Clear plastic bottles are used every day for packaging food and beverage. You’ll see this often on grocery shelves containing anything from juice, nuts, spices, jam, and animal food. Most of these containers are made from non-reusable PET. This means after using up its contents you should or must dispose of them at once.
To be clear, PET is a stable form of plastic. When we say it’s non-reusable, it does not mean the material chemically degrades once it is refilled and reused. The main concern with reused PET is that the clear plastic can have dents and scratches inside where bacteria can easily grow in a short span of time. In previous years, PET plastic bottles are a main source of trash in dump sites accross Australia. Fortunately, the government, with the help of private organizations, is building large-scale recycling plants that can process up to 1 billion PET plastic bottles every year.
We can help these recycling centers by converting some of the PET bottles we consume every week or month into other items we can use. This not only keeps us from reusing a contaminated clear plastic bottle for food or drink. It makes us part of a global drive to reduce pollution and reduce the impact of climate change.
For a start, try recycling your clear plastic bottles with these ten fun and awesome projects.
We all love birds. Their tweets and chirps can turn a gloomy day into a musical atmosphere. So, instead of throwing away all your clear plastic bottles, make our winged-friends happy by turning some of them into bird feeders. You can try the simple bird feeder you see in this photo, or you can follow this step-by-step tutorial. And make sure you buy high-quality seeds from your local pet store. The birds will take notice and serenade you with lovely songs to show their gratitude.
It requires exceptional skill and patience to manually separate the egg yolk from the translucent part we often call “egg white.” But your 250ml clear plastic bottle can simplify this daunting task.
It’s simple. Take a used clear plastic bottle and rinse it thoroughly with clean water. By the way, make sure your eggs are chilled. Experts say this method will not work if the eggs are at room temperature. While the bottle dries, crack the egg and place it on a saucer or plate. With the lid removed, gently squeeze and hold the plastic bottle a little to remove some of its air. Then place the bottle’s mouth on top of the yellow yolk. Slowly release your hold and watch the yolk get sucked into the clear plastic bottle with ease.
If you still find these instructions too complicated, you can watch this video for more information.
Kids will love this activity. Adults who want to unwind from a long day of work would also enjoy this project. Here’s what you should do. Get a used plastic juice bottle and wash it to remove any remnants of its previous contents. Once it’s dry, get a sharp knife and score a small hole on the part of the clear plastic bottle where you want to put the coins (Be careful when doing this). Use a scissor to complete the coin slot.
The fun part is making it look like a pig. To do that, just stick four bottle caps using glue or double-sided tape on the opposite side of the slot. This will serve as the piggy bank’s legs. Then paint it pink. Once the paint is dry, work on its face by sticking two googly eyes on the area that is supposed to be the face. Cut out some cardboard to make its ears. Then paint the clear plastic bottle cap green, just like what you see in the picture to make it a thing of beauty.
It’s fun, right? The challenge, of course, is what to put into it since money is mostly digital nowadays. But that’s an entirely different topic.
This one is for you if you are a plant lover. Since we are concerned about the environment, one way to reuse your plastic juice bottles, or any containers you bought from your local food packaging supplies, into a hanging planter. Just look at this image from Pinterest. It shows three clear plastic containers transformed into planters. Simply cut off the bottom part of your bottles, punch some holes to attach a firm plastic tie, and then hang it upside down.
With the right potting mix and decorations, you can create a modern-day indoor hanging clear plastic bottle garden for your succulents.
To add to your indoor garden, you can go the extra mile and surround yourself with plants. For this project, you can use your 500ml clear plastic bottles. If you plan to take care of larger plants, take the 1L empty plastic bottles. A dozen or more of these can be connected to make a ladder-like arrangement, just like what you see in this picture.
You can use this hanging garden for outdoor plants like greens and flowers. Just make sure to paint the pots to keep off sunlight and prevent algae from growing and harming your plants. In a few weeks, your wall garden can make your outdoor area look vibrant.
Empty clear plastic bottles are also good containers for light and small items you often see scattered around in your shop. Here’s a good DIY project. All you need is a plastic bottle with a lid cover. Attach an eyebolt to the cover. Then cut out an access hole large enough for your hands. Afterward, put the items you want to organize, such as screws, bots, nails, and dowl joints.
Then hang the clear plastic tool container on your peg board or wall tool rack for your visitors to see. For sure, they’ll appreciate both your DIY project and the newly organized shop.
This is a brilliant one from Mandeeblogs. Instead of buying overpriced bowling pins from your toy store, take ten 250ml clear plastic bottles and number them from 1 to 10. You can use plain black ink or show off your creativity by using colored paper.
Find a flat surface and set the bottles in their proper places, just like what you see in this picture. Get your rubber ball and start bowling!
This is a fun project for those with enough time to spare. You need to use a circular steel frame as the bin’s base and then tie the water bottles to each other using thin steel wires. The tools you need for this project are a small drill to make holes, a tweezer to handle the wires, and a knife to cut the bottom part of the plastic bottles. It takes patience to tie all these clear plastic bottles together, and to bind them until they look like an actual bin. For more information about this project, visit Instructables.
This project can make your kids happy. At the same time, it can help you relax while exercising your creativity. You just need clear plastic bottles, a sharp blade, scissors, a plastic fork, styrofoam balls, googly eyes, and paint. Actually, you can use the bottom parts of plastic bottles you cut when you made the hanging planters. Trim them a little and turn them into ladybugs. It is hard to explain every detail of this project so you better watch this video for proper guidance.
This project is a chic and earth-friendly way to organize your jewelry. You can also use it to keep small items you use for fashion and beauty, like rings and pins.
You need the bottoms of translucent plastic PET bottles, although you can also use clear plastic bottles if you want to color it with paint. The specific sizes are two 2L plastic bottles, one 1L plastic bottle, and one 20oz plastic bottle. The other items you should have for this project are a threaded rod, nuts and washers, a small drill, a Dremmel rotary tool, and protective glasses. Go to this blog post for detailed instructions on this amazing project.
Recycling is fun. These fifteen DIY projects are just a few of the many ways you can reuse clear plastic bottles and reduce plastic garbage in Australia. Of course, these activities may not be for everyone. But if you’re the creative type or you simply want to break away from your mundane tasks, choose one of these projects and have fun.
Which of these DIY projects for clear plastic bottles do you like the most?
