Archive for December, 2009

We’ve covered cardboard chocolate boxes before but Roger has asked specifically about plastic Ferrero Rocher boxes:

I know for legal reasons etc you might not be able to mention the product name, but every year the ambassador spoils my family with masses of trays of various sized ferrero rocher boxes. I am just looking for suggestions of what these could be used for.

They seem a waste to just bin, obviously, but i have about 5 and all i can think of is some form of cultivation tray. The boxes are sturdy but don’t particularly seal well, i was going to use one as a sandwich box, but they don’t fasten well.

Any tips on how to make an easily accessible hinge and locking mechanism for these would be great.

As Roger says, the flat single layer ones would be useful as seed trays – or underneath seed trays/planters to stop water draining all over the place. They’re a good shape for using as sprouting trays but my experience of them is that they tend to shatter quite easily if you try to cut into them/drill holes in them so drainage might be an issue.

I remember having one of the smaller/taller ones as a misc bits box as a kid and they would be useful for similar general misc storage as an adult too – they’d be perfect for nails, screws & random bits for the DIYer or buttons & beads for the crafter – they’re clear so it would be super easy to find things.

Any other suggestions?

Sourced from How can I recycle this?, click here to visit

Help Dave, our nearly-naked activist, by calling for a phase-out of f-gas by 2020 to help prevent climate catastrophe.
Sourced from Greenpeace Action RSS, click here to visit

Help Dave, our nearly-naked activist, by calling for a phase-out of f-gas by 2020 to help prevent climate catastrophe.
Sourced from Greenpeace Action RSS, click here to visit

Hi! Apologies for the sporadic posts of late – I’ve been having so much needed time off from everything – it’s been fab.

Anyway, 2010 starts on Friday and I’m not quite ready for it. Not only because 2010 sounds like the distant future of sci-fi films but because I don’t have a new desk diary yet. I started looking for one a couple of weeks ago then got distracted by something shiny, as I often do, and now my forward planning is taking place on a piece of scrap paper.

So how can I make a 2010 diary reusing, recycling or upcycling stuff instead? Looking around the usual sites, a lot of the homemade diaries are just commercial diaries recovered with a vintage/scrap fabrics but what about using scrap paper? Perhaps printing a week-to-view layout onto old paper bags – like Crafting A Green World’s brown paper bag recipe cards?

I suspect it’ll be easier to make a month-to-view calendar by hand since there only needs to be 12 panels instead of 52 pages. Any suggestions?

What about making reusable calendars to avoid repeating the making process each year? I thought about using a blackboard but it is quite handy to be able to see when we did something, say, two months ago. Ideas?

Sourced from How can I recycle this?, click here to visit

Hi! Apologies for the sporadic posts of late – I’ve been having so much needed time off from everything – it’s been fab.

Anyway, 2010 starts on Friday and I’m not quite ready for it. Not only because 2010 sounds like the distant future of sci-fi films but because I don’t have a new desk diary yet. I started looking for one a couple of weeks ago then got distracted by something shiny, as I often do, and now my forward planning is taking place on a piece of scrap paper.

So how can I make a 2010 diary reusing, recycling or upcycling stuff instead? Looking around the usual sites, a lot of the homemade diaries are just commercial diaries recovered with a vintage/scrap fabrics but what about using scrap paper? Perhaps printing a week-to-view layout onto old paper bags – like Crafting A Green World’s brown paper bag recipe cards?

I suspect it’ll be easier to make a month-to-view calendar by hand since there only needs to be 12 panels instead of 52 pages. Any suggestions?

What about making reusable calendars to avoid repeating the making process each year? I thought about using a blackboard but it is quite handy to be able to see when we did something, say, two months ago. Ideas?

Sourced from How can I recycle this?, click here to visit

Scientists have identified a novel antifreeze molecule in a freeze-tolerant Alaska beetle able to survive temperatures below minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Unlike all previously described biological antifreezes that contain protein, this new molecule, called xylomannan, has little or no protein. It is composed of a sugar and a fatty acid and may exist in new places within the cells of organisms.
Sourced from EarthWire Climate, click here to visit

A Karoi farmer collapsed and died on Monday last week after receiving news that his 10-hectare tobacco crop had been extensively damaged by a hailstorm that pounded the area.
Sourced from EarthWire Climate, click here to visit

In order to avoid dangerous consequences for the earth’s ecosystems, global emissions must peak around 2015, and they need to be cut by half between the peak and 2030, according to new findings.
Sourced from EarthWire Climate, click here to visit

In order to avoid dangerous consequences for the earth’s ecosystems, global emissions must peak around 2015, and they need to be cut by half between the peak and 2030, according to new findings.
Sourced from EarthWire Climate, click here to visit

Rome — Lake Chad was bigger than Israel less than 50 years ago. Today its surface area is less than a tenth of its earlier size, amid forecasts the lake could disappear altogether within 20 years.
Sourced from EarthWire Climate, click here to visit