Recycling old toys

[Mrs Kane]

Hey there guys,

In Spain it's popular to recycle your old things by leaving them next to the large bins so you don't have to pay to get them carted off to the dump. I'm talking anything, from wood, to sofas, to microwaves.
It's become quite an industry with people taking stuff others don't want and transforming it into something they want! There's even a few night time schools that teach you how to refurbish what people have thrown out!

I've taken some things in my time. An old coffee table that needed a re-paint, a display cabinet that needed a new pane of glass, a few pieces of wood that I sanded down and are now book shelves and also a couple of bedside drawers which didn't need a thing except a good old cleaning. (A lifesaver when you're new to the city if I'm honest)

And today I found a new Sofi toy:
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc13 ... G_0701.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc13 ... G_0703.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc13 ... G_0708.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

After a clean (it wasn't dirty but I just wanted to make sure it was okay) I plopped it in front of her and she loved it! She played with it for about half an hour with me! Which is really rare as she gets bored very easily.
I'm actually considering a little DIY and drilling some holes in a few of the balls to put some of her favourite treats in so she can play when we're not awake. And possibly straightening the red wire out so it's easier for her to play with.

Not the most important post I know, but I thought it was cute how she took to it and to be honest I have a little mummy pride that I overturned my partners opinion of "She'll hate it, just leave it". Who knew I was so shallow?

The moral of this story kids: Don't throw away what your cats might love (even though my cat loves running through our discarded water bottle plastic wrapping). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP3TyjOLfJk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Kinda like that except she doesn't get stuck.

And the other moral..... um.... Don't listen to your partners

[Crewella]

That's not shallow, 'tis human!

What a great cat toy, and a truly great find - with the added appeal of having recycled something unwanted. Winners all round! Except possibly your other half ...... !

[nannymcfee]

I never do !

Now Mrs Kane that to me , looks very much like something a school would throw out..Are you rummaging through bins at the school !


It is indeed an excellent find ...

[bobbys girl]

Now THAT'S recycling! You can't do that now - some jobsworth thought it unsafe or something

When we first moved here my OH took some boxes down to the local skips. He came back with a microwave (he is a very good 'Mr Fix-it') The only thing wrong with it was a catch had gone in the door. He fixed it with a biro spring and 17 years on it is STILL working fine (even though Purdy has a tendancy to wee on it - yep THAT microwave )

Lovely photos of a happy cat, taken by a happy mum!

[Lilith]

Aww bless her! So cool!

Spain's much more enlightened than the UK...as Bobbys girl says, you're not allowed to go 'skipping' at the local tip these days. Some of my furniture has come out of skips and my fishpond was once a 50gal header tank...camouflaged with walls of old bricks and a creeping plant known as 'mind your own business' (because it never does) it's a feature.

(For all you guys lucky enough to have space to grow veggies, old header tanks are superb for growing carrots. Just provide good drainage and fresh compost and the little beauties plump out in the soft compost and get their toes down there and thrive. The extra height is said to defeat the dreaded carrot fly too as that apparently skulks at ground level, evil thing.)

[Mrs Kane]

Now Mrs Kane that to me , looks very much like something a school would throw out..Are you rummaging through bins at the school !

Haha! Not quite! It was actually on the side next to our nearest recycling bin. I was on my way to the supermarket up the road otherwise I don't think I would've seen it.
School bins are rubbish! (Pun not intended) All they have is papermache balloons

Now THAT'S recycling! You can't do that now - some jobsworth thought it unsafe or something

Spain's much more enlightened than the UK...as Bobbys girl says, you're not allowed to go 'skipping' at the local tip these days. Some of my furniture has come out of skips and my fishpond was once a 50gal header tank...camouflaged with walls of old bricks and a creeping plant known as 'mind your own business' (because it never does) it's a feature.

I never knew it was such an industry before I moved here tbh! I'm really glad people are more laid back about these type of things over here. But I think it has a lot to do with the fact that white goods are much more expensive due to tax so there isn't such a throwaway culture like you see in other countries. There's a refurbishing shop and/or a menders on basically every corner.

It's a bit of a shame that the UK doesn't allow this anymore. I think it would really help out new owners and people short on cash! It teaches people a lot of know how as well! Before I moved here I'd never picked up a drill before. But when I moved out of my shared apartment and into an unfurbished flat with my BF I was out every Monday and Tuesday looking for goodies I could turn into something useful!
As a culture I think in the UK we look down on second-hand goods which is a real shame. I think in cities at least this would go down quite well! It would also possibly stop a lot of people dumping their goods in woods and contaminating the environment.
Then again... In Spain there isn't a lot of vandalism (except to banks and the odd bit of gang graffiti around.)

[bobbys girl]

I remember a time when the 'recycling' centre in Stoke was just that. Folks would arrive with some garden rubbish and leave with a 3 piece suite! Now there are guys in uniforms monitoring your every move and vans and trailers are not allowed - if you are trying to get rid of a fridge and you drive a Mini you are really stumped!

The girls at the stables where I used to ride kept their horses molichop/pony nuts etc in old chest freezers they got from 'the dump'. They were rat-proof!

I hate this throw-away world. Me and the OH used to have a business restoring furniture and re-vamping kitchens. I still get asked to fix the odd piece. At the moment I have a clock case and 2 upholstered wooden chairs to fix. But they will have to wait until the weather gets bad. They are in the old static caravan that I use as a 'studio'. It also doubles as Tommy's office and sunbed. That reminds me, I'd better go and checkwhere he is. He sneaks in behind me sometimes and gets shut in for the night.

