We’ve had a clever suggestion from Shabnam:

This might be an obvious one: but use old maps as wrapping paper! I just used some for to friends who loved it.

Photos posted on my blog.

Good idea, Shabnam! I’ve also seen them used as feature wallpaper. Any other suggestions?

(Photo by singhajay)

We’ve had an email from Jen & Dave, asking:

We recently moved into a new house that was COVERED in ivy. We’ve pulled most of it off for the sake of the masonry but haven’t got space to compost it all since it takes so long to break down. Any ideas what we can do with the rest?

Sticking to the composting line, your local council tip might have a garden waste area but depending on how they compost it, it might cause regrowth problems there as it does in garden compost heaps.

If it had been later in the year, you could use it for decorating Christmas wreaths etc.

Any other suggestions?

(Photo by Rybson)

We’ve had an email from Angelica asking about how she can recycle mobile phone chargers.

Some charities/companies that take old mobiles accept the chargers too since they’ll re-sell working phones to the developing world (for example in the UK, Help the Aged) but this isn’t the case with every phone recycling scheme. It might be worth checking with the ones that do take chargers if they take chargers by themselves.

Another idea might be to offer it on your local Freecycle group in case anyone in your area needs a replacement or wants a spare.

Any other ideas?

(Photo by canoncan)

We’ve featured bubble wrap before but many of the (great!) suggestions were for big pieces – installation around plants, shower curtains, . However, Aine Palmer has asked about smaller pieces:

In our local supermarket, the punnets of strawberrys all have a small piece (3×4 being the smallest, and the largest not too much bigger) of bubblewreap at the bottom. Not stryofoam peatnuts, but good old fashioned bubblewrap. Does anyone have a good idea for what to do with these?

We’ve had an email from headteacher Carole Brautigam:

We are a small rural school for 4-9 year olds. We are currently working towards our eco-schools bronze award. We are keen to recycle the milk cartons that the children use.

We’ve covered the recycling of tetrapak before – there are a few companies that recycle it – but I wonder if there are some particularly primary-school suitable re-use suggestions for the little containers…?