We’ve had an email from Catherine:

I can compost out of date fruit juice right?

Right! Fruit juice can go straight into the compost heap – just be careful not to make the compost heap/bin too soggy (it needs to be damp, not too wet or too dry, to optimise the composting process).

Before you throw it on there though, make sure it’s really gone off – don’t trust dates on packaging and don’t forget the difference between “use by”, “sell by” and “best before”. All the fruit juice cartons we’ve got to hand – both the refrigerated stuff and the non-refrigerated ones – have best before dates on them (and guidelines about how soon to drink it after opening), not use by.

Since I’m not a fan of fruit either in whole or juiced form, I can’t think of too many reuse ideas – but I’m sure Recycle This’s awesome readers will be able to come up with something — can more acidic juices (pineapple juice, for example) be used for cleaning as you would with lemon juice?

(One thought I did have was to freeze the juice before it goes off if you don’t think you’ll be able to use it in time – freeze it in ice cube trays rather than in its native container so it’s easier to reuse in small amounts.)