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How can I recycle this?
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Creative ideas for reusing and recycling random stuff
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How can I reuse or recycle a baby’s cot?
We’ve had an email from Jess: What can I do with my little girl’s cot now she’s too big for it? We’re not having any more so don’t want to keep it and I know you’re not supposed to use second hand beds for babies. There is apparently an increased risk of cot death if [...]
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What can I reuse or recycle to make cheesemaking moulds?
Apologies for not posting yesterday – I was away on an “introduction to cheesemaking” course over the weekend and too tired to type yesterday ;) I’ve been making super-easy cheeses like paneer for a few years now but before I committed to anything that needed months of effort/ageing, I wanted to learn some core skills [...]
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How can I reuse or recycle (and reduce my use of) Graze boxes?
Ok, this is a bit of a rant dressed up as a Recycle This style question – it’s a genuine question but I feel the need to rant too! ;) So many people in my (geeky) world are going nuts for these at the moment and it makes me want to cry — all the [...]
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Recycling for charity: how to set up a money-raising scheme?
I regularly get emails from people involved with small charities asking how to set up recycling programs that will help them raise money for their cause. Collection/recycling programs have been part of charity fundraising for a long time, but recently most seem to have moved from collecting large amounts of low value items (such as [...]
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How can I reuse or recycle a glass table top?
We’ve had an email from Josie: My council (Suffolk) say they’ll only recycle glass bottles not other glass like windows. I’ve got an old glass coffee table to get rid of, what can I do with it? That’s a pretty standard glass recycling policy – only bottles and jars, not plate glass (like windows or [...]
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Five fantastic reuses for plastic milk bottles
With their semi-rigid sides & strong handle, plastic milk bottles are very easily reusable – which is useful since there are bajillions generated every day. We’ve had loads of great suggestions about them over the years but here are some of my favourites: 1. Pencil sorter Mentioned as a featured link a few weeks ago, [...]
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How can I reuse or recycle mouldy bread?
We’ve had an email from Milly: I know about making breadcrumbs with stale bread but is there anything that can be done with bread that’s gone a bit mouldy? I don’t mean eat it of course but compost it? Obviously the best thing to do is avoid it going mouldy in the first place – [...]
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Reduce This: How can you tell when something is good quality?
Over on my new frugal living/growing/cooking blog The Really Good Life today, I’ve asked a Reduce This related question: How can you tell when something is good quality? The first stage of the recycling triangle is Reduce – reduce the amount of things you buy/use and buy items that’ll last and can be repaired rather [...]
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How can I reuse or recycle leather/suede purse/bag?
We’ve had an email from Joanne: Hi, I have an old leather zipped wallet type purse which is old, worn and quite grubby. I would rather recycle it somehow than put it in the bin but am not sure how to do this. Do you have any ideas? First, it obviously depends on the state [...]
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What can I reuse or recycle to make a foraging/harvesting bag?
Nearly every time we go out for a walk at the moment, we seem to find a new set of berries aching to be picked. And every time that happens, we kick ourselves for not having a bag with us. After our discussion about making one earlier in the year, I have a trug-ish basket [...]
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How can I reuse or recycle wine gift bags?
We’ve covered reuses for old gift bags in general before but Meri emailed asking about one particular type: I have a growing collection of wine bags – mostly paper – that are too nice to toss. How can I recycle them – get them to people who might reuse them? Most people I know reuse [...]
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How can I reuse or recycle squash or marrow leaves?
I always feel a bit silly asking for suggestions for vegetable/garden waste because the vast majority of the time, it just goes in the compost bin, job done — but sometimes I think it’s worth asking because what is a common place use/reuse to someone is completely mindblowing to the next (for example, the broccoli [...]
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How can I “repair” too runny/too solid homemade jam/jelly?
It’s very definitely jam season at the moment (in the UK at least) and I thought it might be fun to hear people’s favourite fixes for sticky situations (ho ho!) when the preserves don’t come out quite as you’d hoped. How do you test for the set point? The most common method seems to be [...]
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Crazy-wonderful & crafty emails I’ve received recently
This is usually a links round-up but this week everything seems to have arrived in my inbox instead ;) Daniel emailed us pictures of cannon he made reusing and recycling stuff. Yes, you read that right, a CANNON. (Ok, ok, a decorative rather than functioning cannon but still). I applied for a job working on [...]
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What can I reuse or recycle to build a wormery/vermicomposter?
We’ve had an email from Kate/Glitter Pixie: Hi, I wonder if the Recycle This community can help. My husband and I have finally moved into a house with outdoor space and want to seize the opportunity to begin composting. However, our yard is completely concreted over so a normal compost bin won’t work. I’ve done [...]
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How can I reuse or recycle magazines?
I discovered something amazing the other day: in four and a half years of running this site, after asking “how can I recycle this?” about over 850 different things, we somehow have managed to miss mentioning magazines. We’ve covered the plastic baggies they’re delivered in and various similar paper items like catalogues – but not [...]
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This week’s reducing, reusing & recycling roundup
I’m a big fan of reusing milk bottles for all sorts of things and this idea for using them as stationery organisers is fantastic. If they were for use by little delicate hands, I’d be tempted to sticky-tape the cut edges to make them less sharp. Kristin from Craft Leftovers used the offcuts from fitting [...]
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How can I reuse or recycle jigsaws?
We’ve had an email from Kathy asking about getting rid of her children’s old jigsaws: I just know they’ve got pieces missing so would feel bad about giving them to a charity shop. They’re cardboard with a shiny paper top so they could be recycled? Probably – as long as it’s just paper and not [...]
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How can I reuse or recycle old rubber stamps?
We’ve had an email from Lise, asking: How can rubber stamps be recycled? I found a box full in the stationery cupboard from two department name changes ago! Given the department name comment, I imagine these are custom ones, not generic “approved” or date stamps – I’d put the latter on eBay or Freecycle/Freegle because [...]
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How can I use my oven more efficiently during baking?
Yesterday, over on my new growing/cooking/making/frugal blog The Really Good Life, I discussed my love affair with slow rise/no knead bread. It’s really frickin’ ace – it doesn’t take much effort, reduces our food waste, is cheap in itself & stops us spending money in other ways too – and most importantly, tastes great. However, [...]
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