Look! Discarded Old Conveyor Belt

While taking the trash out this morning, we found a wonderful... um... "thing" behind our building (and yes we always take our camera with us). It's part of a conveyor belt used to move grain and such from trains, buildings and warehouses. Click through the jump to tell us what YOU could do with this bizarre find and see how we'll be putting it to use (in the kitchen) - because all good "junk" deserves a new home, although we're letting someone else put new life into the swing we found it on!

There was an instant flood of ideas when we saw this peculiar find on the receiving dock of our building. We first thought it would be a great way to hold art supplies, markers, pencils and the like; then we thought it would make a great way to hold underpants and socks if you didn't have a closet. Our thoughts then turned to our need to garden indoors this year (we will greatly miss our sunny backyard) and we think it will make a great base for an herb garden that mounts to the wall.

We will drill small drainage holes in all the sections except for the bottom tier, so if any section becomes too moist, it can simply drain to the tier below it. Although it doesn't have the ability to host the growing of garlic anytime soon, it can surely handle some basil and thyme!

What would you do with it? Would you take this found treasure home or leave it for the trash service to pick up?

Comments (12)

flip-flop holder by the back door. (hey i am from TX i have about 20 pair)

posted by ccc1979 on February 18th 2009 at 8:17pm
view ccc1979's profile

If you use it to garden, won't the rubber rot away from moisture? I'd hand it indoors from the ceiling to the wall for striking and lovely small storage... or books.

posted by mskk on February 18th 2009 at 8:56pm
view mskk's profile

spice rack. childrens toy holder. bathroom organizer. magazine holder. candle display. too many ideas.

posted by unseeneclipse on February 18th 2009 at 8:59pm
view unseeneclipse's profile

i was thinking mail but i guess that's because we have 6 adults in one house :)

could definitely hold crayons, markerts and pencils.

if you had any kind of workshop it could hold smaller supplies

posted by dosergirl on February 18th 2009 at 9:08pm
view dosergirl's profile

I was thinking like unseen -- I'd use it as a spice rack. Would be perfect next to my range, and match in color too (I have an all-white-appliance kitchen).

posted by madampince on February 18th 2009 at 10:54pm
view madampince's profile

This would be so awesome piles with balls of yarn for the knitter, or folded fat quarters for the quilter.

posted by Loosetooth on February 18th 2009 at 11:50pm
view Loosetooth's profile

I thought spice rack as well. Which is weird, as I can't even eat spicy food o.o

posted by ryttu3k on February 19th 2009 at 7:06am
view ryttu3k's profile

My vote is spice rack, or something along those lines. The idea of an herb garden is cute, but I'm pretty sure the roots will rot very quickly

posted by CHGAM on February 19th 2009 at 7:08am
view CHGAM's profile

Mail sorter for a 5 person household! I think it's cool!

posted by pxlchk1 on February 19th 2009 at 12:41pm
view pxlchk1's profile

Oh, that is fantastic! Great find! I think I would probably use it to hold tiny treasures, like pretty rocks and feather and such, to keep them from wandering about and being cluttery...

posted by lemonadefish on February 19th 2009 at 5:35pm
view lemonadefish's profile

I was kind of thinking jewelry holder hung next to our dresser in the bedroom. Our bedroom in kind of vintage black and white. see it here:

http://makemineeclectic.wordpress.com/2008/12/12/next-comes-the-bathroom-and-master-bedroom/

posted by jessimarie33 on February 20th 2009 at 11:03am
view jessimarie33's profile

I was thinking hardware in the garage - plants didn't occur to me. Mail would be cool - a "landing" piece, as y'all refer to it so often here at AT.

For a while in college I lived in a house built in the late 1800's that literally had no drawers in the kitchen for storage of linens, cutlery, utensils, etc. I was thinking how cool this would of looked on the wall, to hold utensils and silverware, etc. - specially considering the era of the house. None of the bathrooms even had electrical outlets - cuz there was nothing to plug into them back when it was built! What character that place had!

posted by TheGoodBiGirl on February 20th 2009 at 1:11pm
view TheGoodBiGirl's profile