Do you toss empty paper towel and/or toilet paper tubes in your recycling bin?
Consider making “reindeer” from them.
Or do something else, like make one or more of these things from them.
(Reindeer idea from the Kiertoidea blog here, spotted on Pinterest here.)
DIY project du jour:
Shoe box + toilet paper tubes (and/or paper towel tube pieces) = storage for pens and other office/art supplies
(via Aunt Peaches)
More paper tube repurposing ideas: here.
Make owls from old toilet paper tubes. Paint, draw, hang.
Excellent — this is something new to add to Unconsumption’s gallery of new uses for toilet paper/paper towel tubes.
Now, we haven’t gone as far as creating an Unconsumption Pinterest board devoted to paper-tube repurposing, but stay tuned — that could happen!
(via dizzymaiden)
2 liter bottle + 2 toilet paper tubes (+ paint and other common craft-related materials) = piggy bank
For how-to / tutorial, see this FamilyFun.go.com post.
0 to 1, a New York City-based design and architecture studio, uses “the remnants of industrial manufacturing” to create furniture and other objects.
C-clamps and cardboard cores that “were once used to hold fabric or packaging materials” get made into “Cylinder” chairs.
See also: Earlier Unconsumption posts on new uses for cardboard tubes here, and paper towel and other tubes here.
5 biodegradable seed-starting planter-pots to DIY
Like many of us, the gardening plans of Michele Pacey (mentioned previously here and here) include growing plants from seed.
In a recent blog post, Michele describes her seed-starting setup: seeds planted in biodegradable newspaper “pots,” which are placed indoors on foam meat trays while the seeds germinate.
After seedlings have sprouted, the plants — pots and all — can be planted in soil.
To make your own biodegradable seed-starters:
- Roll newspaper pieces around a jar and close the ends, as Michele shows in this short video, or roll pieces of newspaper around something like this.
- Fold newspaper pages, origami-like, into pots. For folding tutorial, see the For Greenies blog.
- Cut pieces of paper towel or toilet paper tubes, adding four slits on one end, then fold end pieces together to form a closed bottom. (Photo via girlgearstudio.) Ends also could be left open, as pictured in this earlier Unconsumption post.
- Use eggshells, as mentioned here (with description for blowing out eggs).
- Use citrus peels. (Found here.)
Another idea: Create mini-greenhouses from cut plastic bottles. Simply place bottle tops over plants. (Found on Poppytalk.)
What household waste do you use for starting seeds?
“The 17 billion toilet paper tubes produced annually in the USA account for 160 million pounds of trash … and could stretch more than a million miles placed end-to-end. That’s from here to the moon and back — twice. Most consumers toss, rather than recycle, used tubes.” (source: USAToday)
Those alarming figures — which don’t include the numbers of tubes from paper towels, wrapping paper, and other sources — are more than a year old; they might be higher now.
On that note: Here are two recently spotted new uses for paper tubes:
- Use them as covers for fluorescent light bulbs. (via DIY Florescent Light Cover | Katherine Hui — thanks, Katee!)
- Build a toy slide out of them. (via LooLeDo; spotted on Pinterest.)
For other paper tube repurposing ideas, scroll through this segment of the Unconsumption archive.
Instead of tossing your empty toilet paper rolls, dress them up with corn husks and raffia to make this cute Thanksgiving party favor bag.
How-To: Turn a TP Roll into a Thanksgiving Goody Bag @Craftzine.com blog
Via nestfullofeggs:
toilet paper tube pencil holder
See also: Earlier Unconsumption posts on new uses for paper tubes — toilet paper and/or paper towel tubes — here.
Via nestfullofeggs:
reuse toilet paper tubes for seedlings
This is post 1 of 2 of Unconsumption-y garden-related ideas. Post #2 follows.
