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Glass jars & bottles
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Post new topic   Reply to topic    Downsizer Forum Index -> Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Have you ever asked a supplier if they will take back empties?
Yes, without sucess :-(
10%
 10%  [ 3 ]
Yes, they take them back :-)
10%
 10%  [ 3 ]
No, never thought about asking
78%
 78%  [ 22 ]
Total Votes : 28

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giraffe



Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Posts: 272
Location: Nottingham
PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 05 12:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

jars get saved for jam, plastic pop bottles get saved for home brew experimentation and turning into cloches, funnels etc and glass bottles for all kinds of uses - syrups, holding stuff like screws etc.

judith



Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire
PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 05 12:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Sarah D wrote:
Jars and lids must both be brand new and unused if selling honey to the public.


Oh well

ele



Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 814
Location: Derby
PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 05 12:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

My local healthfood shop refills ecover stuff and olive oil bottles, I do that

It is interesting that supermarkets on the continent seem to do routine reuse of bottles where as it's unheard of in British ones.

gil
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18409

PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 05 12:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

All my jars and bottles get re-used for something (and I also get given jars by people and have arrangement with a visitor centre restaurant to collect their wine empties).

with the exception of

a) coffee jars, which go the bottle bank because they are of a size/shape useless to me, and the lids aren't properly airtight.

b) brown medicine-type bottles - to the bottle bank

c) small brown glass essential oil bottles - apparently not even good to recycle, as the smells won't come out - anyone else heard this ? I used to take them back to the shop, but not so easy now mail order.

Any plastic tubs with lids get re-used as containers in the freezer.
I save my eggboxes for a neighbour who keeps poultry.

how to recycle catfood tins ? - a major item in my wheeliebin !

Sarah D



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 2584

PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 05 12:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Recycled cat food tins: use as presses for mini cheeses; punch holes in them and pop tea lights in them - good for inside and outside; punch holes in the bottoms and plant up with herbs (inside or out again); flatten thm out and use to mend your car exhaust.

marigold



Joined: 02 Sep 2005
Posts: 12458
Location: West Sussex
PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 05 1:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Thinking about it I don't have that many glass containers to recycle...

Jam/honey jars I keep for jam-makers (and as I get through about 2 pots a year that doesn't come to many!).
Olive oil bottles (2 or 3 a year) tend to go in the bin to avoid spillages in the recycling box (washing them out takes so much hot water and detergent I don't see the point).
I rarely drink alcohol so there's not many wine bottles.
Small glass fizzy water bottles were bought specifically for bottling elderberry cordial, so are recycled at home.
Mustard jars get re-used as propagating vessels or go to the recycling bin.
Vinegar bottles go to recycling.
In fact it's a bit difficult to find a suitable jar if I want a water-pot for painting or soaking brushes!

marigold



Joined: 02 Sep 2005
Posts: 12458
Location: West Sussex
PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 05 1:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

gil wrote:
how to recycle catfood tins ? - a major item in my wheeliebin !


Food tins can be recycled commercially - if your local council doesn't provide a collection point start lobbying them? I've no idea how environmentally friendly the recycling process is though and you have to wash the cans which is an environmental overhead in itself

I'm never quite sure how much recycling is actually really worthwhile as opposed to just giving one a worthy feel-good glow. Eg. better to NOT buy expensive canned fizzy, sugar- and additive-loaded, non-thirst-quenching gunk in the first place than to recycle the can afterwards?

Sorry - a bit off-topic there

cab



Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 05 1:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

We never have enough jars, and we re-use wine bottles over and over (till they inevitably end up as gifts, with wine in of course!). Smaller, re-sealable glass bottles are like gold dust, though, which is a shame as they're useful for all sorts of things.

Beer bottles end up going to recycling (people keep bringing beer round, it's terrible, oh, the tragedy!). I'd rather take them back for re-use, but I haven't got anyone who'll take them.

We don't use many tins, but what we do use gets recycled. Only so many you can re-use. Although would they be okay (with a few holes knocked in 'em) as plant pots?

Sarah D



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 2584

PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 05 2:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Sarah D wrote:
punch holes in the bottoms and plant up with herbs (inside or out again);



cab



Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 05 2:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Sarah D wrote:
Sarah D wrote:
punch holes in the bottoms and plant up with herbs (inside or out again);




Oh, I missed that... Thanks. Does it work well? How long to the tins seem to last for before corroding?

Rob R



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York
PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 05 5:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Judith wrote:
Sarah D wrote:
Jars and lids must both be brand new and unused if selling honey to the public.


Oh well


Is that really true? Why just for honey?

I was thinking of small producers- I know what the retailers like Tosco would do with them if you did return them It all seems so pointless to me though, if there are jars that aren't practical to use at home yet are still being manufactured for sale, then why add to the environment problems by wasting energy recyling them when they can be reused commercially after sterilisation (not sure about lids- I suspect they must be new though.

Coffee jars are the main ones I think would benefit from reuse, as plastic lids aren't much good for anything but coffee, but I suspect it is cheaper for them just to use new all the time so there is no incentive for reuse (I wonder if 'Fairtrade' have a policy on glass sourcing ). I wonder how much glass is imported too- we all think about the provenance of the contents & paper packaging, but you don't often hear anything about the origins of glass.

Our local council have just started recycling collections for paper, tins & plastic bottles- yet glass is what I want them to take but we still have to take that ourselves at the moment. They aren't getting their hands on our steel & aluminium tins though- scrap may not be worth much but its better than giving it away

Andrea



Joined: 02 May 2005
Posts: 2260
Location: Portugal
PostPosted: Wed Nov 23, 05 7:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Sarah D wrote:
Jars and lids must both be brand new and unused if selling honey to the public.


That sounds strange, particularly when you consider that milk bottles can be reused.

I'm presuming there's a food safety reason for it. Do you know why it's specific to honey?

Last edited by Andrea on Thu Nov 24, 05 8:52 am; edited 1 time in total

wellington womble



Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands
PostPosted: Wed Nov 23, 05 7:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Goodness - spare glass jars. I think our problem is that we don't buy anything in glass jars, really! Anything we do buy get saved for jam (and I always have to buy them in for the hampers) or other preserves, including plastic lidded ones for chutney and pickles (often gravy jars, although not many of those these days)

We have dowe egberts coffe, which have glass lids with a plastic seal - I've been saving them for years, and now have nearly all my dried goods in them - everything from tea to pearly barley lives in them. It looks nice in the pantry, as they are all the same, and one day I hope to have a nice big kitchen with them all out on shelves, and I shall be very smug, because they cost nothing, and would have otherwise gone to waste! Until someone points out that they aren't fairtrade coffee.......

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