Uses for Plastic Pop Bottles

Plastic Bottle Solar Lights

This is a great way to reuse plastic bottles and save money on power. In the United States this idea could be used in sheds, chicken coops, or any structure with a tin roof. These plastic bottle lights create an amazing amount of light without any electricity. What a great idea and such a touching story. I hope you enjoy.

By StellaBella from Manchester, WA

Reusing Plastic Drink Bottles

I save these wonderful little plastic bottles from teas and "ice" drinks, because they are perfect for redoing the condiment shelves in the fridge. They're all the same size, and I write what is in each one on the lids. But, that isn't the tip. I also have my friends and family save these wonderful coffee containers. When moving, I found that four fit inside the other, and the brain started thinking.

Camping and picnic season is upon us. If you are diabetic like me, you could separate your sugar free drinks or water in the coolers like this. You can also keep your condiments from rolling around in there this way, too. You can fill them to about 1/2 inch from the top and freeze them, making them the perfect ice chest cooler that won't melt all over everything. I would put them all in the coffee canister before you put them in the freezer as they might expand.

We should all carry water in our cars over the hot months, and this would sit up in a crate a lot better than a gallon jug would. I found that they are pretty tight in there, so even if it rolled around they would not come out as easy.

I can't imagine anyone needing that many buttons or beads for travel, but if you did, they are a lot more reliable than zip locks.

So, how many things can you all come up with to help us all stay thrifty and organized? Tag - you're it!

By Sandi from Salem OR

Plastic Soda Bottles as Giftwrap

I thought this was such a neat idea.You can use a bottle to fill with little gifts, or in place of loot bags, or baby shower novelties. You can use a small or a 2 litre, depending on what you're putting into the bottle. These can also be sent by mail.

Approximate Time: 15 minutes

Supplies:

• bottle
• card stock
• scissors
• packing tape
• marker or pen
• carpet knife
• ribbon

Instructions:

Peel the paper off your bottle,and wash and dry well. Then turn the bottle onto its side, and cut a flap or door into the side of your bottle. Put your treats or gifts into the hole you cut out. Add some coloured confetti or strips of tissue paper, if you want.

Using packing tape, secure the flap you cut. Cut a piece of card stock and tape it around the bottle. Write a message onto the card stock. Tie a ribbon onto the top of the bottle.

If your mailing it, secure the lid with packing tape. The skies the limit with what you can put into them.

By coville123 from Brockville, Ontario

Soda Bottles for Cuttings

When I send out cuttings to friends, of plants that propagate easily, I take a 2 liter cola plastic bottle and cut around the top to make a planter. I drill little holes in the bottom for drainage, tear the wrapper off, and decorate it with permanent markers. It makes a great planter, and the root system can be seen easily when it is ready to replant. I use root stimulator to start the plants, and water, then watch them grow. Wrap cellophane or foil paper around the bottom and tie it with a ribbon, for decoration and to catch the drainage.

By Sharon S. from Brenham, TX

Crafty Uses For Milk And Soda Bottles

I lately have been finding many ways to reuse plastic milkjugs and soda bottles. Here are just two new ways we can reuse them.

Milkjugs

Cut off the bottom of any MilkJug right at the line where the rough turns to smooth. From that simple cut you now have a makeshift bucket which could carry water, or to collect stuff in like seashells or berries

If you make two or more, a tossing game can be added. Make a stand from another milk jug bottom, you have a pitcher either for mixing batter for pancakes or to keep those berries in.

There I go, I said I was only going to give you one.

Soda Bottles

Take a clear plastic soda bottle. Then take several gauges of different plastics, say from milkjugs. Cut then in sheets off the jugs. Create little fish from them and decorate those fish. Now, take a green plastic soda bottle and fashion something that might look like underwater weeds. The green bottle plastic is heavier so it will always stay on the bottom. The fish plastic is light so it will float to the top unless it gets entangles with the heavier plastic which would be a plus.

