Hi. I saw everyone’s great ideas about bread bags the other week but we don’t get sliced bread, we get baguettes and the stuff baked in the shop which come in film rather than plastic bread bags. Can that be recycled too?

Ooh, good question. I’m not 100% sure what type of plastic that is – I’ve sent emails to a couple of supermarkets to see if they know so can advise further. It’s maybe cellophane – and if it is, it’s biodegradable. Anyone know?

As for reuses though, it’s not as smooth and, for what of a better word, floppy as the LDPE/number 4 plastic used for pre-packed bread – but because of that, it would be better to use as a lightweight packaging material (it would scrunch, not crush flat). It’s not as pretty as the plastic wrap used on bouquets but there might be some overlap in the reuses.

Any other suggestions?

My colleagues at work gave me a beautiful bunch of flowers for my birthday but it seems to be wrapped in about 10 yards of cellophane!! What can I do with it? It’s mostly clear with a cute white flower design on it but I can’t think what to do with it because it’s so noisy!

If you grow flowers yourself, you could reuse it if you ever want to give a bunch to anyone else – but aside from that, I’m out of ideas. Any suggestions?

(Oh, and by the way Ciara, here are some suggestions for re-using the flowers when you’re done with them.)

(Photo from Ciara)

I’m so bad. Every day, I buy those prepacked sandwiches rather than making my own. Sometimes I go to Pret and buy cardboard and cellophane wrapped ones, and sometimes I go to the yummy bakery up the road and get them just wrapped in cellophone but most of the time, sigh, I have to get those standard pre-packaged sandwiches in the triangular plastic wastefulness. I do feel bad while I eat them and not just because the sandwiches are bland and tasteless yet just cost me £2. What can I do with the packaging when I’m done with it?

(Photo by Asterisco, c/o sxc.hu)