Cool Recycling and Salvage Crafts
Ranked #15 in Healthy Living, #266 overall
Cool recycling turns trash into treasure
'Upcycle' bits and pieces of garbage into decorative items for your home, jewellery, new clothes or even items for the garden.
Contents at a Glance
Trash or Treasure?
Do you enjoy the challenge of reusing trash and turning it into treasure, or do you prefer to start with new craft materials so that you have a blank slate and free reign?
Mini Greenhouse
Protect your plants with old CD cases
If you've got a few empty CD cases sitting around the house then you can turn them into a mini-greenhouse to protect your plants! A very handy thing to have around, given the flaky weather we've been having recently. It even has a lid you can open on warm days :) There are instructions to follow at Curbly, but to be honest it's pretty straightforward. Chunky Crayons
Waxing lyrical about waste
This is a lovely idea from Growing People, and a fun way to pass a couple of rainy hours with a little one - turning odds and ends of crayons into chunky new crayons that draw in multi-coloured sguiggles! Milk Jug Shade
Easy weekend project
If you're looking for a stylish blind then why not try making your own this weekend? This lovely project from Mother Earth News turns empty milk jugs into a surprisingly pretty window dressing. DIY Scent Diffuser
Turn an old bottle and twigs into a natural scent diffuser
Mother Earth News have got a great weekend project that involves an old bottle and some plant material from the garden - you can turn them into a beautiful reed diffuser and use natural essential oils to gently scent your home. Recycled picnic set
Sit out in style
Envelope Accordion Book
Turn envelopes into a handy storage pouck
Here's an idea that might be useful in the New Year, to recycle all those envelopes your holiday cards came in! With a little bit of patience you can turn them into this cool Envelope Accordion Book, which has pockets to store all your stuff! Just follow the instructions over at Paper Source :) Wine box bug hotel
Turn an old wine crate into a wildlife habitat
Whenever I go into my local wine store I ask whether they have any wooden crates they don't need. So far I haven't been lucky - they either don't have any or they're keeping them for a special display. But if you can get your hands on some then they're endlessly useful around the house and in the garden. Check out this gorgeous bug box - a top notch wildlife habitat - that's been made from a wooden wine box, some lengths of bamboo canes and some wooden offcuts. Crafty Organization
Recycled Craft Supply Organizers
Plant Module Filler
Fill your garden modules with ease
Over at Boots and Daisy Roots they've come up with a neat (and recycled) solution to filling your garden modules with soil or compost without making too much of a mess. They've turned a plastic milk bottle into a scoop and funnel that's just the right size for filling modules.That's just one of the simple ways you can make use of a plastic bottle in the garden. Episode 37 of the Alternative Kitchen Garden Show has twenty more!
The newspaper bag project
Turn newspapers into a bag strong enough to hold your shopping or your lunch, and funky enough to use as a gift bag!Check out The Newspaper Bag Project for full instructions - all you need is newspaper, a little bit of card, glue and string!
Recycled crate wormery
Make your own worm composter
Worm composters are expensive, but you can make your own out of recycled crates, or anything similar that stacks. Once you have your wormery all you need is composting worms (available mail order, or from bait shops, or dig them out of an existing compost heap) and you can easily recycle all your kitchen waste. Morsbags
Sociable. Guerilla. Bagging.

Let's do something positive to reduce the hideous number of plastic bags being used - 1 million are consumed per minute globally - of which hundreds of thousands end up in the oceans.
The Morsbags idea is to get together with people in your local community, drink wine and make reusable cloth bags (from old duvet covers, curtains from charity shops etc) and hand them out to the unsuspecting public for free on specified dates outside different supermarkets.
Meet new people, do something marvellous for the planet and beat other pods (groups) of baggers with your morsbag tally.
Go to morsbags.com to be a part of a wonderful thing!
p.s. non-commercial/ non-profitable - just full of beneficial things for everyone, especially whales!