As for recycled toys, Grace is curled up in a cardboard box at the moment, right alongside a purpose-made cat basket.

[Mrs Kane]

As for recycled toys, Grace is curled up in a cardboard box at the moment, right alongside a purpose-made cat basket.

Ain't that typical of cats? I really wanted to buy ours a cat bed but OH said it wasn't worth it. He was right! She'll sleep anywhere except the comfy spots. Atm she's stretched out on the floor like a white line.

[Mrs Kane]

Actually now I've had a chance to think, I believe the reason people in the UK can't go skipping anymore is due to a law that basically meant if you get ill/hurt yourself on something you took then you can claim against the place you took it. When I worked in food retail in the UK they were always drilling that into us with out of date food and horror stories about how we'd lose our jobs if people decided to loot the bins. We had to tear up everything so people couldn't eat it every evening. That was a fun job... (not). I suppose it's because they can't completely dispute where you got it, so people can lie about it.

I'm guessing there was a little lobbying going on from companies that were tired of dumb claims getting through.

[bobbys girl]

Yeh, it's all part of the 'Peanut Butter - 'may contain nuts''. culture. Or, my favourite, 'Hot coffee - burn risk'. Well dur!

Why can't they treat us like adults and let us do some proper recycling. You wonder where all those 'life style' magazines get their 'shabby chic' (junk) from? My whole house is 'shabby chic'.

[Lilith]

LOL! Me too!

And there are always charity shops and skips in the street, though since the snakes moved in I've lost half my space...I must love them in order to put up with those horrible 'beech' melamine vivariums...lol even some of my snakes are secondhand.

No home should be without a recycled royal python.

Mind you, isn't that what we're all doing with cats, or is it that they're recycling us?

Hmm...can't let this handy human go to waste - get my paws under its table before anyone else does!

[Crewella]

I'm an antiques dealer and work for an auctioneer, so practically everything I own is 'recycled'! House is slightly more 'shabby' than 'chic' I'm afraid, though!

[Mrs Kane]

Yeh, it's all part of the 'Peanut Butter - 'may contain nuts''. culture. Or, my favourite, 'Hot coffee - burn risk'. Well dur!

I actually know the reason for this one! My BF studied this case at University. It was commonly known as the "the poster child of excessive lawsuits" in the media at the time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v ... estaurants" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Burn incident
On February 27, 1992, Stella Liebeck, a 79-year-old woman from Albuquerque, New Mexico, ordered a 49-cent cup of coffee from the drive-through window of a local McDonald's restaurant located at 5001 Gibson Boulevard Southeast. Liebeck was in the passenger's seat of her grandson's 1989 Ford Probe, which did not have cup holders, and her grandson Chris parked the car so that Liebeck could add cream and sugar to her coffee. Liebeck placed the coffee cup between her knees and pulled the far side of the lid toward her to remove it. In the process, she spilled the entire cup of coffee on her lap. Liebeck was wearing cotton sweatpants; they absorbed the coffee and held it against her skin, scalding her thighs, buttocks, and groin.
Liebeck was taken to the hospital, where it was determined that she had suffered third-degree burns on six percent of her skin and lesser burns over sixteen percent. She remained in the hospital for eight days while she underwent skin grafting. During this period, Liebeck lost 20 pounds (9 kg, nearly 20% of her body weight), reducing her to 83 pounds (38 kg). After the hospital stay, Liebeck was cared for 3 weeks by her daughter. Liebeck suffered permanent disfigurement after the incident and was partially disabled for up to two years afterwards.

Pre-trial
Liebeck sought to settle with McDonald's for $20,000 to cover her actual and anticipated expenses. Her past medical expenses were $10,500; her anticipated future medical expenses were approximately $2,500; and her daughter's loss of income was approximately $5,000 for a total of approximately $18,000. Instead, the company offered only $800. When McDonald's refused to raise its offer, Liebeck retained Texas attorney Reed Morgan. Morgan filed suit in New Mexico District Court accusing McDonald's of "gross negligence" for selling coffee that was "unreasonably dangerous" and "defectively manufactured". McDonald's refused Morgan's offer to settle for $90,000. Morgan offered to settle for $300,000, and a mediator suggested $225,000 just before trial, but McDonald's refused these final pre-trial attempts to settle.

I'll spare you the rest but basically after the trial McDonalds decided to put those labels on their cups to try and prevent any further lawsuits and put the blame on the consumer. According to studies their coffee is JUST as hot, if not hotter today.

Mind you, isn't that what we're all doing with cats, or is it that they're recycling us?

Hmm...can't let this handy human go to waste - get my paws under its table before anyone else does!

That does make a lot of sense to me Lilith

[Lilith]

LOL the coffee incident sparked off an old memory:-

In the early 90s I worked in a rather upmarket bookshop and one day a gaggle of young women wandered in, with a young child that was allowed to run riot (I like most children mind but some I can't take to.) Presently they arrived at the counter with the requisite 'glummy mummy' faces.

'Your corners are too sharp love!' Actually the shop design was all rounded art decor, pale wood corners, but the brat had charged head first everywhere and given itself a headache...I hadn't heard it scream though and there was no mark on it. I acted as gormless as them and just said 'oh are they?' What did they expect? A horrified apology and a handful of tenners out of the till? They were disappointed. Mercifully I didn't find the Daily Whatsit on my trail.

Yup, cats know exactly what they're doing with us - we are putty in their paws!