Cardboard tubes

Cardboard tubes be they from toilet rolls, kitchen rolls, wrapping paper, bolts of fabric or carpets are usually 'unfinished', in other words the surface has not been coated to make it water resistant or for printing.

Small, thin wall tubes scrunched up and thrown in the compost heap provide support and drainage, allow a little air circulation and are homes for the creepy crawlies that make compost. Compost heaps with a little of this unfinished card added do better than ones without. (Any kind of corrugated card that has not got a finished surface for printing on or finished corrugated card that has been shredded up for packing material work just as well .)

The tubes from rolls of fabric may need a bit of bashing up first but even if added, intact but in short sections, to a compost heap they will disappear in a couple of months.

(However, don't put finished printed card like whole cereal boxes in the compost as they won't break down, they need shredding first.)

Thin wall tubes stood on end and held in a box can be filled with compost as seed planters. Unlike a flower pot or seed tray there is no need to transplant the seedlings, just put them in the ground or window box in the tube which will disintegrate in a few weeks.

Heavier duty tubes can be used for all sorts of construction projects especially if you know of a local dramatics group or are perhaps having a themed party. The tubes from fabric rolls painted up and tied together make a passable likeness to bamboo and roofed off with thatch or carpet tubes cut in half lengthways and painted terracotta make the basis for a beach themed bar. Other uses I've put them to are masts and spars for sailing ships in a pantomime and the barrels for canons.

Reduce rating 1/10,
Reuse rating 9/10,
Recycle rating 3/10.