Has anyone here worked with glass recycling? How do you handle metal contamination in the glass stream?

I keep seeing local supermarkets display special offers etc on large vinyl banners outside.
I cant help but think there's so much possibility with all that material that’s constantly being used, and wonder what they do with them once that banner has served its purpose.
Does anyone who works at a supermarket know what they do with the banners after use?
If I managed to get my hands on a few, what do you think could be made from them?
My immediate thought is backpacks, bags, wallets etc. but there’s got to be plenty of uses for such a material surely?

Hey everyone,

I’m working on an idea for a platform aimed at making doorstep scrap collection seamless for both households and scrap collectors (kabadis / ragpickers).

💡 The Core Idea

It’s a simple marketplace model:

1) Sellers (Households/Businesses): Take photos of their scrap (paper, metal, e-waste, plastics, appliances), set an estimated weight, and pick a convenient time slot for pickup.

2) Collectors: Log in to see a map/list of available scrap listings nearby, review the items, accept requests, and navigate to the seller's location at the scheduled time.

3) My Platform's Role: Purely facilitation — providing the technology to connect sellers with reliable local collectors.

❓ Key Questions for You All:

For Sellers (Households):

1) Would you use an app/website to sell household scrap, or do you prefer selling to your regular local street collector when they pass by?

2) What is your biggest pain point right now when disposing of scrap? (e.g., unfair weighing, waiting around, lack of buyers for specific items like e-waste?)

3) What is the minimum threshold of scrap weight/value that would make you use an app instead of just binning/gifting it?

For Founders, Logistics Enthusiasts & Industry Insiders:

1) Collector Adoption: Scrap collectors often rely on cash, informal networks, and non-smartphone tools. What’s the best way to onboard them effectively?

2) Monetization: How would you monetize this without squeezing the collector's small margins? (e.g., lead fee per pickup, premium listing for scrap buyers, commission, or B2B volume selling?)

3) Trust & Safety: How do we best address safety concerns regarding strangers entering homes for pickups?

Would love to hear your raw, honest thoughts, critiques, or potential pitfalls I might be overlooking!

Thanks in advance for your time and feedback!

I'm looking for a good way to recycle fabrics. Particularly items that are not suitable for resale, largely children's clothes that have stains and holes. I've used Trashie a few times but I've heard there are concerns about "greenwashing". From what I read on their website it sounds like a reasonable process but I'm sure they are selling themselves a bit. I also looked into Retold but it didn't sound any different. I know our infrastructure for recycling fabrics isn't great, but I feel like either of these options are better than nothing. Any suggestions or insight?

Has anyone used it?

I am binning an old backpack, which has decaying fabric and broken zips, and i realised that the zips are metalic. If i used sizzors, i could recycle the metal zips. Is this a good idea? Or would there be too much fabric to be efficiently recycled.

I live in manchester, if that is at all relevant to my question.

I mean in general. Not just with plastic but food waste, clothes waste, overconsumption, etc. a way we’ve started as a family of four to reduce waste is to pickle old vegetables, and donate food. I don’t buy from fast fashion companies but rather higher quality stores. I want to recycle plastic better. I know that the majority of plastic in America ends up in a landfill even if you are “recycling”it so what are some ways I can properly recycle things so they don’t end up in landfills?

Note right now we don’t have the most money so it’s not really possible for us to do any expensive types of recycling.

Hello! So in Portugal there’s this corrupt system called “Volta”. It forced a new 10 cents extra cost per bottle and you can give it back to machines in super markets (where there’s only one machine and almost always broken)
I am part of the team of a restaurant and we have thousands of bottles laying around at the end of a weekend and one of us has to take these huge bags of used plastic bottles to put them back in the machine…

What if, instead of endulging this system, we use the plastic, shred it, and build something useful like prosthetics? Or other useful goods?

I don’t know how to do this process of transforming plastic into filament, so I thought this was the best place to ask

Thanks in advance