On Friday night, we killed, plucked & butchered two chickens. As you do.

To be accurate, the wonderful John B and my John did the killing, then my John’s brother Chris and I joined them in plucking, then John B showed me how to dress the chicken, and then I showed Chris. Chris handreared the chickens from day old chicks but had to give them up a couple of months ago ahead of the arrival of his son, Zachary on Valentine’s Day/Chinese New Year. We weren’t ready to take them on yet so John B, who is wonderful as I’ve said, offered to foster them until we were up and running. Then this week, he discovered the two he thought were boys, were definitely boys, and randy boys at that – and his girls were getting upset/hurt from being constantly jumped on. The boys had to go. (I’ve written up the full story on my personal blog.)

It wasn’t fun, it wasn’t my favourite way to spend a Friday night, but it wasn’t as horrific as I thought it would be. And when we ate our chicken for dinner last night, there was far far less cognitive dissonance than we’d ever had before while eating meat: on Friday evening, the chicken was flapping around in John’s arms, then on Sunday, it was in a wonderfully spicy sauce. (We tried some by itself too and it had a good flavour – they were a laying rather than meat breed so it wasn’t mind-blowing but it was nice.)

Between one thing and another, we used up a lot of the birds – from their livers to their feet – but their feathers didn’t lend themselves so easily kitchen delights. On John B’s recommendation, we just dumped them all in the compost heap but you know me, my mind instantly went to reusing & recycling ideas. Composting is alright as a reuse, but I wonder if there are better things…

Apparently, there are a number of research ideas of things to do with the bajillions of feathers sent to waste by the mass chicken production industry – a diverse selection of things from making circuit boards & biodegradable plant pots to using them to store biofuel and hydrogen fuel – but that’s not exactly stuff we can do at home though.

So any suggestions?

Over on the Suggestion page, Jill asked:

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 any more 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?

I think a lot of people will be in the same position as Jill – nearly full boxes of them tucked at the back of cupboards after they’ve decided they don’t like the smell or don’t want to use them any more.

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen some good reuses for them in the past but searching now, I can only find suggestions for things to reuse as incense stick holders – so I’m going to have to defer to the wonderful Recycle This community — any ideas?

(Photo by LittleMan)

We’ve had an email from Su:

Although is not strictly a recycle or indeed repair, I nonetheless need help!

I bought a lovely dress in a second hand shop which I just know I would get loads of wear from if only I could remove the smell! It seems to have been washed in a very highly perfumed washing powder or maybe fabric conditioner. Unfortunately, I am very susceptible to smells, so at the moment there is no way I can wear. I have washed it countless times, it’s been hung outside for weeks now and I have soaked it in vinegar, all to no avail, the smell does not even seem to be fading. It’s made of a man made material.

Any suggestions?

We often get clothes with a “charity shop smell” (which isn’t a bad smell, per se, just an overly-perfumed one) but one wash usually sorts them out, so I don’t know what to suggest on this lingering aroma. I suspect the answer may be to use bicarb of soda since that’s great at absorbing smells but I don’t know how that would be applied… Anyone know?

Any other ideas?

We’ve had an email from Dee, who first asked if it’s ok for people from the US to ask questions (it sure is!), then explained:

I currently use a CPAP machine and Medicare replaces the parts fairly frequently and I am unsure what to do with the “old” parts. I mean, I know some people may have a “problem” with recycling/reusing breathing type supplies but I hate just throwing the items away when perhaps they could be sterilized and used by someone who can’t afford the supplies and may otherwise suffer with sleep apnea.

Disposable plastic medical equipment (rather than sterilisable metal) really grinds my gears but from what I’ve read, this doesn’t seem to be just throwing something away for the sake out it – CPAP machine parts seem to need replacing due to wear and tear, which reduces efficiency and you don’t really want to reduce efficiency of something that is keeping you oxygenated.

However, the second part of Dee’s question is interesting – anyone know of any organisations that collect such medical equipment? The parts might be replaced periodically whether they actually need replacing or not, just to be on the safe side, but an expert might deem them to still be reusable.

What about recycling such items? My first port of call would probably be to contact the supplier & manufacturer of the parts but does anyone have any other suggestions?

(Photo of typical CPAP mask by JoJoJo04)

• Make wipe-clean bibs out of old plastic bags
• As part of Dollar Store Crafts‘ Stashbusting April, Heather has put together a great collection of reusing and upcycling links
• A number of recycling professionals are standing the upcoming UK General Election – supporting green issues and the green economy
• While it’s not as reusable as glass, this alternative milk bottle packaging is an interesting idea – a plastic bag in a supportive cardboard case.