We had an email to Compost This from Tracy, asking:

Just wondered if old wallpaper is compostable. Just stripped it all off my daughter’s bedroom walls and I am just starting on the rest of the house. I don’t know and wondered if you did. I would assume that it’s not due to the adhesive but thought I would ask you.

I’d agree with the “no, it’s not” verdict because of the synthetic contents of most pastes, dyes used for patterns and/or paints applied to the surface. But what else can be done with it?

When we stripped our living room a few years ago, we had some really big pieces – almost full strips – as well as those annoying scraps that JUST WON’T COME OFF THE WALL but we ended up just bundling it all up and throwing it anyway because we couldn’t think what else could be done with it.

Any suggestions?

(Photo by the wonderfully named Woopidoo2)

We’ve had an email from the wonderfully-monikered “Cornish Bob”:

we’ve got about an acre of lawn which in the summer gets cut about once a week to every ten days depending on weather.

Apart from not cutting the lawn or composting, what can we do with it? We could take it to the local dump and have it composted but we want to find something we can do ourselves, I’m researching the use of grass as fuel but can’t find much on it, if we can get wood pellets made from saw dust, why not dried grass?

My mum and dad use the “tip it out of sight and forget about it” thing too since it can quickly swamp a normal compost heap and cut off the airflow.

So any other ideas? Anyone know anything about the fuel idea?

(Photo by KLatham)

It’s really starting to feel like spring here and I’ve been sorting out the garden in short bursts over the last week as well as repotting some houseplants for their shortly-to-commence mad growth spurt.

Our compost bin compost tends to have big chunks of material in it so I just dig it into the beds and use shop-bought compost for the houseplants. As I can only carry the small sacks of it back from the shops, I quickly end up with a number of the compost’s plastic bags lying around the garden – they’re quite a heavy yet flexible, opaque plastic and the inside is usually black. They’re pretty strong but do tear if treated too roughly and/or pokily.

Over the last couple of years, I’ve used them to line hanging baskets (black-side out) and collected random plastic pots in them to stop said pots ending up blown all over the street but I’d love to hear it if anyone has any more ideas for reuses.

(Sorry for the missing post yesterday – our internet connection died. Boo.)

Anyway, orange peel. I know large quantities are bad for compost heaps and wormeries because the worms don’t tend to be fond of it (particularly when it’s fresh) but it’s such a shame to just throw it away.

Any suggestions for it or related peelings?

(Photo by canoncan)

A suggestion from SaraR:

Hi guys. I’ve got one for you. We drink filter coffee every day at work – a couple of pots a day – and if I remember, I bag up the leftover grounds and throw them on my compost heap at home. But are there any other ways I can reuse or recycle them instead of just dumping them in there? I get such funny looks on the bus on the way home so it would be great if there was some way use them at work too!

Thanks!!
-SaraR

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