How can I reuse my laundry detergent bottles?

Question

My family has been trying to become more "green" but one thing I am having a lot of problems finding a way to reuse is laundry detergent bottles. There is no recycling center around here so most plastic in my house is reused (pop bottles are cut in half and made into plant pots and funnels, shampoo bottles are used to hold home made hand lotion, ext). Any ideas on how to reuse the detergent bottles??

Answer 1

Use them for water glasses!!  Ha Ha   lol

Answer 2

you can use them for more laundry detergent. :  )

if you buy those small plastic bladders of detergent , you can transfer them into your laundry bottles. although you still throw out the plastic bladder it is allot less wasteful then throwing out the bulky bottle.

ideally you should start using powder because it uses less energy to transport has less packaging and its heaps cheaper. and remember its only helping the environment if it is preventing you from buying something else so making birdbaths that you would otherwise not buy dose not realy save the enviroment.

Answer 3

If you can't take to a recycling center then don't feel bad about throwing in the trash. most of todays trash is sorted somewhere before going to the dump. Laundry detergent bottles are large enough to get picked out there.

Answer 4

Clean them out and store emergency water in them.

Answer 5

Why not make laundry soap at home?  You wouldn't have to worry about where to recycle the bottles that way.  There are many recipes on the web to choose from, and you will know more of what is going into your soap as well.

Answer 6

Just throw them. The rag-pickers will pick them up.

Answer 7

We have now gone to making our own homemade laundry detergent.  

However I use to use the store bought liiquid stuff.  Are you using those really large ones that sit on their side, and have a spiggot?

That's the kind I use to buy.   I would rinse them out, and fill them with water, to be used by my husband in his shop.  No water out there, so it was really nice to have some water for handwashing.  

A couple of bottles I cleaned out very, very well.  I had to be able to drink the water from them myself, and have no soap aftertaste.  These I set up to be part of the watering system for the rabbits in the summer, to make sure they never ran out of water.

Do you have a well for your water?  If so, you of course know you have no water if the power goes out.  Store water in them, to flush the toilet, and water plants.  If you keep the water reasonably changed, it is also great for being able to wash hands, face, and the first part of dishwashing.  The soap is quiet hard to entirely remove from them, so use clean water to rinse dishes.

My husband does a LOT of mechanical things.  He uses some of them to store other fluids in, from trucks, tractors, ect.  He VERY clearly lables those with a Sharpe marker.

For some of the smaller ones, they make great scoops, if you cut part of the end off at a slant.  Dog food, horse grain, potting soil, or just something for children to play in the dirt with.

They are great for taking clean, but mildly soap water with you when camping or boating.

You know best how your family runs, and opperates.  Start putting your mind to it, and I bet you'll come up with a great many uses.

~Garnet

Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

Answer 8

depending on the dimensions, cutting off the bottom of the containers could provide a good drainage tray for placing under your plants.  much sturdier than the drainage trays you buy, too, which are usually so flimsy that they begin to crack in a year or less.

save the top of one for a large-bore funnel, if you have need of something like that.

i like the ideas for storing water and plant food mixtures.  you can even make your own laundry soap by grating a bar of NATURAL soap into your crockpot, adding a quart of water, and cooking on low until the soap melts into a liquid.  then refill your laundry soap container with it, and you're good to go - no need to buy more jugs.  i've been doing this for years using the soap scraps i generate in my business, it works fine.  i even use it for dish washing, if you water it down sufficiently it works well in the foaming hand wash dispensers too.

i understand your dilemma....as a soap maker, i produce dozens of empty steel olive oil gallon cans every week, and there is no steel recycling facility within 300 miles of where i live.  it's awful.  i've been in business for five years, and have been constantly looking for ways to keep the cans useful instead of dumping them.  i've used them as planters, lining the entire front porch of my store with herbs growing in olive oil cans....i've filled them with water and made "walls" to line the inside of my enclosed porch at the store, to further insulate in winter and keep the tender plants going...in the store i've stacked them like blocks in certain areas to create shelves, displays and decorations....i've freecycled them to others for use as planters and whatnot....but i'm running out of ideas.  at the rate i'm going, i may end up creating a olive oil can "shed" behind my store using leftover cans for walls.

Answer 9

One of the things my friend does with them is fill them with water(or sand depending on how strong you are), and using them as weights for excersing.

Answer 10

With a little inventiveness you can cut them out and use them as bird houses or even feeders.

There are also many arts and crafts magazines out there for various ideas.

If you have a school around ask them if they can use them for there arts and crafts.  A perfect way to benefit others and still reuse them at the same time.

Answer 11

Use them to store water for watering plants. The chlorine in tap water in not good for plants so it's best to fill jugs and let them set a few days/weeks for the chlorine to dissipate.  You can also add plant food /fertilizer to large batches of water a once and save time.

You can also cut then to make ugly bird feeders.

Of course you will quickly have too many bottles. Recycling is the only long term solution I can think of.