shelters could find good use for them.
From 3 sides of an old babycot, I made a fence that is already used in many different ways. To protect the children from the stove or to climb a staircase. To change into a playing tent. And at the moment, we use it as an extra cage for one of the chickens to isolate her, when she is trying to brood empty eggs again. :-(
Very multi-functional, and very handy that it can stand on its own.
Put the baby gate over the bath, and use it to put your wet washing on.
It can be offered to an organization that briings children to foster homes, either public or private. Their work is often short notice and they may need such items to accompany a child to a foster home.
They can also be used for garden trellises
You can block unsafe windows with it too.
How about having another baby. .. ? If not, I’m sure someone down the line will be able to put it to good use. Nothing like a useful present.
Trellis in a garden.