Recycling and D.I.Y. projects go hand in hand.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/diy_recycling_f.php

DIY: Recycling Floppy Disks

Recycling and D.I.Y. projects go hand in hand. And if yours don't, then perhaps you should re-think the way you are doing your DIY projects.
And speaking of recycling, I just wanted to post this link and teaser for an article for 2 reasons: I wanted to put it where I could find it again, and I wanted to hopefully spark some imagination in my readers.

PLEASE give props and tips to the original author of this article.

DIY: Recycling Floppy Disks
by Kathreen Ricketson, Canberra, Australia on 06.27.07
DESIGN & ARCHITECTURE (recycled)


The floppy disk was the medium of choice during the 80's and 90's, they are now relegated to landfill, and cost dollars to dispose of correctly. People are great at finding ways to recycle and are making the floppy disk into something useful! Instructables has a great 'how-to' on how to make stuff out of floppy disks. Try your hand at making a bag or if that is too much for you get some crafty geekery for your home office with this floppy disk pen holder from Etsy. Others ideas for re-using these floppy disks include, notepads like this or this and there is a simple little 'how-to' at gear log for these and more fun floppy disk geekery, but for something slightly more stylish try this bag.

Another good article for further reading is:

http://www.inthewake.org/howtos/diy-recycling.html

A Collective Manual-in-progress for Outliving Civilization
DIY Recycling

Do-it-yourself recycling is about modifying and reusing cheap and widely available rubbish to meet our own needs. [Skip to projects]

Part of the appeal is simple waste-reduction. By modifying what would otherwise be junk to meet my needs I can avoid buying something else for the same purpose. Or if I have limited money, or in a collapse context, I can make something useful I wouldn't otherwise have. DIY recycling can use much less energy than full-blown industrial recycling.

DIY recycling also allows us to keep materials in our own communities instead of giving them right back to the corporate economy. Many of us are hesitant to give a source of cheap raw materials to an economy that isn't exactly renowned for making good, ethical choices about what to do with those materials. As peak oil progresses, militaries and corporations will no doubt have increasing demands for all sorts of cheap raw materials and I'm not very inclined to give them up once I have them in my hands.

And I found this one interesting, especially since I have a fondness for cardboard.

http://www.tarabox.com/eng/bett_2.html

Cardboard:

How to make platforms from cardboard: This site has an example of a really simple way to make platforms out of corrugated cardboard that you could use to put your bed on, for example.

DIY Guide to Soundproofing a Room

This article is from here:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/106884/diy_guide_to_soundproofing_a_room.html


Soundproofing a room can make your home more enjoyable and improve the value of your home. Many people think of recording studios when a soundproofed room is mentioned; however, it is increasingly popular to 
soundproof rooms for other reasons, like creating a soundproofed room for a home theater. Noise pollution, whether from inside the home or outside, can be a significant annoyance or disturbance. Whether you want to keep noise out of your home or limit sound inside your home from traveling to other houses or rooms here are some DIY tips you can use to soundproof your room.

When planning your soundproofing project it is helpful to remember some basic science about sound. Sound can be defined as energy propagated by mechanical vibration. The three factors that are involved in reducing sound intensity are air, mass and distance. Distance is something you probably do not have too much control over while preparing to soundproof your room. Most DIY projects to soundproof a room are going to be concerned with air and mass. Mass is significant because heavier objects stop more sound than lighter objects (except perhaps fiberglass insulation). The general rule is that if you double the mass of a wall only half the sound will be transmitted through to the other side. However, remember too that as the frequency of the sound lowers it becomes more difficult to isolate. For every one octave drop in pitch the sound reduction is reduced by half. This is why you can hear the bass sounds coming out of a concert or arena.


Read the rest of this here:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/106884/diy_guide_to_soundproofing_a_room.html