Plastic bottles aren't useless after you've drunk the juice. With a little ingenuity, we can all extend their lives a lot longer and keep them off the dump. Here are some ideas I found.
intro: Quick and easy homestead uses for Plastic Bottles (PET)In the not too distant past, you would buy milk, sodas, etc. in glass bottles which you would return to the store to be sterilized and used again. Now, with our disposableculture, plastic bottles have replaced this system and have consequently become one of the many banes of the landfills. We need to rectify this wasteful and eco-nomically expensive practice.
The current popular solution to the problem is recycling. However, recycling requires additional energy to process the material into something usable, not to mention thefact that the process itself can have harmful side effects. So a better solution, if you can't avoid the disposable containers altogether, is to reuse them. This requires noadded infrastructure costs and concerns. In fact, if you are reusing junk, you are helping to make the initial energy that went into the production of that material last longerand go farther. It's not just about saving money, but more importantly, integrating your lifestyle with what is available for the least amount of cost, be it environmental orfinancial.
That said, here are 10 simple ideas on how to reuse plastic bottles around the homestead.
Keep updated on our ideas for this project: VelaCreations.com
step 1: Mosquito/Insect TrapCut the top (just before the start of the cone) off a 2 liter bottle.
Invert the cone and place it inside the straight part of the bottle.
Glue the two pieces together, using a glue or silicon.
Add 1 tsp yeast and 1/2 cup sugar to some luke warm water, and pour the mixture into the bottle.Mosquitoes are attracted to the carbon dioxide that you exhale. The yeast feeds off the sugar and emits the same gas, so the mosquito enters the bottle, thinking she willfind food there. She cannot then get out.
You can use the same bottle design for a fly trap, but fill it with a putrid smelling liquid. For wasps, use a sugar mixture. For fish, put under water, and add a bit of cheeseor bread.
step 3: Handy HoldersCut the cone part off a clear plastic bottle, and you are left with a handy holder that you can see inside of. We use ours for nuts, bolts, nails, etc. They are also great forlong-term storage of liquids, like water, oil, paint, etc.
step 4: Coldframe/ClocheWhen you want to start a seedling in the ground a little early, but fear it could be chilly, you need a cold frame. It's like a little greenhouse. Clear plastic bottles work greatfor this (don't use green bottles).
Cut the cone part off and invert the remaining part of the bottle over your seedling. Push the bottle into the soil, so that it does not blow away. In the middle of warmsprings days, it is a good idea to raise the bottle a bit and allow air and heat to escape.
step 5: Cookie/Biscuit CutterUse one of the cones you have cut off for either the handy holders or the cold frames. It makes a great cookie cutter.
step 6: Butter ChurnUse a wide-mouthed bottle for this.
Separate the cream from your cow's or goat's milk and allow it to ripen a little. If you allow the cream to ripen a little, the butter will be more flavorful and easier to churn.Do not let it ripen too much or the butter will be sour.
Get the cream to about 60 degrees F.
Pour it inside the wide-mouthed bottle and screw the lid on tightly.
Roll the bottle back and forth on the floor for about 20 minutes, or until the cream separates into buttermilk and clumps of butter. This is a great chore for the kids to do!
Drain off the buttermilk (great for baking or milkshakes or animal feed).
Take the clumps of butter and beat them with a spoon until it�s all joined together.
Add salt � ? tsp per pound of butter (unsalted butter spoils faster).
Wrap butter in wax paper and put it in the fridge.
step 7: Building BrickFill the bottle with dirt and you have a brick. Dirt is a very cheap building material, but you usually need it to be a certain quality, with a proper sand/clay ratio. However,with the plastic bottles, you can build with any type of dirt. Use mortar in between the bottles, as with any other brick. Be sure to cover the ends of the bottles to avoidseeing them in the finished wall.
Alternatively, leave the bottles empty, or full of air. This will give the wall a better insulation value.
Leave a bottle exposed, and insert a solar garden light in the other end. Instant wall lighting.
step 8: LED LightbulbCut the cone off a small plastic bottle.
With a box cutter, cut the thread off the mouth of the bottle, so that it is smooth.
Take an old incandescent light bulb and smash the bulb. Clean any glass off the screw-in part.
Cut a circle out of a piece of thin card (diameter should fit inside the plastic cone).