Now add both of your creations to a clear plastic Soda bottle. You will figure out what size. Add water then a few drops of food coloring. Turn the capped bottle the other way around and you have a plastic fish aquarium. You should also consider hand decorating the outside of your bottle with hand drawings or cutouts.

The best part, and very few people even know, is that a soda bottle stands on its cap very well, and that cap does not leak.

So you just made a toy,a curio or a thinking device. An exercise tool, and most likely many more things which you get to tell others.

To Reuse Is To Be Thrifty

By Michael from Shermansdale, PA

Use 2 Liter Bottles for Watering Your Garden

It is always so hot here in the summer and I like to have flowers and vegetables on my deck and in the yard, but can't afford the water bills to keep them watered between times of rain.

So I cut the end off the bottom of a 2-liter plastic bottle, turn the bottle up-side down so the neck (without the lid) is in the ground next to the plant. Pour water in the wide part of the open bottle and it will keep the plants moist through the day and I don't waste water from the hose.

I also put a stick through the holes into the dirt so the wind doesn't blow the bottle over. This works great. You can add your fertilizer to the water and water and feed plants at the same time. I have several in my garden.

I hope this idea helps others.

By Sharon from Van Buren, Arkansas

Soda Bottle for Bee Trap

This past summer our humming bird feeder was attracting more bees than birds. My husband cut the top off a regular sized soda bottle. He threaded a string through the bottom and bent inside a lip from the top of the bottle. It hung upside down from the string.

He put it on the same rod that holds our humming bird feeder and it attracted a lot of bees. Once the bees found their way in they couldn't get out. Turned out really good for the birds since they got to use the feeder, and the bees ended up in the trap.

Source: My husband

By gem from VA

Planters, Vases And Funnels From Plastic Bottles

I can't believe how many uses there are for used plastic bottles. We live in an area with impure water so we have to buy bottled water, sometimes we buy it in small bottles and sometimes in the large 2 liter pop-bottle size. When I'm done with the larger bottles I take a pair of old scissors and cut the top 1/3 off. What I'm left with is a bottom part that I use as a vase or a planter to start cuttings or seeds, and the top half is just the right size and shape to use as a funnel to add oil or tranny fluid to your car. You know, it seems we never have a funnel when we need one. But, now that I've figured this out I'll always have a large or a small funnel by just cutting the top off of a large or small water bottle!

These 2 liter sized plastic pop bottles also make great little greenhouses for starting seeds and cuttings, just cut the bottom inch off (with scissors or a serrated knife) and after taking the lid off, just set the rest of the bottle over your cutting for a more humid environment for it to root in. Be sure to keep this in the shade or it might get to hot for your cutting.

Another great idea for plastic pop bottles is to use them to keep nasty critters off of newly planted trees. What you do is cut the top and the bottom off of a small water bottle or a 2 liter sized pop bottle, then cut a vertical slice through it. I use this plastic strip to wrap around the base of the tree and I tie the plastic on with a piece of nylon twine or you can nail it on with tacks. You may need to stack one piece on top of the other for added height, but there's no shortage of plastic bottles! I especially like the way these bottles come in clear or green so they tend to blend in with the environment.

Of course you'll first need to remove any labels before you make any of the above projects and if you can't find a use for your plastic bottles, please just rinse them out, remove the label and recycle them! But if you can't find an additional use for the plastic, please buy your water in renewable and refillable containers or buy a filter for your tap Me? It seems I always seem to find a place to use them, especially when propagating.

By Cyinda from near Seattle

Storing Homemade Wine and Beer

You can use the plastic bottles to store homemade drinks in. I use them for storing homemade wine or beer in. Some people prefer glass for this, but it works for me. I have never had plastic explode, as glass sometime will under the pressure of the yeast.

By Barbara G from Statesboro, GA

Using a Soda Bottle for Yarn

If you knit or crochet, an empty 2-liter soda bottle is useful. Cut off the bottom and place a skein of yarn into it, after you've started the skein from the middle, and feed the yarn through the bottle neck.

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