RecycleOK

What can you do with old blue jeans?

recycleok — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 22:16:26 +0000

This image from ecouterre.com shows one unexpected way to recycle denim.

I’ve had a couple of pairs of old blue jeans in the trunk of my car for several months with the intent of finding a place to recycle them. Normally, the obvious choices were to either take them to our clothing room at the church or give them to Goodwill, but these jeans are too worn out to be given away like that.

I had heard that blue jeans could be recycled as insulation and that Ford even uses recycled jeans in making the carpet backing for the 2012 Ford Focus. (Forbes Magazine: Ford Focus Uses Recycled Jeans) However, I haven’t found a place locally to make that happen.

Then, the other day I learned that Levi’s from the 1800′s could be worth thousands of dollars and even some from the 1900′s could still have significant value, but my jeans weren’t quite that old. This site has more information on checking old pairs of Levi’s to see if they may have value. (Mademan.com: How to Find Value of a Vintage Levi Jean.)

I quickly discovered that a lot of people have been thinking about what to do with old blue jeans and have made some very useful things from discarded jeans. Here is just a small sampling of the things I found. Links to the how to guides are included.

Blue Jean Quilts – How to Make Blue Jean Quilts
Purses – How to Make a Purse from Blue Jeans
Rugs – How to Make Becca’s Jean Rag Rug
Book Covers – Jeans Book Cover
Coasters – How to Make Coasters out of Blue Jeans
Many More Items – Twenty-five Things to Do with Old Jeans

So, what did I decide to do with my two pairs of jeans? I would like to give them away to someone who will make one of the items listed above or maybe another item he or she would like to make. Just leave me information (under the comments – I won’t post your personal information) on where to send the jeans and what you plan to make. All I ask is that sometime this year you send me a picture (or pictures) of your project (which I will gladly post).

Aluminum pull tab purses help craft new beginnings

recycleok — Sun, 20 May 2012 21:49:07 +0000

Normally, I blog about how to find good uses for things that you have but no longer need by selling, recycling, donating or re-purposing those items. I am also fascinated with people who are able to turn throwaway items into things of value.

A great example of this is found in a story in The Oklahoman written by Carla Hinton a couple of weeks ago. “Pop tab purses connect Oklahomans to Uganda” tells how women in Uganda make purses and accessories out of aluminum pull tabs to pay living and educational expenses for African women who were victims of Joseph Kony‘s Lord’s Resistance Army. Rosemary Nyirumbe, a Catholic nun in Uganda, teaches the girls at St. Monica’s Girls School how to sew the purses. She and Rachelle Whitten formed Sisters United, LLC to help sell the products. When I can find more information on where to buy the products, I will post it.

Paper or plastic?

recycleok — Sat, 12 May 2012 23:43:25 +0000

The first time I was confronted with the question, “Paper or plastic?” felt like a test that I was not prepared to take. What is the correct answer? Searching online I found sites that went into a great amount of detail about how plastic and paper bags are manufactured as well as how they could be recycled. Some of the articles attempted to measure the total environmental impact of each product. This article, More Than Meets The Eye from The Washington Post a few years ago provides a good comparison of the two choices.

Some local governments are helping simplify the question by either banning plastic shopping bags (other than certain biodegradable plastic bags) or levying a fee on each plastic bag used. Fees range from 5 to 25 cents per plastic bag.

After finally studying for this test, I found that the answer to “Paper or plastic” is neither of those choices. A reusable canvas shopping bag is the correct answer. They should have put that answer on the test!

Recycling scrap? There’s an app

recycleok — Thu, 03 May 2012 03:44:40 +0000

Nearby scrap yards are shown on the iScrap App Map

The iScrap App makes it easy to find the closest scrap yard. The Locator feature pinpoints nearby scrap yards on a Google map. Phone numbers were also listed for most of the scrap yards shown in the Oklahoma City area. Each listing has a place for the company’s email, website and hours of operation, but most of that information was not yet shown in this area. Regional price ranges for copper, brass and aluminum were listed. The yards have the option of listing their pricing, but I could not find many doing that.

Another interesting feature on this app is the Metal List. Each item on the list has a picture and description for easy reference. For more information visit iScrapApp.com. The app is available for all digital devices.

April 28th, 2012 – the happiest day of the year (for a recycler)

recycleok — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 00:44:00 +0000

Could it get any better than this? Not only is April 28th a Free Shred Day at the Waste Management Recycle Center at 5519 NW 4th in Oklahoma City, it is also the date for recycling ammunition, tires, computers and pharmaceuticals at the State Fairgrounds in Oklahoma City from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. This collection service is only open to Oklahoma City residents. Just bring an Oklahoma City water bill stub as proof of residency. For more details on what items are accepted or not accepted, please visit the City of Oklahoma City website.

Shred it for free (or what to do with your old report cards)

recycleok — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 04:23:46 +0000

The City of Oklahoma City is providing a “Free Shred Day” on Saturday, April 28th, 2012 from 7 am to 11 am at Waste Management Recycle America, 5519 NW 4th, Oklahoma City. Financial and personal documents will be shredded for free.

Recycling pays in Oklahoma City

recycleok — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 22:38:13 +0000

Blue Bin

Did you know that the City of Oklahoma City has a weekly contest for those participating in the Curbside Recycling Program? The contest is called “Blue Bin Instant Win” and is available to those in Oklahoma City receiving a utility bill from Oklahoma City and are eligible to participate in the curbside recycling program.

One customer’s name will be electronically drawn each week. If that customer set out a little blue bin for collection that week, and it contained acceptable recyclables, then that customer will win a $100 Visa gift card. For more information visit the contest page their website.

Recycling… there’s an app for that

recycleok — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 01:35:16 +0000

Recently, I found an app that makes recycling a whole lot easier. Also, it was in my price range…free. It’s called My Recycle List and it’s available in the App Store. This app allow you to “quickly find recycling locations nearby” utilizing either a GPS or zip code search. You pick from a list of items that can be recycled and the app finds nearby locations accepting those items for recycling. The app provides recycling locations throughout the U.S. and parts of Canada and includes in-app interactive maps. You can also create lists for future reference. For more information visit MyRecycleList.com

Check it out!

What to do with adaptors and cell phone chargers (I’m asking)?

recycleok — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 02:38:56 +0000

Normally, I like to give advice in my blog posts (whether it’s wanted or not), but this time I’m asking. Somehow I’ve amassed quite a collection of extraneous AC power adaptors and cellphone chargers and have not figured out what to do with them. When I sold some cellphones recently, the online buyer’s instructions were to only send the phones and not include the chargers. They said that their resellers didn’t want the used chargers. This buyer purchases hundreds of thousands of cell phones each year, so there must be millions of obsolete chargers out there.

The issue is further complicated by not being entirely sure that I won’t need one of these adaptors for something … someday. Surely I am not the only person waking up in the middle of the night wondering what to do with all of these chargers. Can you help?

Cool t-shirts become warm quilts

recycleok — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 04:23:47 +0000

Some of my favorite t-shirts date back to the last century. I don’t really want to get rid of them, but some are too worn to be worn. T-shirt quilts are a great way to reuse old t-shirts. Several companies specialize in making these quilts. Prices for quilts using 30 to 40 shirts range from $300 to $500. These companies sometimes offer deals on Groupon and other daily deals sites, so better prices might be available.

Or, you can make it yourself. My parents made this quilt for our daughter using 20 of her old shirts. Each shirt was cut into a 13 inch square. Additional material was used for a border. The quilt measures 63 inches by 78 inches. They also made a pillow out of another t-shirt using the same border. There are several places online offering step by step instructions on how to make the quilts.