We’ve had an email from Annie about a little find of hers:

I’m not sure what to call this, its a little basket that was in a tub of feta cheese (I rescued it out of the bin!). About 10 cms high and with a ready made hook on the back. There has to be a use for it…

I would worry about using it for heavy things because the hook on the back doesn’t look too sturdy but I would guess there are plenty of holding-things ideas – perhaps tying a loop of string through the loop and hanging it from a washing line for pegs? Using as a (non-hanging) desk tidy?

Anyone got any more creative ideas, particularly using it for things other than just holding stuff? Ideas to take advantage of the squares in the side and the little holes in the bottom maybe?

An email from Melinda Goodick:

In the course of seasons, we have accumulated many inflatable mattresses and beach/pool toys and also sledding tubes from the winter. They were fun, but once they go flat, the fun is gone. What can we do with them besides their intended use?

I’m presuming by “go flat” Melinda means they haven’t got a valve for refilling with air. We’ve also run into similar “what shall we do with this?” issues in the past with inflatables when they’ve split along the seam and the holes too big to realistically puncture repair.

So, ideas?

(Photo by winjohn)

We’ve had an email from Phillip Levenson:

I own a joinery manufacturers and i produce a lot of wood shavings which is mixed softwood and hardwood shavings and some dust i am struggling to dispose of it quicker than i can produce it.

I have a couple of people who take it from me who own horses. Do you know of any other ways of maybe recycling the shavings?

Untreated and unpainted wood can be composted but any reuse ideas?

(Photo by slafko)

We’ve had an email from “nannaspoon”:

Can I recycle the boxes that baby powered milk comes in? Cow & Gate comes in a laminated cardboard outer case, plastic lid and silver-foil covering on the inside of the box which is non-detachable. What should I put it in with – cardboard, plastic or foil?

Oooh, that’s a good question: I suspect if you can pull the lid off – and it’s a type of plastic covered by your recycling people – then that’s ok to be thrown in with plastics but does anyone know what the deal is with foil-lined cardboard?

Cow and Gate claims this new packaging is better for the environment that their old tins and they “use recycled materials wherever possible” – but they’ve not got back to me about how the tubs can be recycled post-consumer. (UPDATE: they have done now. Their response is in the comments.)

Any ideas for reuses?

There’s something about the combination of garlic, parmesan and salt on flat garlic breads that I absolutely love. I think it might be the cheese and the salt – and perhaps the garlic.

Because we don’t always have time to make our own, we have either a flat garlic bread or a frozen pizza about once a month – but they’re packaging nightmares: the bread/pizza sits on top of a round foam base, covered in shrink-wrapped plastic and in a cardboard box.

The cardboard can be recycled but the plastic and foam not so much. Any ideas for reusing the foam bases?

(If you’re not familiar with them, they’re flat, round discs about 25cm (10″) in diameter – but bigger ones are used for bigger, fresh pizzas. The foam is about 4mm thick (1/8th of an inch) and not bendy – it snaps rather than bends. Ours also usually have a slight (ahem) garlicky odour which might impact the uses.)