8 brilliant ways to use old laundry detergent lids instead of throwing them away

If you use liquid laundry detergent, you’ve probably had this thought before: The cap is built like a tank, and I need to do something with it before it goes in the recycling bin. And of course there are many ideas. People are so committed to the “reuse” part of the “reduce, reuse, recycle” paradigm that it receives about half the search interest as “recycle.” But the question is, are pincushions, seedling pots, drawer organizers and mixing cups really good (again) uses for laundry detergent caps? In the right hands, definitely.

Let’s be honest: sometimes the idea of ​​recycling waste doesn’t make much sense. For example, it seems unnecessary to reuse a detergent cap as a pencil sharpener as a pencil sharpener. You already had a pencil sharpener — now you’ve got some random recycling jam. But it’s also easy to swallow thoughts without thinking them through. Having a larger, rounder sharpener to hold someone with specific ergonomic needs can really benefit.

After all, laundry detergent caps are often excellent raw materials for a wide range of projects, practical and otherwise. They are incredibly strong cups with interesting shapes. Some have measurements. Most have flat tops and are happy to sit upright… or perhaps “flat” is a more accurate term. Let’s see what we can dream up to reuse it.

Plant propagation can get away from you faster than you can say “tomato sucker”. Try growing all the clones from a single indeterminate tomato plant cutting, and you’ll see what we mean. You will need a bigger house. Well-washed laundry detergent caps—especially a set of the same size—are perfect for cuttings, starting seeds, or growing seedlings from trays of sprouts. For anything involving clay or soilless mixes, you need to put a drain hole or two in each cap to keep things from getting waterlogged.

Using laundry detergent caps as actual cookie cutters may not be a good idea. They are not safe for food, and many have concerns about the chemicals they contain. But they make sturdy cookie and biscuit cutters for shaping Play-Doh, and they also work well for modeling clay and the like. This is one case where different cap sizes can be helpful, so ask around to get some different caps from friends.

Laundry detergent caps don’t necessarily have an advantage over other containers when it comes to using them to organize drawers other than the ones you have, so they’re a free alternative to a variety of containers. Drawer organizers are sold in stores. It is often a good idea to glue the caps to some spare hardboard or something similar when the drawers are opened and closed. Think about your drawers and what could benefit from a little sorting…junk drawers, craft or hobby drawers with small parts, office supply drawers and many others.

If the trend toward powder and sheet detergents continues, the entire cap-based gnome-snowman industrial complex will collapse like a flimsy craft Santa Claus. In addition to the usual flower pots, we saw flowers, various Christmas crafts, and more The world’s most bling-out button holder Liquid detergent made from caps. A cap usually provides a basic structure, which is covered with some type of crafting material, which is then decorated with other types of crafting materials and objects. The craft is a mystery, but the free structure is understood by all.

Pincushions fall into the craft category because the way the projects are done is all pretty and themed. It’s also an undeniably useful and fairly simple project to boot. Functionally, you’re stuffing the cap with cotton balls and covering it with felt. A crafting mind sees its utility and says, “With 45 minutes and some hot glue, I can turn this into a fake cupcake.” You do, crafty people. It’s actually quite charming, and with any luck, it won’t attract the playful attention of cats the way that cursed strawberry pincushion does.

This Festive little boots Make great little gifts, stocking-stuffer style. (Remember the time before ads convinced you that stocking stuffers should cost $175 each?) They’re made from detergent caps (for the feet) and toilet paper rolls (for the upper shaft), plus a bunch of materials and five hours of labor. Because they’re like shoes, you could probably use them for non-holiday occasions, like baby shower gifts, or you could put a little Jumpman in there to celebrate the new Air Jordans, but our lawyers definitely don’t advise you to do that. Or, you can use feet This person!

If you have the right kind of materials on hand, this beautiful angel ornament can be made freestyle. A detergent cap forms the base, and a properly drawn styrofoam or wooden ball brings out the angel piece. Omit the wings and hangers, and it’s a passable doll. Make a bunch of them, and you have a choir!

Kids need inspiration to keep up with art markers, colored pencils, and dry-erase markers. Without some sort of expandable and fun container, a certain percentage (say, 60 percent) of it will disappear with each use. But give kids a few decoupaged cats on tubes with shiny end caps, and they might have just as much fun removing and replacing the markers as they do actually drawing with them.