We were around at our friend’s house the other night when John spotted a very cool looking piece of computer circuitry in the bin - a broken motherboard.
I’ve been wanting broken circuit boards for repurposing for a while - but there were too many big plastic slots/connectors on it for what I had in mind (namely using pieces of the circuit board to make jewellery or large flat pieces as notebook covers).
What else could be done with it? Are there any companies/organisations that specifically collect them for cannibalising/reuse/recycling or should they just be disposed of with other electronic waste?
We’ve had another email from Maja:
It’s me once again 
since I have so much junk to recycle, I came up with another question: what to do with various comics?
My little brothers collected a whole stash of Donald Duck, W.I.T.C.H and other comics books. Can I recycle them in some crafty way?
The first things that springs to mind are using them for decoupage or wrapping paper.
You could also make them into colourful envelopes - like Lynsey from Swirly Arts does with old children’s books.
Other suggestions?
We’ve had an email from Rob asking what a million people up and down the UK will be asking given the recent rush of awesome weather:
How can I recycle charcoal from the BBQ?
At the moment it’s still sitting in there but need to clean it out soon. Any suggestions instead of chucking it out?
As I’ve said before in relations to ashes from bonfires, ash from wood fires - untreated, unpainted wood - can be used in the compost heap or in the garden to bring down the acidity of the compost/soil (don’t use too much though, then it’ll get too alkaline).
But most of the charcoal briquettes that people use on barbecues tend to have random things added that you wouldn’t necessarily want in your compost heap - so unless you know they’re 100% wood based, it would be safer to leave them off your heap/veg plot.
So any there any things that can be done with them instead?
We’ve had an email from Jack:
Probably a long shot but i was wondering if anybody could think of any uses for old bits of worn-out sandpaper (i.e. once that have passed their optimum sanding potential). I’m a carpenter and go through loads of the stuff!
A good question and for once I’m completely stumped - I can’t think of anything. Recycling is probably a troublesome too.
Any suggestions?
(Photo by Simon Eugster)
Cor, this has been a long time coming: check out the new look Recycle This!
I’ve been meaning to give it an overhaul for ages and had hoped it could go live for our third birthday in April … but better late than never.
I think as well as being a lot fresher and cleaner, this new design makes a lot better use of the available space and makes things easier to find too. On that point, we’ve swapped the old (Wordpress) search for one powered by Google - the old version looked prettier but was useless!
There are a few little “quirks” of this new design that we’re sorting out - if you spot anything amiss, do let me know. Feedback is very much appreciated too. I’m hoping to add some more features to the site over the next few months as well - I’ve got ideas but if there is anything you’d like to see, get in touch.
We’ve had an email from Caren:
I’m moving out of halls next week and getting rid of the posters I bought at the start of the year, am sick of looking at them!!
I could just put them in our green bin but wondered if you had any better suggestions?
If they’re still in good condition, you might want to see if your student union has a furniture recycling programme and if they’d accept them in that. I don’t know how widely spread the practise is but (my local uni) Leeds University Union has a scheme to collect unwanted furniture, crockery, pans and other homeware etc at the end of the year instead of it just been dumped in the rubbish in the rush to clear out for the summer. The stuff is then redistributed to those in need in the local community - while posters aren’t as critical as having a pan to cook your dinner in, they might help cheer up a depressing room for someone. Or you could just pass them on to someone directly using Freecycle.
Aside from that, most proper posters I’ve come across tend to be pretty heavy paper so could be used for all sorts of papercrafts. You could use a couple which are either similar or pleasantly contrasting to make a paper basket like I featured on Things To Do Today last week. They could also be used as heavy-duty wrapping paper or made into gift bags/envelopes.
Any other ideas?
(Oh, and we’ve covered laminated posters too.)
We’ve had an email from Kaye:
I’ve got a bamboo blind that I no longer need. What can I do with it?
If it’s still in good, usable condition, I’d suggest trying to eBay it or better still, put it on your local Freecycle group - someone else might be able to use it as a window shade, save them buying a new one.
Aside from that, if it’s the thin type of blind (the stuff that’s a bit thinner than the one in the picture), you could remove any blind fittings and roll it up to use as a picnic/beach mat, or could cut it down into being a table cover or placemats - a good pair of scissors will probably cut through it.
Heavier stuff can be used as screening in the garden - it can be used to make nice curves around paths and the like if you lie it on its side.
Any other suggestions?
(By the way, we’ve already covered slatted window blinds.)
We’ve had an email from Catelin:
I misfired with a bag of pasta yesterday and it went all over the floor instead of into the pan! With our dogs, the ten second rule definitely does not apply so we can’t eat it now but I can’t bring myself to just throw it away either.
What can I do with it? Can I compost it?
It’s probably ok to go on the compost heap - because our compost heap is very close to our house, I’m overly cautious and I usually say don’t compost cooked pasta in an open heap or bin in case it (or rather stuff it’s been cooked with) attracts vermin, but not-cooked stuff should be fine.
Aside from that, you might be able to reuse it in a non-culinary situation. We’ve used dry pasta in place of poker chips (worked fine until John started eating his pieces) and of course kids can use it to make art - macaroni being the most common for that but other shapes like bows (farfalle), shells (conchiglie), and twists (fusilli) would work just as well. Kids could also use tubular pasta - like penne and tortiglioni - for threading practise (be warned: you might end up with a billion pasta necklaces…).
Any other suggestions?
We’ve had another suggestion from Leigh of the scarves and name-tags. She wonders what she can do with
those hideous foam things that are supposed to keep drinks cold.
I have like 8 of them but i never drink pop or beer.
They’re one of those annoying promotional things like bottle openers which tend to appear in your possession before you have a chance to say “no, thanks” to the person giving them out.
I’d keep one or two around to use for their insulating properties - keeping a bottle of water in your bag cold (and not leaking condensation everywhere) or if they’re big enough, using around too-hot coffee cups. But what can Leigh do with the rest?
Any ideas?
We covered audio tapes on the site a long time ago but we’ve had an email from Mark about the cases:
I have someone who wants the cassette tapes, but does not want the boxes they come in.
I am sure the material is the same as CD jewel cases, so would you be able to recycle that?
A number of companies recycle CD jewel cases so they might accept cassette cases too - see our post on the jewel cases for more information. There are also some charities still using audio tapes for spoken newspapers and the like - they might welcome a batch of cases in good condition to replace broken ones, as might libraries who still stock tapes as well as newfangled media.
Aside from that, how about reuses? They could be used as a retro business card case or a credit card wallet. Or to mix the old and the new, you could use them to protect USB keys and memory cards instead of having them lose in your bag.
Any other suggestions?
(Photo by kerppu)