We’ve had an email from Valerie:

Recently, the uneven brick front steps to my house were knocked out in order to put in a sidewalk. Now I have single bricks, pieces of bricks, chips of bricks, and sections/blocks of several bricks mortared together. Almost all of the bricks still have mortar on them. Can anyone suggest a practical use for these?

We salvaged some bricks when a friend removed a 1970s style brick fireplace recently* and plan to use them to make a small (two-brick high) wall to hold back some shrubs off our path – the shrubs will hang over the wall so it doesn’t really matter what the bricks look like. We also have a random old brick on top of our compost bin to stop the lid blowing away. I hear that they’re also useful to put at the bottom of garden tubs – to stop them being as easily stolen/blown over.

But they’re mostly just ideas for full bricks? What about bits of bricks and chips?

* “recently” is an utter lie. It was about two years ago and they’ve been sat in our garden since then. We’re in a tidying the garden phase at the moment – hence the recycling bin thing I wanted ideas for the other week – though so maybe they’ll get used soon…

(Photo by jazza)

We’ve had a message from Leanne, saying:

I have an MP3 Player that no longer works and 2 digital cameras with cracked screens. Both still work but you cannot view the object as you are taking the photo. Do you know anywhere I can recycle these?

I’d be tempted to put the digital cameras on my local Freecycle group because someone may be able to use them for something that doesn’t need a screen. If my (admittedly incredibly geeky) friendship group is anything to go by, there are always people that want to fix a camera to a kite/dog/radio-controlled helicopter and might be able to use a screenless one instead of risking their brand new 8megapixel camera or whatever.

Aside from that, in the UK (and the rest of the EU), I believe these types of things are covered by the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive so the shop where you bought them may have a “bring back scheme” to take care of the recycling – or your local household tip might have a special bin for that sort of thing.

Any further advice or reuse suggestions?

(Photo by nkzs)

We’ve had an email from Rebecca asking:

What can i do with green plastic berry baskets? In the US strawberries and cherry tomatoes come in these baskets; they are number 5 plastic, and I have amassed more than I have little items to hold.

Number 5 plastic isn’t usually included in the standard recycling repertoire in most places so I guess we’re looking for reuses.

Like Annie’s feta cheese basket last year, these baskets probably won’t be strong enough to hold particularly heavy things – but any suggestions?

Particularly any suggestions that will take advantage of the mostly open structure?

Hurrah! We’ve had a “Reverse This” question from Kathryn for our new, hopefully regular feature – Recycle This working backwards :)

Kathryn says:

I’ve been into recycled crafts lately, and want to make a notebook out of recycled materials. How can I do this with easy stuff found at home?

Ooh, I’m sure there are loads of ideas for this one, probably somewhat more creative than my usual bulldog-clip-around-scrap-paper efforts.

Any suggestions what Kathryn can use for covers? Or ways to hold it all together?

• Got something you want to make out of recycled stuff but need a bit more inspiration? Send me an email about it and I’ll feature it on here: reversethis@recyclethis.co.uk

We’ve had an email from Tamara asking:

How can I reuse photo albums that hold up to 300 photos? I have a few as I have created photo books instead. I would like to find another use for the photo albums.

If they’re still in good condition, it might be worth giving them to your local charity shop for someone else to use but I went through a period of decorating my photo albums (because they were dull to start with) and I doubt anyone would want them.

Other reuses then. The most obvious one that springs to mind – but may only be good for flip albums, not big multi-pics-on-a-page ones – is for recipes: write the recipe on a bit of card or paper, slip it into the photo slot and the plastic sleeve will protect it from cooking splatters and greasy fingers while you work. A flip album could also be used as an address book.

Any other suggestions?

(On related topics, we’ve already covered unwanted photos and negatives – check those out for lots of creative ideas!)

(Photo by lusi)