At last, an issue emotive enough to oust water charges from Ireland’s newsprint and airwaves, but what could it be? Recycling. So as the spectre of pay by weight for being a good citizen looms (and then gets put off again), what creative ways might you find to lighten the load of your reusable refuse?
Welcome to the House Rules Handy Guide to Making Stuff out of Junk.
For starters, wash out your jam jars and force them on friends known for their jam/honey/marmalade making inclinations. Trust me, it works. Then, take a step back in time to the 1970s, and use your empty wine bottles as lamp stands. This is even better if you can find any of those chianti-in-a-basket bottles. But never fear, you can keep drinking from stand-up bottles too: check out diynetwork.com for a ‘how to’ on making a wine bottle chandelier. They’re actually kind of cool.
When it comes to last week’s papers, get epic with papier mache. Made correctly, papier mache is incredibly strong stuff, so graduate from trays and lumpy picture frames to make elaborate items of furniture. All you need is a chicken-wire frame, and plenty of glue.
Cardboard boxes
If you're old enough to remember Blue Peter, you'll be ahead of the game when it comes to using up "well known cereal packets and sticky back plastic", but it is a universal truth that kids adore playing with (and in) enormous cardboard boxes. You can also traumatise them for life by sending them out to play with recycled toys: tin can mobile phones and toilet roll tube light sabres at the ready.
And finally, if all inspiration deserts you, take a leaf out of the books of some of the world's leading artists. Andy Warhol made the Campbell's Soup can famous, while Jeff Koons exhibited vacuum cleaners in museum display cases.
For some closer to home brilliance, head to Visual in Carlow from July 9th until October to see the ever-wonderful Fergal McCarthy's Take Me To The River (visualcarlow.ie). McCarthy extracted 686 plastic bottles from the Grand Canal, and has made them into a raft. How's that for a creative solution?
