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Do you have something to reuse or recycle but you just don’t know what to do with it? AND we haven’t had the decency to feature said thing on “How can I recycle this?” yet? Gosh, we’re terrible, aren’t we?
You can either leave a message in the comments section below or send us an email if you have any ideas. You can include a picture too if you’ve got one to hand. We’ll give you a thank you nod when we make the post and you’ll, hopefully, get lots of ideas about what to do with your item.
Email us at: items@recyclethis.co.uk
If you want to make something reusing or recycling things (for example, how to make a piggy bank, or a shopping bag, or jewellery), or repair something, or reduce your use of something, we’d also love to hear from you. Again,
Email us at: items@recyclethis.co.uk
Or have you reused or recycled something in an interesting, clever or creative way and want to show it off, but can’t wait until we get around to featuring that item? Just tell us what you did and send a photo if you can, and we’ll feature it on the site when we can.
Email your ideas to: clever@recyclethis.co.uk
Just saw some fantastic mobiles made at our look art gallery by kids using cds, the clear ones would be even better.
CD WARNING!
CD and DVD plastic is very brittle and forms dangerous shards when hit or drilled. It also tends to fly everywhere when it does shatter.
CDs must be kept out of the reach of children… especially those with a history of smashing things.
Any ideas for recycling use glow sticks?
The type you might get at raves and festivals with the non-toxic chemicals that create a reaction when the stick is ‘snapped’.
*high five*
I would say it would be cool if you opened the glow sticks and dried them on clothes. Then you could recycle the plastic.
Glow Stick WARNING!
I’d research Glow Sticks on the internet first. US soldiers used the liquid to torture prisoners so I’d say the chemical is an irritant at the very least. You will have to contact the manufacturer to identify the plastic tubing before you recycle it. The glow chemical may contaminate the plastic making it unsuitable for recycling.
Heya does anyone know of any Recycling shop websites? I really need new furniture but i want to see if i can recycle while getting it.
hi, you can visit http://www.freecycle.org
there is all sorts of things on there.
take a look you might find what your looking for .
Have you tried E-bay? It’s technically a second hand shop only online.
How about a Recycling things into energy saving things? For example, I use leftover cheapo clingfilm as secondary glazing on all single-glazed windows in winter – stick it round the edges with no gaps and hairdry it to make it pull tight and go ‘invisible’. Also, the shiny silver insides of food packaging (cleaned) can be stuck on a piece of cardboard to be used as a radiator reflector panel. Living in a house that loses heat like a sieve (no cavity walls *shakes fist at builders* ) I would love to hear more ideas from all the imagianitive people out there :)
Thanks!
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.
Merry Christmas
x x x
What about putting them around fairy lights as reflectors? Small hole in middle for the bulb.
Use them to make mince pies and jam tarts….?
we reuse them over and over as paint tins for my kids. The paint washes out well with soap and water.
How can I decontaminate earth?
I live near an occupied social center, people volunteer to do projects and teach others to live sustainably. We’ve made a compost bin, hoping that we could use it for a garden but the terrain was a textile-chemicals factory. Its green and there are trees but we can’t start with a contaminated earth.
I’ve heard that there are plants that clean toxines. What are they? How do they clean, can I compost them afterwards?
Which fungi, bacteria, and/or plants to use depends on the kind of contamination/s you have. Whether you can compost the plants afterwards depends on whether the toxics are only absorbed or transformed into something harmless.
The process is called bioremediation.
Wishing you the best of luck!
PS
I suggest you have your soil analysed first, so you know exactly what kind of toxics you have to deal with (some plants/bacteria/fungi are “specialized” in certain kinds). The “comune” should be able to help you with whom to turn with your soil samples.
You can microwave soil to sterilise it, use a plastic bag with a small opening to allow steam out
Sezgi, here is a link to a wikipedia article that lists plants that are good to clean the air.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_air-filtering_plants
Also, there is a youtube video ” 6 ways mushrooms can save the world ” of Paul Stamets that talks about using mushrooms to clean toxins from the soil:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI5frPV58tY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BelfLIJErek
I think you should create raised beds and bring in new soil.
How can I recycle old badges? plastic and metal.
How can I reuse or recycle those cheap, tiny plastic toys that come in Christmas crackers, snack packets and the like, please? These are mostly just brittle, non-recyclable plastic ‘shapes’, not like the playable and durable fast food premiums. I don’t buy them, but what do I do with the bunch I’ve acquired over the years at parties and such? Even if I try to reduce by not accepting them, they would have been purchased, and would be given out to others anyway, even if I decline.
