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?

John and I were having one of those wacky, romantic-comedy-esque moments the other day over some jacket potatoes. He was grinding some black pepper onto them and joking about giving me an excessive amount but the joke turned around on him: once he’d ground LOADS over my potato, he moved over his dish, did one grind and the whole bottom fell out of the grinder, sending tons of whole peppercorns flying all over his dinner. As I said, a rom-com moment (well, I laughed anyway).

The plastic that held the grinder together had shattered and we’re lucky we spotted all the little clear pieces in our food rather than eating them (at least we think we spotted them all…). The rest of the grinder is fine but we’re reluctant to glue it back together given the way it shattered, in case it happens again over food.

So what else can we do with it? John thought about maybe turning it into a percussive instrument but we’ve probably got as many of them as we need. So suggestions?

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?

Lucia, of the weather balloons from last week, is another one of those fab people who makes cool things by recycling random stuff.

You can see examples of her creations at http://www.jblarts.com but I thought I’d also feature a few of my favourite things here – namely the egg box fairy light shades (above) and the old electronics as earrings below. I also think what she’s dubbed a “tattoo bracelet” is also very cool – a shaped strip of an old plastic bottle with a pretty design on it – a simple but great idea, with loads of possible variations.