Bits and Pieces...The reduce/reuse/recycle thread

[Cadalot]

Sorry Cad hope you don't mind, but had to share this one as both my girls love them.

Not at all, at least I know someone is reading my diary/blog. The later ones I made that had a twisted open fans worked better, not sure I have a photo of that type, I will have to dig around the archives.

[ESBkevin]

Those plastic tubs you get oxidising laundry helper in. They are firm and have a plastic screw on lid. Ideal for sealing in seeds for overwinter storage.

[Sappidis]

Those of you that own fish tanks, use the water from there to water your plants. It's packed full of nutrients and is forever replenishable.

[hcmtm]

Great thread!!!

Just read from beginning to end and feel the need to bump it into our new season of growing so that we can be as DIY and eco as possible...Happy New Year!

[Teabag]

Just read through it all too, awesome thread! Just bin dived (yes at half 12 in the night) and salvaged a 4 pinter, jam jar, quality street tub, 2 kitchen roll inners and 2 pringles tubes

What can I do with the pringles tubes?

[Cadalot]

What can I do with the pringles tubes?

The lids are ideal for drying out your saved tomato seeds, once you have got the gunk off by soaking them in the KFC Gravy and Baked Bean containers that you have also saved and are ideal for the fermenting process.

I have also saved the plastic lids off the large tins of peanuts and gravy granules as SWMBO gets the hump when I use her saucers and plates for the job.

[Guest]

Pringles tubes - cut them in two or three. Stand in a tray and use them as bottomless pots for large seed i.e sunflower, sweet peas or runner beans. Then plant the whole thing out when established.

[Cadalot]

Pringles tubes - cut them in two or three. Stand in a tray and use them as bottomless pots for large seed i.e sunflower, sweet peas or runner beans. Then plant the whole thing out when established.

Never thought of that they would be ideal for sweetcorn, we just don't eat enough of them to make it viable

[vixylix]

^^^ sweetcorn or pringles?

[GYOMalcolm]

Sometimes you can have unintended consequences. What are you doing to your garden? Here's a quote from the best answer to this question on Stack Exchange

In principle, paper can be composted as well, but the fibres are usually bleached, which already introduces some chemicals into the paper. Most inks also contain harmful chemicals, so composting might not be the best idea. In a sense, composting paper could also be seen to be a waste. It takes a lot to get trees into paper form. Ending the life-cycle of the fibres by composting reduces the availability of recycled paper, and is at least partly responsible for chopping down more trees. (On a side note, greasy paper, like pizza boxes, should be composted, because oil is very hard to remove in the recycling process.)

Even modern soya-based inks have other stuff in them. For me, the council recycling is the right place in this case.

[GYOMalcolm]

Mini bokashi bin

Two plastic fresh soup pots (Glorious, Yorkshire Provender, Waitrose, etc.).

They must stack tightly together and have space at the bottom.

Keep the lid of the top pot.

Drill several holes in the base of the top pot, not enough to collapse it. The holes let bokashi liquid drain out.

Jam the top pot tightly into the bottom pot.

Hey presto, an airtight bokashi bin, 600 ml size. This volume needs about two heaped teaspoons of bokashi bran all told, scattered pinch by pinch as you fill.

I use it for:

1. Small-scale experiments.
2. Kitchen worktop collection of food scraps to avoid having to open the main sealed bin too often.

I use a plastic magazine wrap, kept on the bokashi surface, to pack down.

I've read that you are supposed to point the outside black to keep light out. I'd probably do this if the bin was hanging around for long.

You could actually keep a whole raft of these going and not buy a big bin at all. I don't, but maybe a one-person house who wastes little?

[KevinM67]

Has anybody got ideas on what to do with polystyrene ?

We got a new larder fridge and a chest freezer and I've dumped the stuff in the outside shed.

I'm not that keen on the stuff personally - but I don't really want to dump it in the non-recycle bin and have used for landfill.

[Chestnut]

Glue it to garage walls in strategic places- I find it makes a useful ‘cushion’ to avoid scratching car bumpers/doors when reversing into garage and opening doors respectively...

[Jungle Jane]

You could use polystyrene pieces at the bottom of large pots to help with drainage or use as an insulated container to help plant roots stay a tiny bit warmer? There might be stuff on goooogle upcycling polystyrene projects?
There is,I just found this hydroponic garden-
How to Build a Hydroponic Garden | Garden Club

[Nicos]

I always have a couple of large pieces (about 3x5ft) to sit/kneel on when doing DIY at below waist height.
Easy on the knees to kneel on and reflects heat back at you when sitting.
Could you tape them inside large black bin bags and use it as a decent sized gardening kneeling pad?
(For that I use bubble wrap... but polystyrene would work just as well , it's just more fragile)