A few weeks ago, we had to pick up John’s car from the garage after a service/MOT and while we were breathing in lungfuls of carbon monoxide waiting for the mechanic to finalise all the paperwork, I found myself staring at a big box of used disposable gloves near the counter. I don’t know how long the pile had been accumulating but there was a scary amount of them apparently just about to go in the bin.

Once I got back into the open air and my head stopped swimming from all the fumes, my first thought was “how could I recycle or reuse them?”.

I’ve only used latex gloves once – to provide grip when removing my now defunct tongue piercings – and I don’t think I’d have liked to have used dirty ones for that — but my tongue piercing fondling ones were clean after use and have been kept in the cleaning cupboard if we need them for any dirty jobs.

I guess there will be some overlap with rubber gloves – but the thinner Latex may restrict – or inspire – other uses.

So suggestions?

(Photo by Capgros)

We’ve had an email from Heather:

I have old ripped worn tablecloths and runners and such and I would like to know how to recycle them or donate them. They are not in good condition to donate to the goodwill or such, but don’t want to just throw them into an already overfilled landfill.

I was hoping to find something besides “use them for crafts”, so whatever you can come up with please help!!!

Heh, crafts would be the obvious answer of course – I quite often buy ugly-cool old tableclothes from charity shops for quilting or whatever.

But non-craft ideas… Cleaning rags? Protective packaging around parcels? Pretty drawer liners?

If you don’t want to do anything with them, many council/municipal waste collection sites (and bigger recycling stations) have fabric bins where the textile fibres are collected for reclamation and reuse.

Any other suggestions? Non-craft ones for Heather – but feel free to leave crafty suggestions for those more inclined to that sort of thing.

(Photo by ngould)

We’ve had an email from Jane, asking:

I just wondered if you are aware of how to recycle Tyvek overalls?

My first question when I received this was “what are Tyvek overalls?” and Wikipedia informs me that Tyvek is the brand name for those “disposable” overalls that look like they’re made out of tough paper but are in fact made out of high-density polyethylene fibres (apparently).

Wikipedia also informs me that DuPont, who makes Tyvek, there is a programme in place for reusing them in the US (according to the Tyvek FAQ, “non-contaminated garments used in cleanroom operations can be recycled for non-hazardous applications. Contact DuPont Protective Apparel Customer Service for additional information”) and I have emailed to see what they offer and where they offer it. (I’ll update when I get a response.)

I also asked them about other green disposal suggestions – their FAQ says the preferred method of disposal is landfill (!) but they can be incinerated (!!) – so we’ll see if anything comes of that. But in the meantime/in addition, does anyone else have any other ideas?

(Photo by Jsjacob)

Like the post I did about joysticks, I’m not sure whether this one was actually a suggestion or another spam message.

I got an email from one Bradley Boericke with the subject “wetsuit” but without any explanation text (or text at all) in the message itself.

But whether it’s a genuine question or a really, really obscure way to sell me penis enlargement pills, it’s a good question: how can they be re-used or recycled?

I suspect, like swimsuits, they have a tendency to degrade at key pressure spots and in order to keep those key pressure spots covered up (since they’re usually the bits that people like to have covered up), you have to replace the whole suit even though the vast majority of it is still in a good condition.

So ideas? And also any suggestions for lengthening their lifespan?

(Photo by simmo333)

Apparently, Victoria Beckham has pledged to reuse a pair of fan’s underwear that was thrown onto the stage during a Spice Girls gig the other day.

While I’m somewhat sceptical of her promise, let’s see if we can come up with some non-“shower-cap” ideas for how she can recycle them.

Our old pants usually go in our cleaning-rags bag but any more creative suggestions?

(On a related topic, we featured old bras a couple of years ago – lots of ideas for those babies!)

(Photo by nilob)