Uses for Plastic Trash Bins

By Carol (Guest Post)

Plastic trash bins are great for storing clothing in. I store out out of season clothes in them and the childrens clothes that are too big and they will be growing into soon. Trash bins are great for storing blankets in during the summer when you don't need them or extra blankets for company. This keeps things clean and organized.

By

kidzrus

Thanks again everyone; you're brilliant! Peace, Sharon

By

mom-from-missouri

We farm, and use them for rodent and bird proof storage. We store ice melt, rabbit feed, horse feed, corn, chicken feed in them. They also hold items you want to keep clean but are storing in a duty place--one has tarps in it, and another has the tent in it.

By IndiCAt (Guest Post)

Clean them up, recover them with wallpaper or wallpaper remnats and use them as gift baskets. Wallpaper is not ugly anymore, you can get some very pretty wallpaper, vintage-ish styles on ebay and at Lowes... I made one for my bathroom, and several people have asked where I bought it. It looks like it came from a boutique, not a chainstore.

By

1burrell

My sister uses the "Big" trash container in her laundry room for a dirty clothes hamper. Works great! I use the wheeled kind for storing 'out of season' blankets and clothes. They take up less space and store quite a large amount. Very handy!

By

gurth

Thank you! suzi-homemaker01! for the idea to put wrapping paper in a bucket/trash bin/whatever! I have been wondering what to do with the rolls of paper I have accumulated. This is such a brilliant idea!!
Kind regards

By

suzi_homemaker01

I use them to hold garden tools and also one for brooms and mops. You can use one to store wrapping paper in too. I love to recycle and find different uses for ordinary things.

By (Guest Post)

I love these ideas! Thank you so much for responding to my request. I love this website for the really terrific folks and their brilliant ideas. My trashbins will never look the same again! Bless you all, Sharon in Turkey

By

susanmajp

Do any of them clean up to look like new? If so, I'd use them to put items in for Wedding Showers: kitchen towels, pot holders, can openers, hot plates, and such, rather than a clothes basket; or Baby Showers: diapers, pins, powder, lotions, etc; House Warmings: furniture polish, glass cleaner, spray bottles, dish detergent, etc; or for anything you might use a gift basket for. Just tie a ribbon around it and top with a bow. But make sure they are well cleaned and disinfected, and in good shape.

By lindajean (Guest Post)

Just be sure they have no water--even 2"--as a child can drown if they fall in headfirst.

By

Cresanna

I use plastic trash cans to hold up plywood shelves. My shelves are about a foot wide and 4 feet long. The trash cans work great as supports, and if I need to move them, they are lightweight and stackable.

By

aw_$mgr96

I buy cat litter in these buckets, and I use them to store items such as: handbags, toys, out-of-season beddings and clothing (make sure you use moth balls or cedar chips)

For smaller cans, you can use them as buckets, leave cleaning solutions in them so you can carry all your cleaning supplies. For the square/oblong ones, you can use them to hold magazines, papers. You can paint or decorate them so they just look like regular storage bins, then you can just put them on any shelf

Anna, NYC

By

gardenlady58102

I use Krylon Fusion (paint for plastic) get them the color you want, or leave them as is, then...paint designs on them or find neat fabric to cut pieces from and decopoge them on...they can then be used for trash of course, planters, scrub them good first and they can be used as "gift" baskets. great for holding garden supplies..look at my photo album at http://photobucket.com/albums/v57/gardenlady58102/
to find lots of ideas for decorating Trash to Treasure stuff :0)
gardenlady58102

By

QueenBeeCrafts

Sharon,

I use washed-out 5 gallon buckets for planters (kitty litter) and to keep things looking neater, my husband is building a "planter box" with a screen bottom, and flat wood sides. The buckets, with holes drilled for drainage, will sit down in the box side by side -and you will see just the wood sides, not my buckets. You could probably do something similar for your trash buckets.

You could use them for sorting laundry.

If you have kids/grandkids, they could be decorated with stickers or something and used to hold toys.

They can be used to store yarn - my MIL puts her yarn in one with a lid and just pulls the yarn out through the lid so the cats cannot get at it.

Another option is to donate them through freecycle or goodwill or something - people just starting out in a new home might be able to put them to good use.

Hope this helps.