Hey team. Apologies for the lack of a post on Friday – I was ill with my second cold of 2011 (which, given it was only the 7th of Jan, I thought was pretty good/bad going. I’m in the constant coughing stage now, such fun.) I spent the whole day in bed wishing I could get a sinus transplant – only momentarily distracted by the new DEFRA 2009-2010 recycling stats by area report – numbers are the best medicine ;)

Those who know that Strepsils are a vaguely medicinal lozenge for sore throats will probably be able to see that the inspiration for this post came from my sick bed.

For years, they’ve been sold in blister packs but now you can get them in plastic “handy tubes” too. I would imagine that the tubes use more packaging per tablet than the blister packs but they seem considerably easier to reuse, and reuse often, than blister packs.

The tubes are sturdy plastic, just less than 2cm/an inch in diameter and about 10cm/5ins long. The lid pops off but re-seals securely – the new camera film canister, perhaps?

The tube I’ve got smells strongly of “honey & lemon” so I’m not sure I’d want to use it for food items in the first instance but it would be perfect in a sewing kit – somewhere to keep needles, buttons or other small fastenings, or even a whole emergency kit for carrying in a handbag. As the top’s seal feels at least water-tight, it would probably be great for taking small quantities of shampoo or conditioner (etc) when travelling.

Any other suggestions?

We’ve had an email from Sylvia in a similar vein to our “how to use the last of everything” post a few months ago:

I love Avon products but I can’t for the life of me figure out how to get all of the gel out of the bottle when I can’t shake any more out!! Any suggestions??

Back in the day, I used to use a straw to get the last of my (apparently frizz-easing) hair gel out of the narrow, tall bottle – that was pretty messy but got a lot of the sticky gunk off the sides of the jar.

Depending on the gel’s use, you might be able to do the old add-water-and-swoosh-around trick used for shampoo — it’ll make the gel a little more watery but that’ll be fine for some gels.

If you’re losing a lot of gel, and the bottle is plastic, you might want to see if you could swap to getting it in flexible tubes rather than bottles – that way you can cut open the tube and scrap out the stuff left on the sides.

Any other suggestions?

We’ve kinda touched on this topic before when talking about reusing and recycling disposable razors but that was a long time ago and I thought it might be worth bringing it up again.

As when we were talking about it in 2007, I still use disposable razors occasionally – perhaps one a month since I’m still not particularly hairy or bothered, and use a rechargable electric razor for my legs. In the grand scale of things, it’s not exactly a lot of waste but it still bugs me to use anything that’s designed to be disposable.

(The electric one obviously uses power but other than that, they last a good while – the batteries on my rechargable ones tend to die every 3/4 years, but John’s got a mains powered one that will last years and years – his dad’s has been going for 20+ years apparently.)

On the old post, some people said they’d given up disposable razors (or more commonly disposable razor blades attached to a reusable handle) in favour of a traditional straight razor (aka cut-throat razor) – and they’ve never looked back. However, they’re only good for smooth/tight skin – not very useful for armpits, or the back of legs.

So what are the other options? What do you do?

Over on the Suggest an Item page, Cate B asked:

I have an old ali baba wicker laundry basket that is unravelling itself after years of use. Do you think I could grow potatoes in it and would I have to line it to stop soil falling out?

If the wicker is made from natural fibres, I imagine that it would start to rot pretty quickly once it was filled with wet soil — I had a purpose-bought, plastic-lined wicker hanging basket a few years ago and that fell apart after two years max, in the garden – and that was designed to be outside and hold wet soil.

I probably wouldn’t be much more willing to use it if it was made from synthetic fibres either: plastic for outdoor use is treated to be resistant to UV rays, else it discolours & starts to break down – and I’m not sure I’d want plastic breaking down that close to my food.

On the flip side though, if you can grow your potatoes in something else, you could use the wicker basket for storing them – brush off any damp soil and leave them in the open to dry off excess surface moisture for a couple of hours, then they can be stored in the wicker basket in a cool, dry part of your house. The wicker will let excess moisture to escape unlike a solid container.

Has anyone tried growing potatoes in an old washing basket?

Or does anyone have any reusing or recycling ideas for one?

• I’m a big fan of reusing milk bottles for all sorts of things and this idea for using them as stationery organisers is fantastic. If they were for use by little delicate hands, I’d be tempted to sticky-tape the cut edges to make them less sharp.
• Kristin from Craft Leftovers used the offcuts from fitting a bamboo blind to make coordinating twined coasters.
• Jan McNeil, a Sculpture & Photography student from the University of Ulster, emailed to ask if anyone has any old baby dummies/pacifiers lying around – she wants them for an art project. Get in touch if you’ve got some – or have any ideas for where she might be able to get them from – and I’ll pass your details/suggestions along.
• I love the idea of this toothbrush holder made out of old toothpaste tubes. (Although I’d want to make sure it was easy to clean – which, with the lips, I’m not sure it would be in this design).
• This reusable lunch bag how-to uses new shower curtains but it could equally be made from a clean old one. A great way to reuse to reduce.
• Someone – a name didn’t make it through so I don’t know who – sent over some photos of a birthday table cloth made from old balloons: “I recycle my birthday ballons by gluing them to a clear plastic sheet, gotten in the fabric dept. They make a cute table cover for the party!”