Doug Martin

Deb Stephens wrote:They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so this is going to be worth about a million by the time I get done. This is a subject near and dear to my heart! There are just too many ways to use bottles and jars to show all of them, but I will post a few good ones I've managed to collect. Mostly, they cover lighting, planters and vases, pavement and edging, decoration and useful storage, but there may be a few oddballs mixed in. Enjoy!


Okay, I'll stop! It's hard though because there are quite literally millions of ideas out there for ways to use re-bottles--no one should EVER send one to a landfill!!!

Great examples.  Someone spends a lot of time on Pintrest I'm guessing.  LOL

L. Johnson wrote:I only have guesses as to what this is. I have two with slightly different lengths. Anyone know?

It is a vintage clothes iron.

Here is a link to a more modern version.   https://www.kanazawa-museum.jp/minzoku/teachers/img/01wear/pic_l_07iron.jpg


And another older one.   https://www.kanazawa-museum.jp/minzoku/teachers/img/01wear/pic_l_04iron.jpg


More overview of vintage Japanese domestic items.  https://www.kanazawa-museum.jp/minzoku/teachers/data_detail01.html

The site is in Japanese but the pictures are pretty telling of what they are displaying.

In the US, there are not many recycling facilities for Styrofoam unfortunately.  I researched it a long while back and essentially, it takes a LOT of styrofoam to justify recycling.  And I mean a LOT.  

Figure basic styrofoam weighs about 50 Kg / cubic meter.  It would take 21 cubic meters of styrofoam to make 1 cubic meter of reprocessed polystyrene.  So a full 53' semi-truckload of styrofoam would be about 98 cubic meters (if 100% optimized, unlikely) and would result in just 4.7 cubic meters of reprocessed polystyrene.  Factor in the freight and processing costs and unless you have a very streamlined setup with a steady supply of styrofoam to feed into the system, it's just not economical.

The better option is to petition for manufacturers to stop using styrofoam and use other, more substainable packaging materials.  Cardboard inserts can be just as effective and are much more readily recyclable and is much more sustainable.