Newspaper basket
Recycle your newspapers into a stunning basket
I love this handmade basket from How About Orange, woven out of strips of newspaper. There's a beribboned version at Craft Stylish, too, which could be used as a cosy pet bed. Recycled Wall.E
Make your own Wall.E figure out of trash
Wall.E's environmental message about us making too much trash might have been a bit tarnished by the sheer amount of plastic Wall.E merchandise they made to go with the movie, but over at Filth Wizardry they've come up with the perfect solution - make your own Wall.E model out of recycled materials! A great project for the kids this summer. Brilliant Book Marks
Turn old seed packets - or even junk mail envelopes - into bookmarks
You can make your own out of seed packets (perfect for marking those useful pages in your favourite gardening books) or junk mail.
You'll never have to dog ear your page corners again....
Cardboard Ottoman
A portable ottoman or side table
I could really use one of these cardboard ottomans in my tv room, so I'll be making one as soon as I can source some suitable tubes! DIY Snow Globe
Make your own snowy scene
Very topical, considering the weather here in the UK, and something that will only take a few minutes to make and give hours of pleasure - turn an old glass jar into a snow globe! It's a lovely personalized gift, because you choose the scene.Over at StarWars.com they're making their glitter globes with Star Wars figurines.
Salvaged Serving Tray
Serve up a storm on this gorgeous recycled cupboard door

I love this beautiful serving tray, made from a salvaged cupboard door by Craftynest. Follow the link for a detailed tutorial, and you could have your own special serving trays before Christmas!
One of these would make an awesome gift for someone who loves breakfast in bed, don't you think?
Homemade garden toolbelt
Make a garden toolbelt from an old satchel

A garden toolbelt is a really useful thing to have - it means you don't leave your tools lying around and lose them in the garden, or keep having to dash back to the shed to collect something you've forgotten.
I made this one myself by recycling a messenger bag which had fallen to bits. The pockets were still intact, so I cut off the back (it's vinyl, so no hemming required!), unpicked the strap and turned it into a belt - combining the two plastic strap holders made a lovely simple buckle and a spare scrap of strap made a chunky belt loop.
Minimal sewing, did the whole thing in an afternoon. It's wipe clean and even has a 'secret' zip pocket on the inside!
DIY: Recycled Glass Chandelier
Glass jars make a beautiful lighting arrangement
Turn recycled glass jars into a holiday chandelier with these instructions from Casa Sugar. Toilet Roll Forest
Cardboard tube art
The designer is Yuken Teryua, and you can see more of his work on his website.
Junk Mail Art
Unwanted direct mail becomes a work of art
November 15th is Junk Mail Revenge Day, when people all over the world are being encouraged to return their unwanted direct mail to the advertisers who sent it. Lets see how they like getting a lot of pointless post!But if you'd rather do something more creative with your junk mail, try out this tutorial for making beautiful junk mail art.
Semiprecious Salvage
Creating Found Art Jewelry
Semiprecious Salvage: Creating Found-Art Jewelry
Amazon Price: $12.61 (as of 05/30/2012)![]()
"Semiprecious Salvage shows readers how to think beyond the techniques taught in traditional beading and jewelry books in order to create found art jewelry. Mixed-media applications like sewing, plasterwork and altering found objects tie together to create jewelry pieces such as brooches, pendants, necklaces, earrings, bracelets and belts. In addition to thought-provoking stories on the origination of some of the found items, Stephanie provides the reader with practical jewelry-making techniques that they can incorporate into their own inspired pieces. A simple, organic approach gives the reader limitless ideas for crafting their own jewelry as well as ideas for locating found items whether it be on a nature walk, one's travels or in the comforts of home."
Newspaper Furniture
Chairs made from nothing but newspaper
Via Inhabitat, the very cool furniture that David Stovell is making out of carefully rolled newspaper - something that could be done at home if you have the patience! Handmade notebooks
Love notebooks? Make your own
Make your own pretty pocket sized notebooks out of scraps of paper, card and paper fasteners, by following the instructions online at espirit cabane. Keyboard jewellery
Wear an old keyboard with style
Got a tired old keyboard? Turn it into a funky necklace, or some rings. Or maybe you could glue on some little magnets and have some fun with the fridge. Either way, you'll probably have to give those keys a good clean first! Bottlecap Lampshade
Cap off your recycling efforts with this funky lampshade!
