Recycling tips: Why not?

[order99]

Cut and Pasted from another Thread(where Ben Nelson bemoans his cold Garage)-

About that Passive Solar garage...

Does your household consume a lot of soda? Start favoring cans over 2-liter bottles for awhile-or ask your neighbors to save theirs for you, uncrushed.

Use a Router or drill to cut 1" holes in the bottoms of each can. fasten together columns of cans (top opening to bottom opening)about 5 ft tall. Seal the top and bottom of each column. At the top of two columns cut holes in one side and join the columns together at the opening-at the bottom the second column bore a hole and match another column. Essentially you have a 5x5 radiator when you're done, closed off externally but joined internally with the interior looping in 'S' formation vertically:

[/\/\/\/\/\] (more or less).

Once you have the columns fastened into a radiator(Cold Weld,Epoxy or Fiberglass are all good for this)determine a Front position-bore a single 1" hole in the side of each can in the Bottom Front of your radiator. Now build a frame that fits the cans snugly-I used 2x4s and a plywood backing for mine, but you can get as fancy or as simple as you like. Paint or stain the frame to weatherproof it, then line the inside with foil. Paint the Radiator black, let dry, insert over the foil and fasten a sheet of glass on the top.

Open up a 2" hole in the bottom of the frame and fasten a short PVC (Inflow pipe) either leaving the pipe open or adding a fancy one-way valve for efficiency(mine just uses a mesh covering). Insert another pipe (Outflow) at the top of the frame. Place the box somewhere sunny-if this isn't directly against the outer garage wall make sure to wrap the Outflow pipe.

As soon as the sun heats the Box the hot air will rise and be trapped inside the top of the radiator, be pushed out the bottom holes by more rising air and float out of the Outflow pipe. To maximize the efficiency of the airflow you will want to place a tiny, cheap fan either at the Inflow pipe pulling or the Outflow pipe pushing-a PV powered microfan would be perfect for this, though I used a replaceable Dollar Tree fan for mine. Find an entry point from the Outflow pipe to the garage and you're done...estimated costs will be from $0 to $50 or so depending on how much you have lying around, and a few hours of work broken by a few hours of watching paint dry. When Summer hits, cover the Box with a tarp and place a cap on your Outflow pipe.

Compared to your EV work this is child's play. This design is by no means original, credit goes to, er, whichever Poster on whatever Forum I was reading at the time....

[Ryland]

our co-op lets you bring your own containers for most things, but sticky things like raisins and other dried fruits are already bagged up, grains, some pasta, cereals, nuts, beans, spices and a number of other things are in bulk and if you bring your own container they will weigh it for you when you come in the store so you just pay for what you buy.

[Christ]

Denim and thick cotton fabrics - shred them up, they make good insulation!

"second" wool from sheep/goats/alpaca - wash, card, stretch. Also great insulation. (this includes that old wool sweater that gramma gave ya last year... I ain't sayin' nothin!)

that's all for now!

[Angmaar]

Sorry for the thread resurrection but...
I just found an interesting site that tells you how you can recycle just about anything found in a home. It also tells you where you can drop off things like batteries, CFLs and even old Carpet to be recycled.

How to Recycle Anything

[Ford Man]

Burnt motor oil from oil changes on my better cars I pour back into the empty bottles and reuse for topping off oil in my '88 Escort that uses/leaks a quart about every 1000 miles. Less expensive and saves new resources. Also gives me the best of both worlds, I'm able to keep fresh clean oil (3-5K mile change interval) in my best cars but not waste new oil in a car that's just going to leak/burn it quickly. I've been doing this for about the last 200K miles and the old Escort just keeps on running even with 514K miles.

[Exalta-STA]

Here's my contribution..

I cut a 2-liter PET bottle in half...

the cup part i use to grow seedlings/store nuts&bolts,etc./soak stuff in

the other end i use as a funnel..been using the same funnel for 2 years now for filling up the car oil

[Ford Man]

My mom and dad had to replace their refrigerator several years ago and dad took the drawers and hardware out of the old refrigerator before they hauled it off. He didn't have any use of them and ask me if I wanted them, so me being the pack rat I am, said yes. I ended up taking them and with a small amount of modification I was able to fasten them underneath some shelves I had in my garage and used them for storing small items and freeing up some of my shelf space for larger items.

I also use plastic coffee cans for storing nails, bolts, nuts, and washers. Lots of times when I have tried to repair something and find I can't repair it, before sending it to the garbage heap I'll remove bolts, screws, nuts and washers from it for future use. I'm currently using a push mower that my brother was going to throw away probably about 10 years ago. Handheld hair driers are another thing that often get thrown away simply because they will run for a few minutes then shut off, because they overheat, all they need is to be taken apart and clean the lint/hair out of the screen so the motor gets enough air to keep it cool. If my 515K mile Escort ever bites the dust, I'll strip it down before sending it to the recyclers and use the parts on my other '88 Escort.

[Peter7307]

Yep the electric hair dryer is pretty typical of the "don't know / don't want to know" attitude some people have.

Can't be bothered cleaning it and then complain they have to spend money buying a new one.
Sad to say there are SO many people out there like that.

I bet the retailers just love them to death.

Peter.

[Frank Lee]

One of my favorite finds was an atomic clock... cleaned it up, replaced the batteries, and voila! I had me a nice full-featured clock... not only that, but one of my neighbors must have one too, as the outside temp feature works on it but I never got the transmitter that went with it! My theory on why in the world someone would throw out a perfectly good clock? They were too stupid to realize that yes, even "atomic" clocks run on batteries...

Tons of lawn equipment and bicycles get tossed for equally ignorant reasons... not that I mind, really. Keeps me busy.

[Christ]

Ever consider cleaning up, painting, etc and selling misc parts? I know a guy that used to get misc brackets and pieces from from the junkyard, clean/polish them and sell them for a few bucks on eBay.