Recycled Products

 Read more Oily Rag articles by Frank and Muriel Newman 

Oily raggers are a creative bunch. There is no limit to their imagination when it comes to putting other people’s junk to good use. They have come up with millions of ways (thousands…hundreds…OK, some ways!) to turn rubbish into of uses for things that others throw away.

Heather from the Mapua Country Trading Company (www.mapuacountrytrading.co.nz) has some great ideas for a recycled Christmas. She says on her website, “This year everyone I give pressies to is getting things made from recycled materials that have already had one go round.   They'll also be practical gifts – things they’ll use and enjoy.” Those pressies include:
 
“Christmas cards … try sticking blank paper in the middle of last year’s cards and writing a fresh message in them.
 
“Christmas wrap… rolls of old wall paper makes very cool gift wrap.   Recycled biscuit tins make great gift boxes and you can find some thick glass jars to fill with Christmas goodies too.
 
“Christmas decorations…  Angels from coke cans, snow flakes from CD’s, gold painted walnut shells, silver painted sea shells, bottle top chains … You are only limited by your imagination – or better still your children’s.
 
“Pressies … The easiest recycled pressie is something you have but no longer need – that pasta maker that’s been used twice or the handbag that your friend always admires.  Get the kids in on the act too and see what they’re ready to gift to their cousins and friends.    Clean it up and wrap it.  No one will care its not new.”
 
In fact lots of oily raggers have told us about their recycling efforts. An oily ragger from Auckland recommends “skip diving” – he searches out jumbo bins, dives in, and finds heaps of goodies. He says bins on building sites usually have lots of materials that can come in handy. But beware of the collection truck, and ask first if the bin is on private property!
 
Here are some other ideas:
 
• Carpet underlay. Very good floor insulation for houses with wooden floors. Staple to the underside of wooden floors to prevent draughts and heat escaping through the joins, or use it as lagging for water pipes. Simply cut the underlay into strips of about 100mm wide. Wrap it like a bandage around pipes for insulation.

• One reader uses the inside "plastic" bags from cereal packets to wrap left-over food instead of grease-proof paper. They use it to wrap their lunch to keep it fresh.
 
• Use old newspapers as wallpaper – very appropriate in rooms like a study. It also makes good carpet underlay to stop those sneaky drafts.

• Canny Scot from Christchurch says, “When planting my strawberries I give them a mulch of wet shredded paper from my shredding machine. It matts together nicely keeping light out to prevent weeds and I should have nice clean strawberries to eat. Makes use of your old bank statements too. Or your advertising junk is very colourful when shredded. Will break down eventually and feed the worms helping the soil.”

In fact giving someone a shredder for Christmas is a great idea. Shredded paper has so may uses, besides in the strawberry patch. Use it for packaging, as paper mache pulp, animal bedding, mulch for gardens and worm farms, and more.

• Angela writes, “At Christmas time I always cut circles out of plastic milk bottles and use them as gift tags.  They look like bubbles and if you add a little glitter and hole punch and thread ribbon through they are fab!!!  Use a permanent marker for the name.”

Why not share your recycling tips and ideas. You can contact us through the oily rag website (www.oilyrag.co.nz) or write to Living off the Smell of an Oily Rag, PO Box 984, Whangarei.

* Frank and Muriel Newman are the authors of Living off the Smell of an Oily Rag in NZ. Readers can submit their oily rag tips on-line at www.oilyrag.co.nz. The book is available from bookstores and online at www.oilyrag.co.nz.