Recycle old packaging materials by turning them into environmentally friendly home decoration. These home decor pieces look great, are easy to make, and, most importantly, help you to save the environment by reducing your packaging waste.

Nowadays, packaging waste is a major problem for the environment. People around the world consume millions of products each day. Most of the products we consume come nicely wrapped up in a plastic wrapper or container. Many of us do, however, not realize the tremendous impact that our consumer society has on the environment. Every year, billions of KGs of waste is produced by people like you and me. By disposing of this waste, we are directly influencing our environment in a very negative way.

So, what can we do ourselves to reduce our packaging waste? Of course, there always is the option to go completely zero-waste, however, this may not be achievable to most. So why not start off small? By recycling and reusing old packaging materials, you can significantly reduce your impact on the environment. Of course, we can simply dispose of our old wrappings by bringing them to a recycling center. But this is not much fun, is it? So why not use them for a purpose that actually makes their presence worthwhile?

Below, we have listed down three fun ideas to recycle packaging materials by turning them into home decor. These simple and cheap DIY projects are sure to spice up your interior. Once you have finished reading, you’ll realize that it does not take much more than a bit of imagination to turn leftover packaging materials into some beautiful decoration for at home.

• Candle Tins (US$ 0.50)

Tin containers are a common packaging material that can often be found in the cosmetic, food, and medicine industries. As of such, most of us will come across some metal tins on a daily basis. Although tin containers are pretty environmentally friendly on their own thanks to their 100% recyclability rate, there still are better (and more fun) ways to repurpose them. Why not turn them into your very own candle tins, for example? Tin containers are great to be used for crafting candles. Making your own candles with tins is guaranteed to bring along a day worth of DIY fun and entertainment.

Required items:

• Tin containers
• Candle wax (can be leftovers from old candles)
• Candle Wicks
• Scissors
• Spoon
• Pot + inner pot
• Toothpicks
• Food coloring
• Essential Oils

Making your own candles with tin containers is much easier than it seems. To start, we’ll first have to fill up our pot with water and place it on the stove to make it boil. Now, place your inner pot inside your main pot so that the steam of the boiling water will heat it up.

Once the boiling water has heated up your inner pot, you can throw in the left-over candle wax. Use your spoon to stir and wait until the wax has completely melted. After the wax has become liquid, you can throw in food coloring and essential oils to add the scent and color of your liking.

Take your pot with liquid candle wax off the stove and grab yourself a tin container. Place your candle wick in the middle of the tin and slowly pour in the molten candle wax. Once the tin has been filled up with wax, you can use two toothpicks to keep the wick from falling over while you wait for the wax to harden. After the wax has hardened, all that’s left to do is to cut off the wick at the right length, and you’re all done! These easy to make DIY candles help you to recycle your leftover tins while simultaneously treating you to some beautiful home decor.

Image source: uCan-Packaging

• Bottle Gardens (US$ 5.00)

Another common wrapping we deal with on daily basis are plastic bottles. Unlike tin containers, plastic bottles are not an environmentally friendly packaging option. Nevertheless, we find them everywhere. Whether they are used to hold water, sauces, cosmetics, or medicine – plastic bottles can’t be avoided. And although they might be practical, plastic bottles have a tremendous impact on our environment when they are disposed of in the wrong way. So, instead of throwing them away and polluting our environment, why not turn them into something cute to decorate your home?

Have a look at these simple yet amazing bottle gardens, for example. These beauties are great for making your own DIY indoor mini gardens and for adding some greens into your interior. Having a pair of bottle gardens hanging around in your apartment is guaranteed to impress your friends and family alike. They look cool, artistic, and help you to recycle some of those harmful plastic bottles.

Required items:

• Left-over soda bottles
• Box cutter
• Metal wire
• Soil, rocks, moss, plants of your choice

These indoor mini gardens do look absolutely gorgeous, and making them couldn’t be easier! Simply grab yourself an empty soda bottle and use a box cutter to cut out two windows at each side of the bottle.

Once you have cut out the two windows, fill up the bottom of the bottle with soil, rocks, and moss. After this, take a small plant of your liking and place it on top. Feel free to place the plants, rocks, and moss in any way to decorate your indoor garden according to your liking.

Now that the main garden part is done, grab yourself some metal wire and wrap it around the top of the bottle. Once this wire is in place, you can hang your indoor mini garden from your wall, roof, or kitchen cabinet. Once ready, these mini gardens are sure to spice up your interior and brighten up your mood.                                                                                                       Image source: Langria

• Glass Jar Aquarium (US$ 10.00)

Glass jars look beautiful, are durable, and are 100% toxic-free which makes them a popular packaging material. Added to that, they also are fully recyclable which makes them environmentally friendly. It is therefore not a surprise that we often come across glass packaging in the form of bottles or jars. Besides looking great and being sustainable, glass jars bring along one other hidden benefit – they are great for DIY purposes!

If you happen to have some leftover glass jars lying around, there are plenty of DIY projects that you can use them for. You could, for instance, turn them into spice jars, flower vases, or candle holders. But my personal favorite way to recycle glass jars is by turning them into your very own mini aquarium! This DIY project is especially great to try if you have a child who loves the beach. It’s quick, it’s cheap, and it’s great for both fun and decoration.

Required items:

• Large mason jar
• Aquarium gravel
• Plastic sea life figures
• Plastic aquarium plants
• Water
• Blue food coloring

After you have gathered the needed items, making these mason jar aquariums couldn’t be easier. Simply take your jar and fill up the bottom with some aquarium gravel. Remember to wash the gravel before using it otherwise it will make your aquarium dirty once you will it up with water.

Once the gravel is in place, insert the plastic plants and place them firmly on the bottom. Now, fill up your mason jar for 50% with water and make sure the plant stays in place.

Now that the plants are in place and the jar is filled up halfway with water, you can insert the plastic sea life figures of your liking. Just remember to only use plastic display animals with this mini aquarium and no real living animals! Once the plastic animals are in place, fill up the jar and add in the blue food coloring for a bit of extra pop. And there you have it, your very own mini aquarium.

This fun DIY home decor piece will look great in your kid’s bedroom and is guaranteed to treat him to countless fascinated hours’ to come. And the best part of it all? It never needs any cleaning! Once the lid is screwed on tightly, it does not even leak. So you won’t have to worry about anything when your kid plays around with it.

Image source: alittleclaireification

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Donald Phillips