Pierce the card with however many holes needed to make the bulb you want. We made 12 VDC bulbs, because our lights run off DC. We made one bulb with 6 whiteLEDs (which is not very bright, but works for a lamp) and one with a mixture of several white and yellow LEDs. However many lights you want and whatever voltage youneed, you will have to make the voltage regulator match.
You'll need a 12VDC voltage regulator, 6 white LED's and a resistor.
Solder your LEDs together, positive to negative. Solder the resistor to the negative end. Solder the ends of this array to the respective leads of the voltage regulator. Onthe input side for the voltage regulator, solder the positive to the tip of the light bulb base. The negative goes to the side of the screw in part of the light bulb. Glue theplastic bottle to the base.
step 9: Electric Fence InsulatorCut a small bottle in half. You can use both halves.
Using one half cut a Z groove on the open end. Directly opposite of the bottle, but still on the open end, cut another Z groove, and make sure to make it a mirror image ofthe first.
Now, on the closed in, make a slit or large hole for your post to run through both sides of the bottle. Near the slit, make two small holes, either side of the post slit. Usethis end to wire to the post, and run the electric fence through the Z groove.
step 10: Ice Pack or Feezer Thermal MassFill bottles with water and put them in the freezer. You can use them in an ice chest to keep things cold on the go. You can also put them in your fridge to improve itsefficiency. If the power goes off, the ice packs will keep things colder for longer.
step 11: Additional IdeasHere are some ideas that we haven't put together yet:
Chicken Waterer - this is similar to the hummingbird feeder: Humming Bird Feeder The difference is that you make it much bigger and juts fill it with water, no sugar.
Low-flush Toilet - Since we have a compost toilet, we can't do this one. But for those of you with flushing toilets, this would be great. Just fill a bottle with water and put itin the top tank, out of the way of any moving parts. It will help your toilet use less water.
Bird house - cut a 2 inch hole in a 2 liter bottle, paint it, and hang from a tree. It is a good idea to insert a small wooden dowel for a perch.
Keep updated on our ideas for this project: VelaCreations.com
velacreations says: Feb 7, 2009. 8:59 AM REPLYYes, that is another way of doing it. It seems to give the plants a bit more room if you cut off the top, but both ways work well.
nutsandbolts_64 says: May 15, 2009. 7:27 AM REPLYYou live in the Philippines, don't you. I know because of the Sprite which is made in the Philippines by the Coca-cola company.
Btw can you put something der to scoop up dirt?
static says: May 25, 2009. 3:13 AM REPLYSprite is available here in North America as well. Generally soft drink are bottle in the country of consumption.
cowscankill says: May 18, 2009. 10:30 AM REPLYToilet one sounds funny - Imma try it!
scmtngirl says: May 18, 2009. 9:59 AM REPLYGreat ideas! I plan to implement a few of them.
mizzoumike76 says: Feb 14, 2009. 4:49 AM REPLYI'm glad you added the 'thermal mass" use into this. Many people tend to overlook the amount of energy that is wasted every time they open the fridge orfreezer. If you're a bachelor with one jar of mustard and one bottle of beer in your fridge: refill all of your old water bottles, and stock up the fridge. When (if)you buy groceries, just remove the necessary amount of bottles to make room. This can save a considerable amount of money/power!
Thanks!
iPodGuy says: May 17, 2009. 9:55 AM REPLYHa ha...
My fridge 2 years ago....
junits15 says: Feb 12, 2009. 1:51 PM REPLYabout the toilet thing, the toilets are designed to be able to flush everything with only the water they need, with tht said putting a watter bottle in the tank willforce the toilet to use less watter to fulsh and that might leave some "things" behind.
ceramiceye says: Feb 13, 2009. 1:11 PM REPLYthats true, but more often than not, we flush the toilet when it only needs to exchange the water for fresh water, if you know what I mean. If theres goingto be a heavy "load" behind, then you could just flush twice.
static says: Feb 14, 2009. 9:23 PM REPLYThe toilet in my current home is a 1.6 G. per flush unit. Not being the best model available, heavy loads do take 2 flushes, but there is a net savingover the 5 G. per flush unit in the old home. However it doesn't hurt to try the old taking up space in the tank trick, to find out if it's worthwhile.
iPodGuy says: May 17, 2009. 9:54 AM REPLYI've got a 1.28 G from Home Depot that does the trick.
junits15 says: Feb 13, 2009. 4:38 PM REPLYok I see
twiztedreams says: May 17, 2009. 8:54 AM REPLYfor flys and gnats, use cider vinegar in the bottle. Some people add a little bit of sugar to the bottle too.
merryk says: May 16, 2009. 6:52 AM REPLYI would like to build a planter about 2-3 foot tall at the beach with this process. If I use empty bottles, how deep a foundation would I need, keeping in mindmy soil is sand?
solo.card says: May 15, 2009. 8:53 AM REPLYStep 11: Bird house....
