We’ve had an email from Chrissy asking what to do with an old doormat:

The bristly kind. Compost it?

The bristly ones are usually made from coir – coconut fibre – so a natural material that will compost — but it can apparently takes many years to decompose. That’s a good thing really – we’d have to replace our doormats more often if they rotted every six months – and it probably would rot down quicker in a warm, moist compost bin than on the doorstep, but possibly one for a long term compost bin rather than a quick turn around one. (Also, be careful if it has rubber or synthetic backing – you might not want that breaking down in your compost bin at all.)

In her short and sweet email, Chrissy doesn’t say why she’s getting rid of it but depending on its condition, it might be reusable in the same or another capacity – if I had a spare doormat right now, no matter how tatty, it would go outside the door to our chicken run so I could wipe my feet on the way out before traipsing back up the garden. Or, I made a wellie stand a few weeks ago and it could easily be fitted out with some stripes of bristly coir to help clean the mud off them first.

Any other reuse suggestions?