We’ve had an email from Matt asking:

I have bags of unused scraps of upholstery vinyl, I’m trying to find out if these can be recycled and if so how?

At the moment they are just being thrown away but if they can be turned into something else then that’s great!

I suspect Matt is producing these scraps on a commercial scale so needing something more than craft suggestions. However, what might be a scrap to him (because, for example, it can’t be used for an entire seat cover perhaps) might not be a scrap to another person who wants to make smaller things out of them – there are organisations like Scrap Leeds who collect reusable commercial waste and redistribute it to schools, arts projects and crafters. If possible, it might be worth sorting out sizeable scraps while going along.

As for the truly scrap pieces, if they can’t be recycled back into sheets of fabric, it might be possible to shred them for reuse as insulation or stuffing – the hard bit is finding a nearby company who does that. Any suggestions?

We’ve got a reasonably large pile of old upholstery/sofa foam – some flat and square, other bits random shaped.

We dismantled a very old (but beloved) sofa at the weekend – some of our collection came from that, with other cushions/padding from other people getting rid of sofas/cushions, or ones that have been used as padding during house moves at one time or another.

We’ve used some of the foam cushions to make a little sheltered bed in our greenhouse for the local stray cat but don’t know what to do with the rest of it.

Any suggestions?