I may be nuts,but...

[shoopdog]

Well at least my wife thinks I am. After finishing off a sprue I like to cut the pieces smaller and put them old juice bottles. Now I know I'll never use anything like that I just can't see myself throwing them in the trash and I don't think they would be recycled. Not a tree hugger but just hate to see plastic in landfills,however small.

So anyway just like to know what others do with old sprues, I'm sure most are thrown away. Here's about 4 years of mine......

[Mike999]

I'm so old that I still sometimes stretch sprue. To use as antennas, or just where I need small rods that aren't a standard Evergreen size.  So I tend to save black, white, silver and clear sprues for stretching.  Stretching sprue just involves heating a long straight piece over a candle, while holding it between your thumbs/forefingers.  When the sprue gets "floppy," start slowly pulling it.  With a little practice you can stretch it to any size you need.

Another old-timers use for chopped-up sprue: dump it in about a half-bottle of liquid cement (or MEK, if you can still find it).  The melted sprue makes a great filler putty.  Since it's already plastic, it avoids the problems of Green Stuff and other putties.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I don't think you're crazy, and I also dislike seeing recyclable materials land-filled. There are a few modeling uses sprue can be put to (as Mike999 notes) but not all of it.

I keep mine in old steel coffee cans. There are multiple options to recycle styrene in my area.

It's one of the most commonly recycled plastics, and is the material foam cups and fast-food containers are made of, as well as packing peanuts.

http://youknowstyrene.org/green-styrene/recycling/

Edited October 3, 2017 by Ace-Garageguy

[martinfan5]

You can recycle model kit plastic.

[Khils]

I'm so sorry Sir! 

Guilty as charged!   I have thrown away for years......you have made me realize....I like your method.

[Richard Bartrop]

I bin most of it, but I will save a little sprue, chop it up fine and add it to a bottle of liquid glue to use as filler.  I've also used it to make small parts  by putting it into heavy foil moulds.  I keep clear sprue and clear red sprue separate for making lenses.

[SSNJim]

Another thing that can be done with sprue is to fill holes such as spoiler and light bar mounts. Taper the end of a short piece of sprue, maybe ream the hole a bit with a hobby knife to match the taper, and glue the sprue in the hole. When dry, cut the excess sprue off, and file it flush with the body. Minimal, if any, filler will be required.

Sometimes you can use longer lengths for plastic axles. Sprues vary widely in length and width, so sometimes it's possible to find one that works. Sometimes you'll find a piece that you can use to adapt one wheel mounting system to another with a bit of creativity and a drill bit.

You can use it to create small items like coils, starter motors and other small motors, antennae and their mounts, and so on. A little cutting and shaping, and voila. It's useful as piping in dioramas. I've used it as temporary bracing when doing test fitting of bodies.

As you can probably guess, I rarely throw mine out. There's often a piece I can make use of, though it doesn't make much of a dent in my "sprue stash".

[Mark]

I save the sprues from more recent kits; often they are perfectly round and only have a slight parting line, and the corners are sometimes rounded.  Those can be used when you need something of that diameter (which varies between manufacturers and even kits), or they can be filed to a smaller diameter and used to plug holes in older bodies from accessories. 

Some of the Seventies MPC kits have whopping big/thick sprues; I'll save those too.  Those can be filed into bigger parts.  I made a pair of header collectors out of a couple of those (scrap sheet plastic flanges with Tichy Train bolt heads, and coated single-strand wire for the pipes).

I'll start putting the throw-away stuff into recyclable bottles, and toss them into the bin from now on.

[RAT-T]

Another old-timers use for chopped-up sprue: dump it in about a half-bottle of liquid cement (or MEK, if you can still find it).  The melted sprue makes a great filler putty.  Since it's already plastic, it avoids the problems of Green Stuff and other putties.

THAT'S WHAT I DO, WORKS GREAT

[randyc]

I cut the nubs off and make long straight pieces and put them in a storage drawer.  Use them as paint stirrers or to stretch or whatever.  I admit I do not save every bit of sprue from a kit though.  But I do save probably half of it.  I use the parts bags as paint palettes as well.  Lay on workbench and mix paint or dab from a pool or whatever.  Keeps from globbing up the tops and tops of bottles.  