Collect 128 plastic bottle caps to make this ultra-fashionable lampshade for your home. You'll also need some brass wire and a hammer and nail.Use a low energy lightbulb to protect your creation and also help save the planet!
Recycled jeans rug
Give your cast-offs a new life as a rug
Another easy idea, from This Recycled Life, is to turn your old jeans into a fantastic rug for your home. There's lots of great ideas on this blog, too, including turning your junk mail into envelopes and using recycled fabric to make everlasting flowers. Recycled cork board
A good excuse to open a bottle of wine
Wine bottles with corks are increasingly hard to find these days, but buying bottles with corks supports the cork growing industry - and the environmentally friendly environment in which cork is grown.This recycled cork board is a nice way to reuse corks that you've collected. If you're not a big wine drinker then you might need some help collecting enough! It's easy enough to make - simply stick corks to a suitable backing board.
Wine box hedgehog house
Make a winter home for wildlife
Make a winter home for hedgehogs out of a wine crate, or other untreated timber scraps, using these instructions from Gardeners' World magazine. Plastic bottle decor
Turn empty bottles into a room divider
Michelle Brand strings together the flower-like bottoms of plastic bottles and turns them into designer interior decorations!Her pieces start at £65, but if you collect enough plastic bottles there's no reason why you can't make your own!
Recycled garden lantern
Brighten up your outside space
Fine Gardening have got step-by-step instructions to turn an old tin/ can into a stunning garden lantern. There's even a demonstration video! Holiday craft projects
Projects for Thanksgiving, Christmas and other holidays
- Countdown calendar
- Make yourself an advent calendar for Christmas (or a countdown calendar for Thanksgiving, the Winter Solstice, Chanukah or any other holiday) out of cardboard toilet roll tubes. Tutorial from maya*made.
- Newspaper bunting
- Make your own decorations for any holiday, out of newspaper, using the tutorial and templates from maya*made
Previously featured projects
Odd ideas don't die, they just fade away
- How to make flower pot creatures
- Turn old flowerpots into garden friends
- Recycling washing machine drums
- How to recycle a washing machine drum into a metallic drum pouffe. A wheeled ottoman which can be used as a stool or toy chest.
- T-Shirt Underwear
- Give old t-shirts a new lease of life by turning them into underwear!
- Recycle Lamp-shade - Video
- Recycle an old book into an amazing lamp-shade.
- Chopstick soap dish
- Save your sink from getting gungy by turning spare chopsticks into a stylish soap holder.
- Tetrapak coin purse
- Transform beverage or soup tetrapaks into fun and easy-to-make coin purses.
Sign my guestbook!
If you've seen a cool recycling idea, let us know :)
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MissionBoundCreations
May 17, 2012 @ 11:55 am | delete
- Too Awesome. So Many GREAT ideas
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The_Micro_Farm_Project May 16, 2012 @ 11:36 pm | delete
- Great ideas! Thanks!
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tjustleft
May 6, 2012 @ 2:34 pm | delete
- Great recycling crafts! Can't wait to make some of these with my family :)
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gardendesignsandideas
Apr 30, 2012 @ 12:35 pm | delete
- Your local smoke shop will sell empty cigar boxes for cheap. They come in all sorts of sizes and shape. Cardboard or wooden and some already have designs carved into them. Great to use for craft projects
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sherioz Apr 28, 2012 @ 3:01 am | delete
- I've been trying to find some of these. Thanks for this wonderful collection. Bookmarked it.
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by EmmaCooper
I am the author of 'The Alternative Kitchen Garden: An A to Z'. Check out my gardening blog, more gardening articles and the AKG podcast on my website:... more »
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