It was my birthday yesterday – I spent it with 200 geeks in Wolverhampton, as you do – but since it was my third birthday since starting Recycle This, I’ve run out of birthday-themed ideas to post :)

So to give myself the day off, here’s a cheating post linking back to all the birthday-themed things we’ve discussed before:

• How can I reuse or recycle … birthday cards?
• How can I reuse or recycle … wrapping paper?
• How can I reuse or recycle … balloons?
• How can I reuse or recycle … stale cake?

Anything birthday-themed I’ve missed? If so, leave a comment below or drop me an email – ideas@recyclethis.co.uk – and I’ll use it on the site to bolster our birthday section :)

(Photo by nazreth. I’d need 29 of them. Because I’m greedy. And also 29 now.)

Last week’s post on HA Schult’s Trash People reminded me of something I saw on Alice in Blogland‘s blog a few months ago (Alice is a regular commenter on this site and was the one that suggest we should make the reverse Recycle This idea a regular thing – hi Alice! :) )

Anyway, she linked to the awesomely amazing work by photographer Chris Jordan, which really illustrates the scale of the problem we face when it comes to trash.

His “Running the Numbers” exhibition combines awesome visuals with statistics about usage/wastage in contemporary America – for example, his ‘Cans Seurat’ picture “Depicts 106,000 aluminium cans, the number used in the US every thirty seconds”. (It covers other social issues too – for example, gun-related deaths per year and the amount of children in the US without health care.)

Speaking about his previous exhibition ‘Intolerable Beauty: Portraits of American Mass Consumption’, Chris said:

“The pervasiveness of our consumerism holds a seductive kind of mob mentality. Collectively we are committing a vast and unsustainable act of taking, but we each are anonymous and no one is in charge or accountable for the consequences. I fear that in this process we are doing irreparable harm to our planet and to our individual spirits.”

Estelle – of Monday’s shelf-lining foam query – had a second “how can I recycle…” question:

How to reuse/recycle these small, transparent plastic envelopes that airlines use to put the freebie eyemask and ear plugs in?

I presume they throw them away when used? I recently flew Air France and salvaged a few of them lying about before I disembarked. I expect they have infinite uses. But what are they?

I use them to store small things that would otherwise get lost in my clothing cupboard, like those detachable decorated bra straps, and ‘secret socks’ (undersize socks to wear inside ones shoes). They could be nice for storing bits of jewellery too, perhaps.

Funny that Estelle should use them for tidying her underwear drawer – I’ve got a few in mine as well since multi-pack knickers tend to come in a similar be-poppered bag. We’ve got another envelope like that in the kitchen, to hold take-away menus.

Other suggestions?

We’ve had an email from Estelle, saying:

My local supermarket uses these plasticky foam sheets to line their fruit and veg shelves to protect produce from getting bruised. They simply throw them away in the evening and lay out fresh ones the following day. What a waste!

I have been salvaging them, as I’m packing up to move house. If they are clean (no sticky fruit smears), which they usually are (as the fruit is packaged in yet more plastic), I use them to cushion items to be posted, instead of buying a padded envelope. What other ideas are out there?

They look pretty similar the thin packing foam you get with Ikea furniture to stop them scratching in transit. There are a number of insulating ideas on there – so I guess Estelle’s sheets could be used in the same way.

Any other suggestions though?

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?