 

[iamsuperdan]

We have a pretty aggressive recycling program here in my town. We don't just have the garbage now, and they're very strict with this. 

We have:

-blue bins - for paper, cardboard

-recycling blue bags - for cardbaord, glass, paper, plastics

-organics - yard waste, kitchen waste

-garbage - for anything that doesn't fit in the above. 

 

Just about all of my modelling scraps go into the blue bags, so they're recycled, not thrown in the landfills.

[Eshaver]

What ever gets ya through da night ......

[Lunajammer]

As an insufferable saver and artist, I save mine so I can make some great borg-ish sprue cube.

 

(sample only, not mine)

Edited October 3, 2017 by Lunajammer

[Modeltruckbuilder]

As an insufferable saver and artist, I save mine so I can make some great borg-ish sprue cube.

 

Resistance Is Futile!

[Lunajammer]

Resistance Is Futile!

I will be absorbed.

[LDO]

Stretched sprue makes a great super glue applicator. It puts a tiny drop just where you need it.

[Little Timmy]

I save almost all of mine. Sprue come's in handy for scratch building funny car frames, roll cage's, ect. ect.

The chromed stuff becomes custom bumpers and grill's.

Also use sprue for paint stand's........

This is an H.O. scale work car/ water tender with homade sprue parts all over it. ( Some of the tools in the barrel, the ladder rungs and that "pile " of junk in the middle. )

Sorry. It's hard to see but the windshield has been made to open ( just like the real thing ) using spru for the frame.

I would show you more uses but I tend to go on and on and.......................

[kitbash1]

Resistance Is Futile!

Prepare to be assimilated...

[Modlbldr]

Just wondering if there wasn't a possibility of a program to ship a "collection" of sprue back to a modelling company to be melted down and reused? I'm sure the logistics would negate the possibility but if it could be worked out it may be a cost savings to the company. Something along the lines of the idea that the package would need to be of a minimum weight (say 5 lbs, in order to make it worth opening the package on their end) and would need to be only white sprue (who wants a new kit molded in a multi-colored or greyish,greenish, brownish color).

This way they may be able, eventually, to cut the cost of a new kit down a dollar or two and those who do not like the spue in the landfill can feel good about doing their part.

Just an idea to, if nothing else, have another topic to discuss..... 

Later-

[Art Anderson]

Believe it or not, in the late 1970's, with crude oil shortages being as they were (polystyrene is made from petroleum!), AMT Corporation actually was hitting up RV and mobile home Mfr's in Northern Indiana for surplus styrene stuff--cheap window louvers (I saw stacks of 4X4X4 cartons of those on a visit to AMT in 1978!), which could be re-ground into the pellets needed for loading into injection-molding machines (AMT was also making all manner of polystyrene stuff for other industries at the time).

AMT was concerned enough about the supply of polystyrene, that in 1976 or so, they actually worked up a program for hobby shops:  Take your empty model kit parts sprues to your LHS, turn them in, for a discount coupon good on any AMT model car kit.  Of course, that failed, considering that there was no viable way to ensure that only polystyrene sprues would be proffered--other plastics stood a huge chance of being stuffed into those boxes.  But that was the situation back in the 70's, crude oil was running out, and what supplies there were then, were controlled by countries that were less than reliable, if not downright unfriendly.

Art

 

[Modlbldr]

Interesting history lesson Art. Thanks. Perhaps it is more  feasible than I expected. Ensuring that only sprue was returned would be a difficult venture. Sure would be interesting to see it worked out somehow. 

Later-

[Roadrunner]

I save a little, but pitch the rest.

[shoopdog]

Interesting history lesson Art. Thanks. Perhaps it is more  feasible than I expected. Ensuring that only sprue was returned would be a difficult venture. Sure would be interesting to see it worked out somehow. 

Later-

Interesting indeed. Maybe the Hobby Shops could have a collection box. They would probably get more sprues compared to kits they actually sell

I know several Rod and Tackle stores accept used fishing line.

[Modlbldr]

Might be a good idea to try again.

Later-

[1930fordpickup]

I recall in one of the magazines in the 90's was a picture of a collection box for old spru at a contest. They did mention why it was there but I do not remember the caption.