We got some computer hardware bits delivered a few weeks ago and the box was filled out with those inflated cushion things.

When we’ve had them in the past, I’ve always thought “I wonder how I can recycle th- oh, they’re compostable corn starch type plastic. Great!” but this current load is regular plastic so won’t be ending up in my compost heap. They’re still better than polystyrene beads or other old school packaging though.

The plastic seems to be the same as supermarket carrier bags so I suspect they can be recycled in the same places as those.

But what about reuses? They seem to be holding their inflatableness quite well so I think one lot will be used as a bath pillow. Other suggestions?

(Apologies for the bad photo – it turns out it’s quite difficult to photograph things that are clear… If you’ve not familiar with them, they’re essentially inflated plastic bags. The ones we have are about 5x15cm (2x6inches) each and are in rows of 3 or 4 joined along the long edge.)

We’ve got a reasonably large pile of old upholstery/sofa foam – some flat and square, other bits random shaped.

We dismantled a very old (but beloved) sofa at the weekend – some of our collection came from that, with other cushions/padding from other people getting rid of sofas/cushions, or ones that have been used as padding during house moves at one time or another.

We’ve used some of the foam cushions to make a little sheltered bed in our greenhouse for the local stray cat but don’t know what to do with the rest of it.

Any suggestions?

We have a number of cushions and pillows around the house that are not exactly cushioning or pillowy any more. For want of a better word, I shall describe them as clumpy – the stuffing has clumped together into uncomfortable lumps – and no amount of fluffing (…that I can do before my arm gets tired) will redeem them.

It usually seems to be one of those situations that gets worse over time – which preventative regular fluffing can keep at bay – but washing them certainly seems to speed up the process.

Any ideas of how to bring them back to life? Or how to reuse the cushion corpse once it has passed over?

(Photo by Justified)