Recycling Household Bottles: Part 2

So we covered how to not accumulate the bottles and how to use up what you already have so as not to hastily waste useful things in an excited rush to recycle. The remaining parts of this series will cover what to do with the bottles as: Whole bottles, Bottles with spray tops, Cut/altered bottles, and their Bottle caps.

*CLEAN ALL BOTTLES THOROUGHLY BEFORE BEGINNING. If you can still smell the original product or see small bubbles when you let water sit inside, you’re not done cleaning. This is one step you shouldn’t hurry through.
*LABEL any liquids clearly (cleaning products, paints)
*SECURE ALL BOTTLES if they contain small or hazardous materials. Keep children and pets in mind during any project.

Now for the bottle fun!

WHOLE BOTTLE:
Use these as-is or decorate for a nicer look! Some uses listed, i.e. storing lotion, are intended for use with home-made products, transferring from a bulk container or splitting to two containers, etc., and not necessarily for new items already in packaging.

Items marked with (*) are borrowed ideas whose creators are listed at the end of the posting. All other ideas came from my little head after hours of brainstorming and walking around my house. Please give credit where it is due.

Store items in the car

• water (for rinsing hands/cooling engine if overheating)
• hand sanitizer, hair products for touch ups, lotion, overnight items, tampons
• Aloe, Neosporin, calamine lotion, first aid items
• spare change, toll money
• freeze bottle of water for food to go

Organizing small items

• Craft items – beads, buttons, marbles, sewing notions, small paints, knitting needles, crochet hooks
• Tools – screws, bolts, washers, bits
• Office/desk – pens, pencils, paper clips, rubber bands
• Bath – bath salts and beads, leftover soap chips
• Kids’ toys – game pieces, marbles, Legos, doll and action figure accessories – good for toting to Grandparents’ and friends’ houses for play.
• Vanity – hair pins, elastics, nail file etc.
• Travel – mementos, movie stubs, tickets etc. kept safe on the voyage home
• Kitchen – bag clips, magnets, cake icing tips

Time capsules – best with opaque or decorated bottles

• Get a bunch of friends together at New Year’s to make them together
• Give as part of a birthday gift – include questions for the recipient to answer, magazine or newspaper clippings, photos
• Valentine’s Day, anniversaries, newlyweds
• New baby – all of that new baby stuff
• High school graduation, before going off to college
• Beginning of the school year – give at the end of the school year
• New pet – Photos, favorite toy, favorite expensive things to destroy

Bowling! and other games

• Use empty bottles as pins and a pom-pom/sock ball to prevent floor and wall scuffing
• Diving toys (transparent bottles) – fill with colored water (food coloring) or colored sand/sugar (colored by rolling chalk through sand on a tray or plate) – secure cap with permanent water proof glue.
• Fill and use as hand weights. Use velcro strips to secure to hands if needed.

Body soothers

• Hot water bottle – fill with warm water (heat water separately from bottle), cover in soft cloth – cramps, headaches, back aches, cold feet
• Ice pack – fill with water and freeze, cover in soft cloth – swelling, hot summer days, good for lunch too!
• Store home made massage and bath oils, bubble bath, bath products

Party favors/gifts

• Some paint and clippings go a long way for general parties. Comic strips, re-gifted gift wrappings, magazine confetti, whatever is theme/party appropriate
• Chef in the family? Some lentils, beans, peas, or colored pasta look good on the kitchen counter
• “I Spy” bottle – Fill with many small trinkets mixed with newspaper clippings (or something similarly clutter-y) to hide them and an “I Spy” list for the recipient to search with
• Home made cake, brownie, bread, cocoa mixes, tea

Craftiness

• Store home made puff paint, bubble solution, doughs and goos
• Wrap yarn around – easier than those roll-away, cat-attracting balls
• Store yarn inside – leave a tail out to work with. Keeps yarn clean (lint, pet hair)

Around the house

• Place in boots/shoes to keep their shape. Wrap in socks, cloth for extra support.
• Crowded shower? Pierce cap horizontally, knot durable string through holes, and hang over shower head/curtain rod – great in crowded dorms, if you don’t mind being known as the guy with Shampoo on a Rope
• Book end/paperweight. How novel! Keep those flyaway curtains in place when the windows are open, too.
• Store valuables (opaque bottles) – the cheaper and older-looking ones are the best! Think a thief is gonna nab your 2-in-1? Maybe, if it’s kept in your safe box . . Personally, I’d throw it in my bathroom closet with everything else – just make sure it doesn’t rattle like precious jewels.
• Flower vase
• Glass bottle lamp really cool, especially with really nice bottles.

Too lazy?

• Donate to schools, after school clubs, churches for children’s craft projects. Bottle rockets!
• If you’re against kids’ creativity, or if kids are too snobby for old empty bottles, give the bottles away on (Craigslist, Freecycle). Selling will probably infringe on copyright laws. Send this link along with them! In an ideal world, we would all have used up our own bottles and will have moved on to seek other people’s bottles to do fun things with. In an ideal world. . .

If you’re not too lazy, and would like more ideas, stay posted for Part III.
Recycling Household Bottles: Part III

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