How to recycle weird stuff

Obsessed with recycling that plastic name tag holder you got at last week's conference? Here's a blog to ease your anxiety.

Tue, May 19 2009 at 12:30 PM EST

Image: Courtesy How can I recycle this?

Recycling's the last and least-preferred eco-solution in the "reduce, reuse, recycle" triumverate -- yet many environmentalists just can't stop obsessing about how best to recycle that name tag badge or broken bike helmet.

Now, here's a site that'll humor -- in fact, encourage -- your recycling obsession. How can I recycle this?, a newish blog run by two green thinkers in Leeds, U.K., is updated thrice-weekly with the obsessively nitpickiest, yet somehow still fascinating, recycling details. (via EarthFirst)

For those who feel an obsession with recycling unduly takes the attention away from the bigger, more important tasks of reducing and reusing -- you're right. However, you'll be a little comforted to know that even though the site's called "How can I recycle this?" many tips are really more about reuse.

Yesterday's post, for example, tackles the fiery issue of empty Tabasco sauce bottles. Sure, the glass bottle can simply be thrown into most municipalities' recycling bins -- but why toss when you can transform the bottle -- into a tiny vase that can only hold a single flower with a thin stem?

The blog already seems to have attracted a dedicated following of the recycle and reuse-obsessed, many of whom offer interesting additional tips in the comments. I'll close this post with my rule of thumb about recycling obsessions: When I find myself spending a lot of time stressing about what to do with a product at the end of its life, I strongly consider not replacing said item so as to prevent undue stress in the future.

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