Thank you in advance!
you could put in easter eggs for an egg hunt, or give to kids with some glue and see what works of art they can create.
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 use them all the time in my jewellery and just been handed a nice gift by a friend of all the lovely ribbon from her clothes, used by shops for hanging clothes but we all hardly use them at home. I roll them with wire and then coils them or recently I have used them to wrap around combs when making fascinators http://www.flickr.com/photos/abscraft/3384971582 with wire used to hold toys in place and flowers made from toothpaste tubes.
The thin ribbons used to keep clothes on hangers, you know the ones that always show if you leave them in . They make great gift labels along with old birthday cards.
My garbage disposal has chewed its last meal. It’s rusty bottom leaks more water than the titanic, leaving the sink unusable. For the past few procrastinating months I ignored it with a removable catch bucket under the drips. I have been defeated, hubby says its time to say goodbye. What could I possibly do with the old disposal besides a chuck in the landfill?
Find a local sculptor using junk, and give it to him.
How can I recycle of 30-40 year old cement roofing tile approx. 800 sq ft. very few =chips
Put notices in local shops offering the entire roof for free or sale. Try ebay. The chances are someone can reuse the roof on sheds, or they may need replacement tiles for their own roof. Take care when negotiating the removal of the tiles! Make sure whoever does it has insurance!
Old tiles make good garden edging, or can be broken up and mixed with concrete.
How could I use completely dry fudge? I have two big boxes of completely dry Irish fudge that I’d like to find a use for. The fudge isn’t crumbly but dry and hard – hard enough that I don’t want to risk my coffee grinder with it.
Is there a way to make it soft again? Or just break it to small pieces somehow or soak in coffee or something.
Put a few drops of water on them, then brake them up. They can always be put in the compost.
Talk about a buried Gem! Had no idea that Bioremediation consisted of using fungi and plants to remove/ break down contaminants. We have an area of land that has been used for burning in the past… we’ll be looking for plants to remove the heavy metals from the soil before we plant out with veg.
Thanks
I’ve just had my first veg box delivery and was wondering if anyone had good re-use suggestions for the wooden veg boxes…?
Great question Krystyna! I’ve featured it on the site – http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20100414/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-veg-boxes
How can you recycle old, unused, unwanted incense sticks?
I was cleaning and found an old box of them. I hear you can still burn them, but I’m not into smelly stuff anymore and I hear certain kinds may have toxic ingredients (which is why I don’t want to try composting them).
Short of giving them to someone else, do you have any ideas?
Great question Jill – I’m sure lots of people have mostly-full packs lying around too, when they realise they don’t like a particular smell. I’ll feature your question on the site tomorrow.
You should be about to compost them at least.
They make OK fire starters.
They can also be used to fumigate a VERY bad smell in an emergency (guests arriving soon).
I have a number of ceramic and china mugs with the odd chip in them, usually on the lip where I would normally drink from. Otherwise the mugs are sound. I could still use them for coffee but they tend to get forgotten at the back of the cupboard. Is there any way of repairing them or putting them to better use?
Hi Cate,
We’ve covered a number of similar things in the past:
How to reuse mugs with broken handles – http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20070806/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-mugs-with-broken-handles/
How to reuse broken crockery in general – http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20060915/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-broken-crockery
How to reuse random bits of old china/crockery – http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20090406/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-random-bits-of-chinacrockery
Hope there are some ideas in the comments of those posts for you.
-louisa
What can I do with my old Birkenstock sandals? They’re a combo of rubbery foam soles, cork footbed, and leather straps. Because they take the shape of my feet, I doubt they’d be good hand-me-downs, but I hate to toss them.
If you like to you could do what one artist did and find more shoes (like near a railroad or in the junkyard) and make a mural of sorts out of them
Hi!
I am an MBA student and I am conducting a research among e-grocery consumers to see if there is possibility of adapting a new more green way of consuming. Can you please request your friends/ family/colleagues who live in the UK and have bought groceries online to fill this quick survey for me? It only takes a few quick minutes and they could be helping save the environment someday if this is a success!!
Please click on the link or copy paste it to your browser:
http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/299743/Consumer-Survey-of-a-new-e-commerce-business-model
Thanks mucho!
What could I use to make dog toys?
My friend got a puppy and I’d like to make him some toys. I’ve made cat toys for ages, but puppy toys definitely need to be stronger and bigger.
Great question, Anna!
We’ve featured making cat toys but not dog ones – which is strange since I have a canine to test them on now ;)
I’ll post it to the site next week and hopefully – for me and your friend – we’ll get some inspiring suggestions!
