Brr! For few days last week, it felt like we were getting a last minute reprieve from summer’s sayonara but now it feels very autumnal indeed. I guess it’s time to shift into winter mode – I’ve got a list of insulating chores to complete, the garden needs more tidying, I need to make soup, lots of soup, and I also need to go through the woolies in my wardrobe to see what’s in there & what’s still wearable etc.

Now is the perfect time to do the latter because charity shops, shelters and other related charities need clothing in good time before winter properly kicks in – they need to time to sort and distribute them etc. I urge everyone to have a look through their wardrobes and see if there is anything that could be used more productively by someone else. And it’s not just jumpers or cardigans – scarves, hats & gloves are all very useful and in high demand too.

When possible, passing on items for reuse by others is always the best option — but what if they’re not they’re not in a suitable condition for passing on? Or if they’ve got sentimental appeal (such as they were made by a loved one)? What can be done with them then?

If part of the scarf is damaged/stained, the rest of it could salvaged to reuse as any flat knitted fabric – cute tote bag, cushion cover, nappy/diaper cover – and if it’s got a decent quantity of wool in it, it could be felted opening up more options (oven gloves/hot pads, wrist warmers, even cute tote bag).

Any other upcycling ideas?

Recycle This regular Anna left a question on the Suggest an Item page:

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.

Dog toys do typically need to be bigger and stronger than cat toys – it’s quite important that they’re the right size for the hound, given the variety of pooch sizes — neither too big or too small.

I’m still quite new to dog ownership – we’ve had Lily for about six months now – and she’s not really one to play with toys, just carry them around, so we’ve not made any toys for her.

I do know though that a quick and easy tug toy can be made plaiting together old tights/stockings/pantihose or strips of an old tshirt.

Or make the equivalent of a ball on a string by placing an old tennis ball (or the like) at the end of an old stretched sock, tie a knot in the sock to secure the ball, then play away!

Any other suggestions? What homemade toys have you made for your dog? Or, more typically, what has your dog found itself to reuse as a toy? ;)

(I illustrated the equivalent cat toy post with a picture of our cat Boron going mad with a piece of string. Lily refused to perform. So comedy photo by Miguel Vera instead – great expression!)

We’ve had two similar requests over the last couple of days so I thought I’d post them together.

First up, Alan wants bottle caps:

I make beautiful replicas of fine art (e.g. Matisse, Warhol) and logos from bottle caps: See my site at www.bottlecapartwork.com

Also, If you have caps, please email me at bottlecapartwork@gmail.com and I can get you some money for your trouble to send them to me. Paypal available.

And Laura’s colleague Vicky wants wine corks:

On of my colleagues is looking for wine corks (real or synthetic) to use for her wedding. Have a look at her blog post here: http://adessi1010.blogspot.com/2010/09/what-corker.html and if you’re interested in sending some of your corks please feel free to contact me via the comments or on email laura.coyne@adessi.co.uk

Contact the relevant person if you’ve got some to send along!

Back in the day, way back in the day, we featured reuses and recycling ideas for wine corks – and there are lots of great suggestions on there. But they nearly all are for real corks, not the synthetic alternatives so I thought it might be interesting to focus on those now instead.

Like with cork corks, plastic wine corks are sometimes just spongy tubes and other times they’re a little mushrooms, with a cap firmly attached to the end like the one in the picture. (You can also get designed-to-be-reusable plastic screw-in corks, but they’re less of an issue here since they’re purposefully bought for homebrewing and will typically be reused for as long as possible).

I imagine some wine cork crafts – such as noticeboards – can just as easily be made from straight plastic corks as cork-corks — but should some things be avoided? (Trivets for hot pots maybe? I’m unsure how heat resistant the plastic will be.)

And what about for reuses/recycling ideas for those with a cap attached/integrated?

At one point during the cheese course thing at the weekend, the topic of conversation turned to packaging. For us hobbyist cheese makers, it’s not an issue but for the guy running the course and the woman hoping to set up a small scale cheese company, it’s an important thing to consider: balancing appearance with food safety/durability, cost and, of course, the environmental impact.

Both of them were considering the well-trodden route for pre-packed cheese packaging – vacuum packed in pretty plastic wrapping – because it seems lower waste than the current option (clear plastic wrap then paper/cardboard to make them more presentable). But because you invariably have to cut into such wrapping to open it, it can’t be reused (it’s seldom even good enough to continue using around the remainder of the half-eaten product) and while the plastic – typically polythene (LDPE, resin code 4) – can be recycled, it’s not kerbside recycled everywhere and crucially, it’s often not marked so people don’t know it can be recycled.

The cheese wrapping discussion got me thinking about packaging in general, and about something I’d been thinking about since my Graze box rant last week. Following the 3Rs, we should first REDUCE, before thinking about REUSING and RECYCLING – but sometimes, in some situations, it seems better to get a larger amount/weight of packaging that’s easier to reuse or recycle.

A few examples:

• The supermarket near me sells luxury pâté in a vacuum sealed pack but the cheaper stuff in a little plastic tub. The plastic tub is heavier/sturdier so used more natural resources in its manufacture but now I can reuse it for storing small quantities of leftovers etc.
• In the past, we’ve bought luxury ready-meal desserts in reusable dishes – souffles in glass ramekins and crème brulees in shallow glazed terracotta bowls. Both the ramekins & terracotta bowls have entered our crockery supply and been in circulation for years. Plastic tubs, even reused a few times, would probably have well gone by now.
• I pick pickles & condiments in heavy glass jars rather than light, unbreakable plastic squeezy bottles because glass recycling is more efficient than plastic (and here, we can doorstep recycle glass but not plastic). I can also reuse the glass jars for preserving, saving me from having to buy new jars for that.

So what do you think? Would you prefer items to be packed in the least amount of packaging possible or prefer more packaging but something more reusable or easier to recycle? Would/do you pay more for items with reusable/recyclable packaging?