Recycling Dryer Lint

mom-from-missouri
Silver Post Medal for All Time! 255 Posts

Recycling Dryer Lint - TP tube filled with dryer lint Even dryer lint can be recycled. I recycle it in 3 different ways.

Fire starters. I make fire starters out of dryer lint for our fireplace or for when we burn trash in the barrel outside. I take empty paper towel tubes or toilet paper tubes and stuff them full of dryer lint. To hold it in the ends, you can stuff a piece of newspaper or a paper napkin or other paper trash.

Compost. Dryer lint is made up mainly of organic fibers, (usually cotton). I don't use fabric softeners, but rather vinegar, and I use natural soaps when doing laundry thus it is chemical free and safe for composting and gardening.

Insulation for bird nests. Put some of it on a branch in a tree that is frequented by birds. In a short amount of time, you will notice it is gone. The birds will take it and line their nest with it.

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wordswork
Bronze Feedback Medal for All Time! 170 Feedbacks

January 13, 20230 found this helpful

Thank you very much for posting: I'd been aware of fire starting, but birds nests? Makes perfect sense (and if helps, why not).

gggd
Silver Answer Medal for All Time! 425 Answers

January 13, 20231 found this helpful

You should NOT put out dryer lint or cotton balls or batting for the birds to line their nests with, for a couple of reasons. First, when it rains and the parent bird isn't on the nest, the dryer lint gets wet and the chicks can get chilled from sitting on/in wet lint, plus it can get moldy. Let the birds use their feathers or dry grass. Second, if the lint happens to have any long-ish threads in it, a baby bird can accidently get "tied" to the nest and unable to fly away when it's time. I had a baby Oriole have this happen to. I had been watching the nest as I knew it was about time the young would fledge. Three of the four chicks had flown away across the yard, and the parents were going to them to feed them. They were also feeding the remaining chick still in the nest. That went on for several days, and then the adults stopped going to the one in the nest. That baby would stand on the edge of the nest, flapping its wings like crazy, but would not take off.

After the parents stopped feeding it, I told my husband that I thought maybe the baby was somehow tied to the nesting material, after looking close with binoculars. So, he climbed up the tree with a rope tied to his belt loop, then I tied our small chainsaw to the other end, hubby pulled it up to him and SLOWLY cut the branch the nest was on. I caught it on its way down. Then hubby lowered the saw and came down. He held the nest and the baby Oriole, while I carefully cut some string that was caught around the baby's one foot. My husband held his hand holding the bird out in front of him, the baby Oriole pooped in his hand and then flew away. We saved the bird, but my husband did NOT appreciate the way he was thanked !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Moral of the story: NEVER put out thread, twine, string, ribbon or anything more than an inch or two long, as it can trap a baby bird in the nest.

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