Reusing Plastic Bottles

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Reusing plastic bottles—in this case an empty container of antifreeze—as chain holders is just a matter of cutting an access hole.
Reusing plastic bottles—in this case an empty container of antifreeze—as chain holders is just a matter of cutting an access hole.
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Fill it with water, insert a strip of cloth, and through capillary action you can reuse a bottle as a wick waterer. 
Fill it with water, insert a strip of cloth, and through capillary action you can reuse a bottle as a wick waterer. 
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Cut a larger access hole and an empty plastic bottle can become a car tool box.
Cut a larger access hole and an empty plastic bottle can become a car tool box.
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Cut off the bottom an a bottle can be a funnel.
Cut off the bottom an a bottle can be a funnel.
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Poke some holes in the lid an an empty gallon milk jug serves as a watering can.
Poke some holes in the lid an an empty gallon milk jug serves as a watering can.
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A sturdy jug makes a fine nail holder or screw holder.
A sturdy jug makes a fine nail holder or screw holder.

The past ten years might well be remembered as the “decade of shortages,” but if there’s one “commodity” that we’ll seemingly never run out of, it’s empty, non-biodegradable plastic jugs! And ever since the flexible flagons replaced glass and tin containers way back when, economy (and ecology) conscious folks have been looking for ways of putting them to good use. Here are several ideas that we–with the help of our readers–have devised for reusing plastic bottles to help keep the vinyl vessels out of our landfills.

Automatic Wick Waterer

When you need to tend to a thirsty plant, but can’t be on call every day, an empty milk jug can be just the helping hand you need. Merely fill the container with warm water (and maybe a smidgen of your flowering friend’s favorite food), and run an appropriately sized strip of discarded toweling from deep inside the jug to the soil around the roots of your parched companion …in a pot, a greenhouse bed, or your garden. The terry will act as a wick and transfer the liquid directly to where it’s needed!

Chain Holder

Whether you pull stumps in the summer or fight snow-covered roads in the winter, a handy chain box will keep your trunk or stowage area shipshape all year round. Simply cut a hand-sized opening in an antifreeze bottle (they’re flat-sided and generally tougher than are run-of-the-mill milk jugs) and slide the links inside. It’ll keep them quiet, consolidated, and–if you first rub the chain with an oily rag-protected from rust-causing moisture.

  • Published on Sep 1, 1981
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