Recycle Your Silica Packs

Source: mnn.com via Riddick on Pinterest

Here’s more from the Mother Nature Network (MNW):

• Put packs in your ammo cans and gun cases/safes to keep dry.

• Protect personal papers and important documents by putting some gel in a baggie wherever these are stored.

• Keep with photos to spare them from humidity. Tuck a small envelope in the back of frames to protect even the ones hanging on your walls.

• Store in camera bags and with film. After snapping photos in cold or wet conditions, silica gel will absorb moisture to keep your lens from fogging or streaking.

• Leave a couple packs in your tool box to prevent rusting.

• Use the material to dry flowers.

• Place with seeds in storage to thwart molding.

• Stash some in window sills to banish condensation.

• Dry out electronic items such as cell phones and iPods. Remember after the device has gotten wet, do not turn it back on! Pull out the battery and memory card and put the device in a container filled with several packs. Leave it in there at least overnight.

• Slow silver tarnishing by using the gel in jewelry boxes and with your silverware.

• For items in storage, such as cars or anything prone to mildew. Popular Mechanicsoffers a good suggestion for use in engines of sitting vehicles.

• Tired of buying big bags of pet food only to have it get soggy? Store your kibble in a bin and tape some silica packs to the bottom of the lid.

• Cut open the packs and saturate the beads with essential oils to create potpourri.

• Use in luggage while traveling.

• Tuck some in your pockets. Hide them in your closet in leather goods such as coats and shoes, and even handbags, to help them survive life in storage.

• Gather your razor blades and keep in a container with several silica packs to stave off oxidation.

• Video tape collections will last much longer with these to help keep them dry.

• Litter is now made with silica. With its fantastic absorption qualities, this litter requires fewer changes and sends less mess to the landfill.

Obviously, this is an American list, because the first thing on it is: ‘Put packs in your ammo cans and gun cases/safes to keep dry‽’. In Australia, only our blessed armed forces, and the damned criminals have guns. (Well, some of our farmers have 22 gauge shotguns, but handguns and assault rifles are a thing of the past: ever since the worst massacre in our history.) Here, if we want protection, we get a dog (or a whole pack), which leads me back to the best use for silica packs: keeping my best friend’s food dry! (This may come as a surprise to my US readers, but if a person were to carry a gun, even a toy fake handgun into… well, anywhere, they would get charged, ending up with a criminal record; or worse: they could go to jail! It’s some freaky shit over here, I tell you. But that’s just how it is for us, and you know? I feel safer for it. (Now, if someone could just do something about those roaming Pit-bull terriers over in St Albans.))

More from MNW:

While these packets are annoying and seem like a waste of resources, they can extend the life of many items. Another reason someone needs to be collecting them to recycle: they can be reactivated repeatedly. To recharge, you just need to bake the saturated beads on a cookie sheet, as detailed on ehow.com.

Cause don’t it just feel good to recycle?

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