One TikToker who specializes in hacks, tips, and tricks shared half a dozen ways to put old water bottles to good use around your home and garden.
The scoop
Creative Explained (@creative_explained) is an influencer with more than 6 million followers. Their videos regularly get hundreds of thousands of views. With such a wide audience, it's no surprise they are providing useful information daily. They have shared how to make a cleaner from citrus peels and a spray for fungus gnats and how to propagate tomato plants.
@creative_explained How to recycle plastic bottles! 🤩🌱 #lifehacks #planttips #plantsoftiktok #plastic ♬ original sound - creative explained
In one clip, they showed ways to make use of old water bottles. To use the bottle as a greenhouse for your plants, cut the bottom off and place the remainder over your plant. You can simply open the cap if you need to give them more air.
You can make a pseudo-watering can by poking holes into the plastic cap and filling the bottle with water.
If you are going away for a long trip, you can create a self-watering system. Poke a hole in the top and insert a cotton swab. Then attach the whole thing to a stick so it can sit in your house plants. Add water to the bottle and place it upside down in your planter. Water should drip down the cotton swab and keep your plants healthy during your vacation.
Cut the bottle in half to make a trap for snails and slugs in your garden. Put some beer in the bottom of the bottle and flip the top upside down. Place it inside the bottom, creating a sort of funnel trap that pests won't be able to escape.
Finally, you can make a deterrent for squirrels and raccoons. Cut the bottom off the bottle and cut flaps on the side. Place the whole thing over a stick and put it in your garden where it will be blown by the wind. The vibrations should bother the pests and keep them out of your yard.
If you have leftover bottoms of bottles from all your crafting, you can use them as seedling pots for your spring planting.
How it's working
These tips are a great way to make your trash into treasure, saving you money and keeping items out of landfills. Single-use plastic is one of the biggest waste streams in the world. The Natural Resources Defense Council found "the world produced more than 460 million metric tons of plastic in 2019."
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Single-use plastic is such an issue that the White House created a strategy to eliminate its use in government by 2035.
Many of these tips are also going to keep money in your pocket by helping you avoid buying specialized products. Self-watering systems and slug traps can be costly, but these hacks help you make them for free.
Once you have given your plastic a second life, don't forget to recycle it. Check your local municipality's guidelines for all your recycling options — which, by the way, will soon become easier, as How2Recyle is adding QR codes on packaging that will send you straight to information specific to where you live. Plastic is highly recyclable, but only 10% gets recycled annually, according to the United Nations.
What people are saying
Commenters were excited to try out all these ways to upcycle their plastic bottles.
"Been doing this for years! Love your up-cycle ideas," one person wrote, while another called the ideas "genius."
Someone else provided another idea, saying, "Make an eco bottle, by removing the cap and stuffing plastic inside, they are actually stronger than brick."
Another commenter said they return the bottles for money: "I'm Australian, we get 10 cents back for each of them."
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