I bread labradors with my partner. The best toy I have ever seen is a large sheet of NATURAL green-hide leather. It must be true green-hide preserved with ordinary salt. A large sheet is difficult to manipulate and presents an unending challenge to the dog.
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?
Remove the bottom and turn it upside down. They make wonderful wind shields for young plants, and they look great.
What can I do with old pencil stubs, the used ones that are too small to write with anymore?
Sand the graphite down & use it to dry lubricate keys & locks around the house
They also make good firelighters.
Any suggestions for Nesquik tubs? I think Nesquik is probably the greenest solution to my chocolate milkshake addiction , but what, oh what can I do with the bright-yellow rectangular-ish tubs?
Nut & Bolt storage
You can reuse your old ford car alarm remotes if your next car is also a ford (cheap way to make a spare). Just check the owners manual for the sequence that puts the car alarm in learn mode and reprogram it with both the old and the new remotes.
A customer has started taking her shredded office paper to use as straw for her daughters horses.
After using paper for straw, it makes good compost.
Not sure if this is appropriate but I wanted to mention that I’m having a recycled craft book giveaway on my blog this week and maybe you might be interested? The link is http://www.accidentallykle.com/2010/10/craftivity-giveaway.html – apologies if this is inappropriate, I figured I’d give it a go :)
Thanks!
thank you
Old wicker baskets with no bottom. Turn it upside down and use it to protect young plants in your garden. They are very attractive.
hi everyone
I have bags of clothing men woman kids and continuously getting given more and more .I usually give to our local cancer research shop . I know there are some guys who collect this time of year but havent heard anything yet. Id like it to be collected if poss and given to something differant. im a hawder! and have regular supplies from friends and family but just hate things going to waste! anyone help!
Any ideas for the big brussel sprout stalk things? Oh, and can you eat the leaves that are sometimes on top?
Hi Lizzy,
While I hate-hate-hate sprouts, I recognise that this is still a good question ;)
I’ll feature it on the site on Wednesday,
-louisa :)
Sprouts make FANTASTIC vegetable soup… rather sweet… the sulphur smell you hate seems to disappear. You should be able to find lots of recipes for sprout soup on the internet, but in general, you can thicken them up with lentils or potatoes.
Organic sprouts don’t tend to smell as bad. Also younger spouts taste better in general. This is from someone who used to hate sprouts too. :)
Those cheep tents with the thin white pipes can be made a lot stronger. The pipes turn up a lot at landfills. There best attribute is the enamel white paint covering them. I thread them onto fencing wire to make high visibility horse fences on my property. I also use the white intake hoses off old washing machines.
We have got aprox. 100 English language teaching books (TEFL) which we would like to recycle. Most of them are perfectly OK but just old editions or a little dated. Any idea how we can do this? We are in Hastings E.sussex
Judith,
I’ll feature this question on the site soon but in the meantime, (assuming you’re not already working with them) it might be worth seeing if there are any asylum seekers/refugee groups in the area that might want them – I know in Leeds there are volunteer groups helping new immigrants learn English and would probably be grateful for any TEFL resources they can get.
If you don’t know of any organisations in your area, this might be a good starting point – http://rojbas.webs.com/links.htm
how do i recycle used cellophane bits ?
Saw this on flickr. what an absolutely FABULOUS way to recycle the colorful plastic from old toothbrushes…into fantastic JEWELRY!
check it out:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/i_am_bic/3405302758/
Rotten Eggs are the BEST fly attractant for bottle fly traps.
Fill your jar half way with water, then add two table spoons of baker’s yeast into your jar, add one table spoon of bi-cabonate of soda and mix well. Then put the egg in a spoon, hold your breath and gently tap a hole in the shell before dumping it into the jar.
Put your lid (with holes) back on, and put it at the bottom of the garden out of reach of any dog.
Bird cages. They often turn up at land fills without their bottom trays. I hate birds in cages, but the old cages make very good protectors for young plants and vegetables.
Turn your kitchen waste into hot water!
I do not have an automatic hot were system. I have an old fashioned chip heater. This is a fantastic machine to have in any home. I recommend it as a backup for a solar hot water system.
I burn small twigs from by property to help reduce the bushfire danger. I also burn ANY meat waste, or anything that has gone rotten. The occasional dead mouse goes in there too. Great if you don’t want to put meat products into your compost. It is a wonderful renewable energy source for making hot water. The result is I have CLEAN rubbish bins with no smell! All they contain is plastic packaging… which is a future project.
Chip heaters are very simple. They are simply an ordinary hot water tank with a fire box underneath. I am not sure if anyone is making them commercially any more BUT any engineer should be able to modify a gas hot water tank. I’d also look on line for DIY plans.