Don't put a dowel on it if you do make one... It lets other birds too big for the hole to get to the ones nesting.
nutsandbolts_64 says: May 15, 2009. 7:35 AM REPLYhmm....dirtsandclaybits of rocksgarbagewaste
What else?
nutsandbolts_64 says: May 15, 2009. 7:37 AM REPLYOhh ya
paperpopsicle sticksused band aids and bandagesdirty waterwaterunusable tapeused fabrics
and many more......
becauseican says: Feb 15, 2009. 3:35 PM REPLYi did something like this to catch shiners for live bait but instead of sugar,yeast,water, mixture i used stale bread and i submerged it in the local pond.
oldanvilyoungsmith says: Apr 13, 2009. 2:38 PM REPLYhow well did it work?
becauseican says: Apr 14, 2009. 3:00 PM REPLYi got 2 or 3 shiners. fish dont like it because it is solid. they like things that water flows through.
oldanvilyoungsmith says: Apr 15, 2009. 4:31 AM REPLYwhat if I put small holes in it? that way the water goes through it.
becauseican says: Apr 17, 2009. 1:51 PM REPLYthat seems worth trying. it would be easier to use some sort of screen or mesh.
oldanvilyoungsmith says: Apr 29, 2009. 8:30 AM REPLYwould it work in a stream or a pond?thx
becauseican says: May 1, 2009. 3:03 PM REPLYany where that u see small fish will work. for running water u should weight it down. and your welcom
A good name says: Apr 19, 2009. 9:25 PM REPLYI don't know that I like this idea...
topsoil is a valuable resource, and we actually have less on this planet than you'd think.
Sand, maybe, soil? No.
rocketman221 says: Mar 11, 2009. 10:44 AM REPLYone more use add 5-10 grams of rocket fuel, black powder, or flash powder and an electric ignitor, seal up the bottle, shove it into a mouse/rats nest anddetonate. easy removal of the nasty little critters and no poison is needed. ive done this too many times to count. just dont do it in the house.
saskouatch says: Mar 11, 2009. 9:14 AM REPLYA little warning to anyone who might want to drink water that has been frozen in a plastic bottle... When the water thaws, pieces of plastic break down in thewater and you are therefore swallowing pieces of plastic wich is not very healty. Aside from that, the home made ice-packs do work very well
artmywork says: Mar 9, 2009. 5:25 AM REPLYi have use plastic bottle to plant vegetables, the soil with rich compost.
static says: Feb 14, 2009. 9:00 PM REPLYThe 2L. bottles can be used for thermal mass in multiple ways. Here they are used to provide thermal mass for space heating http://www.thermalattic.com/
I too use them to make and use ice and not have to deal with the melt in the cooler. Push comes to shove I'll use them to freeze outdoors during the Winterand build an ice house to store the ice for use during the remainder of the year. To get empty pet bottles someone has to consume the contents. I'm that thatconcerned over drinking ice melt out of a PET bottle. Some place a length of black plastic tubing in a clear 2 L. and place it in the sun for a makeshift solarhot water heater. Lots of ideas few of us will find use for all of them, but most of use will find 1or2 we'll use, thanks for posting.
thepelton says: Feb 28, 2009. 10:25 PM REPLYI froze a 2 Litre bottle of water overnight before a hard day working in the sun. Enough melted by midmorning for a refreshing drink, and there was still alittle ice in the water by quitting time.
Redrockers says: Feb 8, 2009. 5:54 AM REPLYhow wil the plant get air?
plzspoilme25 says: Feb 27, 2009. 11:29 PM REPLYif i may, think of the seed in a paper towel trick...seed in wet paper towel in side a plastic baggie...they 'breath just fine' also terrarium comes to mind, andif u putting them over a plant that is planted in the ground it will absorb some of what it needs thru the roots, and this was a temporary thinganyway????? and most of ur seed starter kits are basically sealed plastic boxes.....some do actually have vents in them, just depends on what u need orwant
thepelton says: Feb 27, 2009. 11:28 PM REPLYI cut the bottoms off, and left the mouth of the bottle open. No plant covered was harmed.
belsey says: Feb 9, 2009. 7:19 AM REPLYPlants make their own air -- they can thrive in a completely sealed environment, although some plants do need the wind to blow their pollen around.
eveh says: Feb 13, 2009. 7:29 PM REPLYI didn't know that. It is true, you learn something new every day. So now I will not be afraid to put a plants in an old bottle I have. Thanks.
longrunner says: Feb 9, 2009. 8:03 PM REPLYPlants don't make their own air, they convert CO2 to Oxygen, opposite to how we convert Oxygen to CO2 in respiration. You'd have to cut holes inthe bottle, plants can only survive for so long in a sealed environment.
eveh says: Feb 13, 2009. 7:30 PM REPLYThey should still survive in a large bottle if I leave the lid off, right?
belsey says: Feb 10, 2009. 6:01 AM REPLYTrue, I used a short cut, calling it air instead of oxygen. Although I've never tried it myself, I have read that plants can thrive in completely sealedenvironments such as bottles for several years (the problem with the set up is not the lack of fresh air, but outgrowing their space). Plants convertCO2 to O2 during the day, but at night the process is reversed which is why it is possible to seal them off. The water inside the bottle also goesthough the cycles of evaporation and condensation which is why these miniature gardens don't need to be watered either. Anyway, the only pointI was making is that I don't think anybody would need to worry about putting air holes into the protective bottle.
m0j0 says: Feb 10, 2009. 9:37 AM REPLYPlants consume Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and emit Oxygen (2). A plant could not survive without a steady supply of CO2.
Photosynthesis
m0tkid says: Feb 21, 2009. 6:17 PM REPLYAs quahoqwi said, plants respire and photosynthesize... This is because at night the key to photosynthesis (sunlight) is not available sothey do the next best thing... Respire.
Whatnot says: Feb 13, 2009. 5:35 PM REPLYMushrooms use 'our' system I hear, so oxygen to CO2, perhaps a combination of plants and mushrooms might do the trick?Incidentally plants also get CO2 from soil I understand, perhaps that explains how a sealed environment works.
thepelton says: Feb 13, 2009. 11:20 PM REPLYMushrooms can also break down materials in the soil that green plants cannot otherwise digest because of their complexity. Perfectexample is wood.
quahogwi says: Feb 13, 2009. 8:19 AM REPLYPlants do both ... they expel O2 as a waste product of photosynthesis, but only during daylight hours. They also generate CO2 as a wasteproduct of cellular respiration, and do so 24/7.
Sanctus says: Feb 12, 2009. 10:39 AM REPLYActually, sealed glass systems exist, thus it is possible to have a closed ecosystem, but everything has to be in balance. The system Isaw was aquatic system with some shrimps, water plants and kind of planctone. Dry-land systems exist also in a larger scale (Millenium?project for an ex terrestrial mission). Of course, you're right about the supply of CO2, but those suppliers could be bacteria, alreadypresent in the soil...
ikke_1206 says: Feb 10, 2009. 11:08 AM REPLYPlants need CO2 to make the sugars needed for internal processes, but when they use these sugars, they do it in a similar manner tohow we use the energy from our food, by burning it with O2, and thereby producing CO2. The plant will off course produce less CO2 thanO2, but because of this reproducing of O2 it will not need much extra air. And the little air that is needed will be supplied by the fact thatthe bottle does not make an airtight seal.
ceramiceye says: Feb 13, 2009. 1:08 PM REPLYYes, that is true. Also, decaying organic material produces CO2, so the soil would produce CO2. Also any plant cells that die or piecesof plant that fall off would also produce small amounts of C02.
I'd be skeptical of a completely sealed garden (no additional water or exchange of air) lasting idefintely, but I could be wrong.
Regardelss, a bottle over a plant is not completely sealed and CO2 can rise up from the soils. You would only have to be carefull on asunny day to not trap so much infrared heat in the bottle that the plant gets scorched.
velacreations says: Feb 10, 2009. 12:13 PM REPLYAnother method would be to mulch underneath the bottle with a good, rich compost, and that would give off extra CO2 as well. Thereason we vent is not for air for the plant, but for ventilating heat buildup.
gover57 says: Feb 10, 2009. 7:33 AM REPLYI'm pretty sure the seal from the bottle to the ground is nowhere near airtight, so any oxygen that is required will seem in through the dirt/bottlejunction, or throught the loosely packed dirt.
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