Monday, May 18, 2009

Second life for lids

Recycling glass bottles and alumimum cans is routine for most of us. But what if you want to do more?

Michele emailed me the other day with this question:
I finally caved and am paying for curbside recycling.... (The company)
doesn't accept (for "safety purposes", I'm told,) the lids on ANYTHING. No
steel vegetable can lids, no spaghetti sauce jar lids, no milk jug caps,
etc. I got the feeling I was annoying the CSR when I was asking specific
questions on what was accepted and the response was a quick, "No, you have to
throw THAT away, too." Do you know who would take these (I'm especially
concerned about the steel can tops). It just seems like such a waste to
throw away perfectly good metal.


Unfortunately, I'm in the same boat. Our local recycling company has similar rules that admittedly are a bit aggravating. I checked the Keep Indianapolis Beautiful recycling directory, and while they have a ton of resources, you may just have to call to see whether they accept particular items. I'd love to know whether anyone does, in fact, take these kinds of items, or if they are deemed just a big "hassle" or workman's comp risk for getting hands cut.

I did a Web search and found that, if you're brave, you can reuse these lids (and their accompanying bottles or jars) for varying crafts, such as candle holders or bath salt jars. (While I did see some references for re-using for canning, I'd be a bit leery about that as they might not completely seal, and you're at the risk of botulism...)

But, if you want to get a bit creative, you can try these more unusual ideas for what to do with lids:

Related article: 10 Ways to Reuse a Glass Jar. (from NatureMoms.com)

No comments: