Thread: What Do You Recycle?

Mainly plastic containers, glass jars and old clothes (cotton only).

As above except for glass jars. I have replaced all my glass jars for nails etc with plastic ones so that if dropped I do not have pick up glass. My workshop is glass free for that reason. Always have 2 or 3 soup/fruit tins on hand for cleaning paint brushes.

I like to keep my fasteners organized in small jars. Things like minced garlic, pureed ginger, and other things bought in small quantities.

It makes my fasteners bin smell pretty interesting...

Originally Posted by Luke Maddux

I like to keep my fasteners organized in small jars. Things like minced garlic, pureed ginger, and other things bought in small quantities.

It makes my fasteners bin smell pretty interesting...

Ummm...Perhaps that explains my attraction to wine bottle tops and corks . I must stay on the lookout for a rosemary jar.

Regards
Paul

These mussel containers keep the shed string and the kitchen string accessible and contained. Just punch a hole in the lid.

20180629_120344.jpeg20180629_120324.jpeg

and the good old Chris's Dips glazed terrcotta pots make good glue pots and can be rinsed out and reused over and over, or just thrown away.

Or can be used to hold small parts/screws/nails etc.

20180629_121003.jpg

Some things I have done/do.

Old Plastic power tool cases for VFD enclosures.

Small vacuum cleaner hoses used for shortish lengths of flexible electrical ducting.

I extract and use the silicone covered 10A wiring out of the back of old stoves when I am reconfiguring motors from Y to ∆. The silicone insulation has a higher temperature tolerance than ordinary plastic insulation.

SS Clothes dryer drums used for camping oven/BBQ. Plus I use the SS for all sorts of sheet metal projects.

Ice-cream containers and Chinese takeaway food containers for temporarily storing disassembled things like motors. A chinese food container is also good way to store a chainsaw chain.

Glass jars get used for paint brush cleaning, but not for storage as I find take up too much room and I find rectangular plastic boxes take up less room.

Top half of plastic bottles used as funnels - I have a few for solvents, chainsaw bar oil and electrolysis solutions.

Plastic milk bottles get used for all sorts of storage like electrolysis working solutions, chainsaw bar oil. lathe lubes etc.

Plastic bottle tops get used for mixing small batches of 2 part epoxy, for slightly large amounts I use Chinese takeaway sauce containers.

SWMBO goes through about a pair of black leather horse riding chaps a year. The chaps are made of a quality semi-suede leather which is very useful in the shed for all sorts of things, like gaskets, padding and protecting tools, and cutting it up for thonging and attaching it to tool handles so they can be easily hung up.

Old clothes as rages but a couple of years ago when we moved mum out of he unit we found about a dozen boxes of old unusable linen like sheets and towels. I took away 3 boxes and an about half way through these as rags.

The cardboard packets that cup-a-soups packets come in useful for storage of things like metal milling slitting saws and other MW milling gear.

The biggest reduction in throw away plastic at our place was by installing a 10L CO2 cylinder and a Sodastream Carbonated water mixer. We used to buy 2/3/4 2L bottles of soda water a week and then switched to Sodastream because the cost per litre of soda (33c/L) was much cheaper but the benefit of fewer plastic bottles in the recycling became quickly apparent. I got a bit peeved at having to replace the Sodastream cylinders so often so we invested in a 10L CO2 cylinder and a pressure hose adapter. This produces soda water @ 8c/L which means you pay off the cost of the big cylinder and pressure hose quite quickly.

Interesting question. It is really not asking what goes into the blue can but rather what is recycled for use in the shop.

Wine bottle corks for file handles
Screw off water / soda bottle tops for stand off for use while staining
Those flat plastic tabs used to seal the bread bag for wire markers and glue spreaders
Old Teflon coated cookie pans to catch the water from the wet stones and wet grinder
I do buy Ball or Mason Jars to save unused finish
The local realtors give away refrigerator magnet calendars to which I glue plain paper and make position markers for machine cranks

Old credit cards, rewards cards etc make excellent glue spreaders, serrate one edge with a file or saw.

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

Old credit cards, rewards cards etc make excellent glue spreaders, serrate one edge with a file or saw.

Chris

Very good use of those cards. Do you get up to thirty days free glue as well?

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

I should have probably said "What do you recycle for your woodworking?" I am not talking so much about timber, although speaking personally not much gets thrown away and I have always grabbed demolition timber when I have the opportunity (and the space to store it).

I'm talking more about every day bits and pieces that could be useful in our woodworking activities. These are a few of the things I keep:

P1030974 (Medium).JPG

I cut down milk and cream containers (for paint and varnish), the ice cream sticks are excellent for mixing small quantities and spreading glue and wine bottle tops are perfect for mixing small amounts of two part epoxy. Lids off jars can be used for the same purpose where larger quantities are needed. Corks are always useful for something or other but not so plentiful today with the advent of screw tops. The last time I used a cork I needed a handle for a very small saw file. All my handles had a hole that was too large. A champagne (ahem... I mean sparking wine) cork became an improvised handle. Not so improvised as it is still on the file.

Small pieces of cork stuck on the end of carving tools can protect delicate edges. These odds and sods are kept in small tidys like this and in various places around my work areas. The larger containers are in a milk crate.

Old clothes become rags. Fortunately we don't buy many clothes made from synthetic materials, which is good as they are almost useless as rags.

P1030972 (Medium).JPGP1030975 (Medium).JPG

Old leather gloves can be useful too. Cut the fingers off to slip over and protect your chisels, although I don't do this. I seem to end up with lots of those gloves, but just how they all seem to be the same hand I can't explain.

Regards
Paul

Fantastic thread Paul,
I’m pretty sure, didn’t you also recycle a large steel box too.
Im loving this thread because I’m in the middle of re organisation, of my creative zone,so hopefully I pick up lots of ideas.

Cheers Matt

Originally Posted by Simplicity

Fantastic thread Paul,
I’m pretty sure, didn’t you also recycle a large steel box too.
Im loving this thread because I’m in the middle of re organisation, of my creative zone,so hopefully I pick up lots of ideas.

Cheers Matt

Matt

Do you mean the steel box that was formerly intended for maritime situations? If so, that is one of seven in total I have re-purposed for land use: Some a little more stylishly than others. However I was thinking more of smaller containers in this instance.

I am with BobL on the plastic bottles. Occasionally we buy one litre bottles of milk. The bottom third becomes a receptacle for small quantities of paint, turps, varnish etc and the top is a funnel for fuel and other fluids.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

Chris

Very good use of those cards. Do you get up to thirty days free glue as well?

Regards
Paul

Paul, you can get the glue via the rewards from using the cards.

I found this to be an interesting question and began thinking about what I recycle. I couldn't think of a single thing, so I took a walk around my shop and sure enough, EVERYTHING is brand new! Even things like my glue bottles, jars, paddle pop sticks, rags. It's all brand new purchased for the specific woodworking task. I feel that this is a problem which needs to be remedied, but I can't think of viable alternatives to my current paid for items...

Kuffy

You may like to consider eating more ice blocks and contributing to the bottom line of the wine makers.

Another item I didn't mention is the plastic shopping bags. I have several of these hanging around the shed at any one time so I can throw waste (waste that is yucky as opposed to recyclable waste) in them. Trouble is, SWMBO is on an anti-plastic campaign and I am starting to run out of them. I may have to re-think down the track.

Regards
Paul