Metal
Sheet metal has so many uses, we couldn't list them all, from roofing to siding to solar collectors to tubs. The uses are practically endless. Metal odds and ends are always useful, especially when you need a piece of something strong. We collect angle iron (steel), pipe, channel, and just about any piece of decent gauge (more than 1/8 inch thick) chunk of metal. You never know when you might need it. If nothing else, it is good for practicing welding.

Fasteners
Never pass up the opportunity to pick up a nut, bolt, screw, nail, or piece of wire. These things are priceless when you need them and they take up little space. Get some coffee cans or plastic bottle together, label them and start organizing your fasteners based on material, size, and type. A man with bolts and no nuts is a poor man indeed.

Plastic and Glass Jars
For a How-To build your own jar organizer using old jars, click here.

Glass Bottles
We use bottles in building, putting them in the wall to let in light. They are exceptionally beautiful in sunrise and sunset. Glass is very easy to clean and sterilize, so you should never throw it away. There is no better material for storing water. Recycling glass is fairly energy intensive, so it is much better to reuse it. In the old days, and in other countries, you got paid to bring bottle back to the store. The reason they did this was that the manufacturer was able to easily sterilize the bottles and reuse them to package new products. Very efficient system, and if it was not for plastics, we would still be using this type of system.

Aluminum Cans
One of the coolest uses for aluminum that we have found, is to make hydrogen, which can be used for all sorts of things. Aluminum is very energy intensive to make, so reusing it is common sense. Also, there is a market price, so you can earn a bit of cash if you take it to a central recycling center. Aluminum melts at a fairly low temperature compared to other metals, so it is a common metal used in home-built foundries. Polished aluminum is great for reflectors, solar concentrators and solar ovens.

Plastics
High quality plastics we use to melt down into parts and small knobs throughout the house. You can build a small injection-molding machine quite easily, and it’s a great way to get rid of plastic bottles and wrappers. If you keep plastic out of sunlight and at room temperature, it will last for several years. You can use bottles to hold nuts and bolts and odd things in the shop. 2 liter plastic bottles make for decent planters and temporary greenhouses in the spring (don't use the green ones for greenhouses). For more ideas on how to reuse plastic PET bottles, click here. Plastic is a derivative of hydrocarbons, so it is technically feasible to gasify plastic to make a fuel similar to wood gas.

Tires
We use old tires as small retaining walls, like around a porch. We stand them up in a little foundation trench, bolt them together, cover them with lathing, and stucco them with concrete. Tires have many uses, including planters, building blocks, fuel, paving material, roof shingles, shoes and much more. Most of the time, though, tires require quite a bit of processing to make into something else. This is due to the steel bands. If you can find tires without these bands, you have an excellent source of rubber for all sort of things.

Paper
Kindling for the fire. Paper can be made into... paper. Yeah, that's right, you can make paper at home with old paper. It won't be as nice and white and thin as the store-bought stuff, but it will be pretty much free. Lots of artists use home-made paper for lamp shades and other decorations in the house. The Japanese are renown for paper walls. Paper is also good for kindling and composting. Earthworms like it for bedding. Every once in a while, someone in the area experiments with papercrete, so we surrender our paper stash to their efforts.

This list could go on forever, as there is always a use for something. It is really up to you to find the use, and we take pride in the fact that we can use junk. There is currently an almost limitless supply of junk in the USA, but in other countries, this is not so. Sure, they have a lot of plastic bottles, but rarely any metal. This is because their populations know the value of these items and put them to use. We should take a hint from these folks and do the same!