We’ve had an email from Heather:

I have a former airbed — the pump has failed mechanically and is built in so it can’t be replaced — so I could cut the material away from it if I had an idea what to do with it. the bottom is just pvc sheet, the top is the same but with a fabricy surface.

I suspect some of the suggestions for old inflatables and (from a plastic sheeting point of view) old shower curtains may be relevant – but has anyone got any specific suggestions for Heather?

(UPDATE: Sorry for the downtime this evening – unexpected and unplanned. Grrr, computers suck sometimes.)

We’ve had an email from Paul Smith asking:

I’m really interested in how one would recycle a yoga mat? One of the old school, pvc based ones, not the eco friendly one (which I have now).

If Paul means the type of mat I think he means, they’re a long thin piece of foam, about 6ft long and 2ft wide (185cm by 66cm ish) and about half an inch (1cm) thick. Depending on the requirements and the thickness/flexibility of the foam, they can either be rolled up like a camping bedroll or are left flat (the ones at my uni gym were like that).

So any suggestions for reuses? Or are there any recycling options if somewhere (like a gym) was getting rid of them in bulk?

Paul doesn’t say what condition his yoga mat is in – some of the ones at the uni were bashed to smeg at the sides and going thin where they’d been doubled up – so re-use suggestions for falling apart ones would be good too, just in case.

(Photo by bharat – I couldn’t find a picture without a ball in it too, so just imagine that’s not there :) )