Recycle Week: Ways to Reuse Plastic Bottles

As we near the end of Recycle Week 2015, the final material we are looking at upcycling within the home is Plastic Bottles. Plastic bottles are now widely recycled in the UK with 94% of local authorities collecting them on a regular basis. But as we know, upcycling something in to a new, beautiful object is much more exciting than simply sending it to the recycling bin!

Preparing Plastic Bottles Cans for Upcycling

Labels on plastic bottles can be quite tricky to remove sometimes and due to the nature of the plastic they are not usually suitable for the dishwasher. To remove sticky labels, the easiest way is to soak them in lukewarm, soapy water over night and then use a slightly abrasive sponge to remove any remnants. Then it’s just a case of ensuring any sticky residue from the inside of your bottle is rinsed out so it’s ready to upcycle.

Ways to Upcycle Plastic Bottles

Bird Feeders:

As you can tell by now, we LOVE welcoming our feathered friends to our gardens. Another way you can make your own bird feeder, apart from with aluminium cans (as mentioned in our previous blog post here), is to make one out of plastic bottles. With the 1.5litre bottles found in your local supermarket, you can cut them with scissors and paint them in any colour you like, to hold seeds and nuts for the birds.

Plant Pots: 

We love the idea of making cute little plant pots with old bottles! By cutting the bottles about a third of the way down with regular household scissors, you can create an animal plant pot of your own too. Whether you want to make a cat, dog or a rabbit you can easily just cut the ears to shape and then paint the pot to your own style.  Why not even make some ‘three wise monkeys’ to pop on your fireplace to embody their proverbial principles on a daily basis!

Beautiful bracelets:

We love the idea of making wearable art by recycling your plastic bottles, and by using different sizes of bottles you can make them to suit any wrist size too! As the video shows, you just need a few every day household items to create some plastic bottle jewellery of your own. Why not crack out your nail varnish collection and come up with some pretty colour combinations to suit any outfit or style?

So, that rounds up our Recycle Week 2015! Whether you're upcycling your cans or jars, there's always a creative option for most of the items in your home, which are otherwise destined for the bin! If you've made treasure from trash or saved something beautiful from the bin, let us know over on Facebook or Twitter!