Old split plastic rubbish bins. I used one as a liner in an old metal rubbish bin. Metal bins often loose their bottoms, whereas the plastic ones often split on the sides. Between the two, I made a perfectly serviceable bin. I expect to get a few extra years of service out of two bins that had no future at all.
Brooms and rakes. I don’t know why, but people often throw out orphaned handles and heads of various garden tools. I simply play match maker. You can’t have too many garden tools on a farm. Reconditioned tools also make great presents.
Ironing boards. One of the great monuments to inbuilt obsolescence is the common ironing board. They are designed to brake after a few years, because the folding mechanism is made of cheep mild steal and the legs often buckle if someone places a heavy load of washing on them.
No matter, use a bit of fencing wire to lock them in an open position, then use them as light work benches in the studio or garden. Sure they are light, but many tasks do not need a heavy table. If you have a few of them, you have in effect a modular bench system that you can reconfigure with no effort. They are light enough to move with one arm which is very useful if like me, you find yourself in need of a bench when you have one arm full.
Just saw one as part of a wonderful art display with a screen print from Christine Toh on it in Kirby Gallery part of Kirby Library in the outskirts of Liverpool…called Crafted on til early February
Hi Philip,
Some great suggestions and ideas!
I’ll feature them on the site over the next week to highlight your suggestions and see if anyone else has anything to add.
-louisa :)
I have a promotional printed polypropylene indoor banner. Any ideas how to reuse it? I’ve seen bags made out of vinyl banners, but I’m not sure how a polypropylene with print on it would hold.
I used mine to make bunting, cutting it into traingular points and sewed it onto bias binding.
I have thought of making baby bibs,
placemats, even a rain coat. You could make
book covers, hats, bags, table runners
anything that you want really. Have fun
w/these ideas. I would do it if tome allowed.
Kris
Dear Alison and Kris,
thank you for your ideas.
I think mine will become a shopping bag :)
Mary
I have a banner covering the top of my chicken run for a bit of protection from sun and rain. It has grommets that help me tie it down.
A recycling tip from my parsimonious Italian mother-in-law on how to use
lettuce, red lettuce, etc. that is still good but not quite as fresh as you would want in a salad (the modern-day ready-cut and packaged mixed salads are notorious for losing their freshness quickly):
Chop up the leaves and add them to cooked onions or leeks in a frying pan, with, perhaps, bits of bacons, and you have a delicious and nutritious pasta sauce (don’t forget a sprinking of parmesan)!
Every month I cut the fingernails and toenails of my family and our pets. I also file the hard skin of our feet too. – Hygiene of feet is frequently overlooked in our culture, sometimes with severe consequences.
What could I do with the large amount of dry skin and nails that I accumulate? I was once told that it would take too long to break down in soil to be of value.
If I sterilised it I could use it for collage crafts with the kids but has anybody any better ideas?
Thanks
HZ
I’ma dancer and I have many pointe shoes that do not use anymore. I wonder how I can recycle or reuse, because I do not like throwing them in the trash, thank you.
Hi Bianca,
We covered pointe shoes a while ago – and there are lots of people looking for them for art/crafts projects – http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20090325/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-ballet-shoes-and-pointe-shoes/
This idea is not so new but worth mentioning – recycle old sweaters for yarn! Good quality yarn is expensive and lots of unwanted sweaters are made of great yarn! Sometimes they end up in thrift stores or simpy thrown away just because of a small hole or a tiny spot, but the yarn in the rest of it is very much usable and lovely.
Such sweaters can be taken apart and carefully unraveled for yarn. This can be a lot of work, but well worth it.
Yarn hunting can be addicting too. I have so much recycled yarn accumulated that I cannot use it all, and I offer it for sale in my etsy shop – http://www.etsy.com/shop/FunYarns/
But if you have time you should try that yourself.
Olga
http://www.etsy.com/shop/FunYarns/
FunYarns@gmail.com
Hello, I work in a resturant where we get new menus about every two weeks. They are nice menus, but have worn edges, maybe, some wear and tear. But we throw these menus out by the hundreds every two weeks. It seems so wasteful to me. We change them out to meet the company standards of how they should be presented. So what could be some ideas of how we can reuse the menus cause I’m pretty sure they can’t be recycled. Thanks!!
Hi Jessica,
I’ll use this question on the site tomorrow – see what ideas people have!
-louisa :)
A school might want them for a reality-based math class. It can be wonderful to have a class set of these!
Are the menu’s laminated? Need to know a bit more about the construction.