We’ve had another email from Maja:

It’s me once again :) since I have so much junk to recycle, I came up with another question: what to do with various comics?

My little brothers collected a whole stash of Donald Duck, W.I.T.C.H and other comics books. Can I recycle them in some crafty way?

The first things that springs to mind are using them for decoupage or wrapping paper.

You could also make them into colourful envelopes – like Lynsey from Swirly Arts does with old children’s books.

Other suggestions?

We’ve had an email from Rob asking what a million people up and down the UK will be asking given the recent rush of awesome weather:

How can I recycle charcoal from the BBQ?

At the moment it’s still sitting in there but need to clean it out soon. Any suggestions instead of chucking it out?

As I’ve said before in relations to ashes from bonfires, ash from wood fires – untreated, unpainted wood – can be used in the compost heap or in the garden to bring down the acidity of the compost/soil (don’t use too much though, then it’ll get too alkaline).

But most of the charcoal briquettes that people use on barbecues tend to have random things added that you wouldn’t necessarily want in your compost heap – so unless you know they’re 100% wood based, it would be safer to leave them off your heap/veg plot.

So any there any things that can be done with them instead?

We’ve had an email from Jack:

Probably a long shot but i was wondering if anybody could think of any uses for old bits of worn-out sandpaper (i.e. once that have passed their optimum sanding potential). I’m a carpenter and go through loads of the stuff!

A good question and for once I’m completely stumped – I can’t think of anything. Recycling is probably a troublesome too.

Any suggestions?

(Photo by Simon Eugster)