Over on the “Suggest An Item” page, Lizzy asked:

How about ribbons? I always nab ribbon from shop bought cake and the slightly more upmarket clothes tags thinking ‘That’ll come in handy’ but I never seem to find a use for it – especially ones with brand names written across them. Thanks!

I also add them to my craft stash too – but I doubt I’ll be using the branded ones in anything decorative any time soon. So suggestions?

The thin ribbons from new clothes are another challenge – they’re not long enough to use for many “tying up” tasks but are still useful for some things.

Anne says:

They make great gift labels along with old birthday cards.

And Alison Bailey Smith also uses them in her work:

I roll them with wire and then coils them or recently I have used them to wrap around combs when making fascinators with wire used to hold toys in place and flowers made from toothpaste tubes.

They also make great cat toys – tied together, they were just long enough to hang to cat-height from the door handles of our old house and just about every door had one for ongoing cat amusement.

What do you do with them?

The UK government’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee has recommended new targets for recycling in Britain.

We currently recycle around 37% of our waste – up from just 11% in 2001 – but still lagging behind other European countries, who recycle up to 70% of their waste. The new targets will have us recycling 50% of our waste within five years (2015) and recycling 60% by 2020.

Recycling provision has grown immensely over the last decade – hence that 26% jump – and most people, certainly in urban/suburb areas, do most of their recycling through regular kerbside pickups. But what do you think would improve the doorstep recycling most in your area? What would allow you to recycle more? What do you think would encourage less green-focused people to make the effort too?

I’ve put a poll together to make it easy for people to contribute but feel free to add your own suggestions in the poll or in the comments below.

A couple of weeks ago on the “Suggest an Item” page, Fishcake_Random asked:

How can I recycle the little foil tins that mince pies and jam tarts come in??? I have a large stack this year and I just know they must have some amazing crafty type useage.

(Apologises that I’ve only picked it up a little late – after mince pie season has finished for another year…)

Foil tins can often be recycled alongside cans in metal recycling bins/kerbside – and sometimes (although less so now recycling is widely available) to raise money for charity.

Like foil cat food trays, they can be used as a mould for making soaps or for little tealight-shaped candles.

Any other suggestions?

I can’t believe we’ve not featured this already. We’ve covered stale bread, bread bag tags, how to make a bread bin recycling old stuff, and what to do with an old bread machine pan but not the bags that pre-sliced loaves come in.

Most pre-wrapped loaves (in the UK at least) come in LDPE bags – low-density polyethylene, ie, plastic number 4. They can be doorstep recycled in some places (check your local guidelines) and can be included with carrier bags at some collection spots.

But how can they be reused first? The most simple reuse is, of course, as a sandwich bag – but anything more interesting or creative?

(Photo by Richard George)

Over on Twitter, scrapiana asked/thought aloud:

Parmesan rinds. Why am I keeping them? Dim recollection that Jamie Oliver has some use for them. Must find out soon or they’re for the bin.

Apparently, like broccoli stalks, it’s one of those things that some people ALWAYS cook and they don’t understand why the rest of us don’t use them all the time. What do you use them for? Away from the dinner plate, would they be ok to add to a bird feeder fat mix, or would they be too salty?

Away from parmesan, the biggest thing holding me back is when the rind feels a little fabric-y, like the cheesecloth is part of the rind. I presume – possibly wrongly – that that sort of rind isn’t edible – so what else can be done with it?