All the Plastic hairstuff bottles.....awww

[naj]

Hi everyone,
Few weeks back, there was a rant-like topic on LHC about the plastic bottles of conditioners and shampoos. And some areas(like mine) has no place for recycling, no separate trash cans for plastics and tins and aluminiums and all these plastics go to the soil and damage the eco-systems.
You can on this thread too about how helpless you feel.
But i would like this thread to also highlight on one thing you think might help this problem of plastic bottles. I personally cannot do much but have come up with an idea(still an idea,not yet impemented)
That is: Cut the empty bottle 1/3 or 1/4 from the top so that the cap and narrow neck portion is gone. YOu only have the remaining wider part.
Make 2 holes at the bottom and fill with potting soil. Grow small foliage or flowering plants in these plastic containers. If you have many such bottles, make up a batch, colour the outside withone colour and plant all of them and let them add beauty to your home.
You can make good use of the plastic and get and extra dose of oxygen too.

The discarded plastic top has to be trashed. Atleast you saved the rest of it!

Please add your suggestions and ideas.
Thank you.
Naj

[Amber]

All I can think of is using them to mix and hold your own hair concoctions. Things like SMT, home made conditioners and oils.

Your idea is much more imaginative!

[wavebaby]

We are lucky that we have abundant recycling facilities here, "green;' bins for our kitchens & yards that the city comes to remove biweekly...in fact, we are very pro-"green", recycling is very stongly encouraged...almost forced, as you HAVE to use the bins. but I love to do it, as well as composting, etc.

Naj, what a creative and thoughtful solution! Kudos to you for being so ecologically-minded!:happy:

[gaiasbutterfly]

Along the same idea as Naj, you can cut the top off and paint the outside and make yourself little vases or hairstick holders, and pony holders, and even little butterfly clip holders. If you can cut fairly straight you can make a stacking jewlery holder. Haven't quite figured out how to make the bottoms for the individual units, but you could probably use a strong cardboard and hot glue gun to but a bottom on each section.

[orchid]

You can use the cut off top as a funnel...just turn it upside down and open the cap!

[Daneille]

I feel very fortunate to live in Reno, NV. We have a very good curbside recycling program. Biweekly pickup of recyclable paper, glass, cans, and plastic. It is too bad that some items bought are not made out of non recyclable plastics though. I think they do a pretty good job here.
Daneille

[Carolyn]

You can use the cut off top as a funnel...just turn it upside down and open the cap!What an awesome tip! I would have never thought of that. Thank you so much for sharing. There are so many times when I've wished for a funnel and didn't have one. I wish there was a THUMBS UP smile.

[enitsirk]

Just a reminder to you guys, if you 'self recycle' make sure you wash/rinse the bottles out thoroughly before you use them for something else. It's kind of obvious if you're using it for food, and not necessary if you're just gonna use it for a hairtoy container, but if you're going to put it in the ground better be safe- I doubt much of it is very good for the environment.

I do keep my bottles for other hair concoctions and recycle them otherwise. I do like having a big conditioner bottle for ACV rinses..it works well. Put ACV in..add water..mix..then you have real control of where it's going.

[jessie58]

I have seen this done with ice cream pails but you can try to substitute the shampoo bottles. Not sure if the plastic is too opaque but some bottles may work.

This idea is meant to be used in winter time outdoors. Stretch a string of colored outdoor Christmas lights along the ground on the edge of your walkway/path leading up to your door and invert your bottles (tops cut off) over each colored light to make a colorful, cylindrical, glowing candle effect all the way up to your door.

If the shampoo bottles don't work, I know that those four litre white ice cream pails work perfectly and look gorgeous. When white ice cream pails are used, it's even prettier when the snow covers them because they give off a colored glow under the snow, all along the sidewalk to your door at night and it looks like wintry fairy lights.


Another idea that a I learned when I was a Girl Guide leader is also very cool. In the winter time (again) you take the bottle that has the top cut off and you pour water in it. You add different things in the water like fall leaves, pine needles, berries from the trees (you must remember to collect and save these items in the fall) and the you insert a long tapered red or white candle in the middle, making sure to leave an inch or so sticking out of the top so you can light the wick. Tie the candle around the top of the plastic bottle with a string so it won't sink.

Leave the bottle with water, leaves and candle outside overnight to freeze and the next day you pull off the plastic bottle, it will slide off if you warm it slightly and there you have a beautiful wintery, shimmery candle. You can put an assortment of sizes of these on your doorstep to be lit when you're expecting company or all along the edge of your windowsill so you see them glowing outside on a winter's night and they look beautiful to passersby too. They burn down and melt the water and it's pretty safe to leave them unattended because they just leave a puddle in the snow.

When my kids play outside in the winter making snow forts, they always make a little shelf somewhere in their fort to put a candle in on those dark days to light their play. It gets pitch dark at 4 o'clock so they now have little fairy lights in their fort and they love it. Even more special if they've made these lights themselves (in small size of course)

[Shermie Girl]

You can use the cut off top as a funnel...just turn it upside down and open the cap!

Ohhh! Good idea! :eureka:


Grabbing a pen and Post It to write it down. :geek:

[Love My Cop]

I hate throwing away all that plastic too. What I was thinking about doings is maybe contacting nursing homes, Boys & Girls Club, etc and speak with someone in the activities department, to see if they could utilize them.

[naj]

What wonderful ideas all have.
Gaiasbutterfly the pony tail and clip holder idea is really practical. I'd do that.
Originally posted by Orchid
You can use the cut off top as a funnel...just turn it upside down and open the cap!
Now you are a genius!
Originally posted by wavebaby
Naj, what a creative and thoughtful solution! Kudos to you for being so ecologically-minded!:happy:
Originally posted by Amber
Your idea is much more imaginative!
Thanks for appreciating my thoughts.
I just went to the nursery and got my hands on a few small growing plants and will make my first "hairstuff plastic pot"!
And maybe even post a pic:happy: .
Naj

[naj]

Today i finally took the plunge.
Cut the first empty VO5 condish bottle. Cut the top 1/3. Im keeping that to use as a funnel(thanks to Orchid's idea).Washed well and dried.
Then i made 2 holes at the bottom, filled with soil and then planted the marigold plants. One has a cute flower and two buds and the other plant is still small. Lemme see how it goes. Waiting...
I even used a large soft drink bottle. Cut a long rectangular window along its width. Made a few drainage holes at the botttom, filled with soil and have planted few mint twigs and sprouts.
So that's a huge bottle sleeping with soil in it. I guess this way i have more area to work with.
Whatever, i wish this works. Anyone any comments?
Thank you.
Naj

[Carina]

I understand what you mean.In Sweden we are very good at recycling paper,plastic,glas and metal.Today,right after my shower I rinsed out 3 plastic bottles.

[naj]

Posting in to update about my plastic pots. The plants that were droopy when planted them have now revived. The leaves are firmer. Im happy.:grinhappy:
Naj

[CurlyBrunette]

Great ideas here. We have recycling here where I live and I am very lucky that we do. Maybe you can bring them to someone who has a recycling program? Thats if they close to you otherwise I am not sure you want to lug all those bottles out of town. Also you can attend a town meeting if you have open ones and suggest some type of program?

[naj]

Thanks for your suggestion CB, but there is no such thing here. All trash goes to some place unknown...thats sad:purplex: .
Naj