There are over 10,000 different kinds of plastic throughout the world, but only 5% of that plastic is recycled. The plastic that isn’t recycled is then thrown into our overcrowded landfills, where it can take up to 700 years to decompose and break down. So besides giving your plastic to a recycling center or to a company like TerraCycle, you can prevent land pollution by reusing your bottles in creative and fun ways.

I Bet You Never Thought of it

There are literally hundreds of different ways you can reuse a plastic soda bottle. Just remember to thoroughly wash the bottle of all its liquid so you won’t contaminate whatever you put inside.

Here are 10 ways you can reuse a plastic soda bottle:

1. Potpourri Holder

Cut out the bottom of the bottle, put in the potpourri and cover the opening with lace and ribbon.

2. Piggy Bank

We all the value of a dollar, so saving every single penny counts. Cut a slit in the bottle and drop in your coins, but don’t open it and take it to a Coinstar facility until it’s full.

3. Coffee Maker

Cut the bottle into two pieces. Turn the top upside down so it is a funnel. Hold the funnel in place, and then place a coffee filter inside. Put ground coffee on the filter and pour hot water over the filter. It’s the cheapest coffee maker you’ll ever find!

If you’re the creative type, then you can fill the bottle with half water/half oil. Add some food coloring, glitter and anything else shiny that is small enough to fit, and be amazed at how cool it can look.

5. Planter

Just cut out the bottom, add some soil and your favorite plant, and you have an eco-friendly plastic pot.

6. Ready-to-Use Ice Packs

Fill the bottle about 2/3 full and freeze. You can use it to heal a sore ankle after a run in the park, or fill it up with a warm drink so it can be cold in a few minutes.

7. Flying Insect Trap

Cut the top off the bottle and turn it upside down as a funnel. Tape the funnel in place and add some soda, orange juice or other sweet liquid. Any pesky flies or other flying insects will be able to get in, but since they can’t fly upward, they will be trapped inside the bottle.

8. Candle Holders

If you have some long candlesticks and want to prepare a nice, cheap romantic dinner for you and your significant other, cut the top of the soda bottles off, sit them on the table with the funnel-side upward and insert the candles into the holes. Very useful and practical.

9. Plastic Bottle Trellis

Found the directions for this on DIYNetwork.com.

10. Paint Trays

Cut out the bottom of the bottle and use it as a paint tray. It’s easy to wash and convenient to carry. 

These are only a few ways that you can reuse plastic soda bottles instead of just throwing them away. Don’t forget that you can incorporate your aluminum cans, old CDs and even bottle caps into your green works of art.

Assuming you’ve already collected a drawer full of empty pill bottles (please get well soon!); you’ll need to do a couple of things to prepare them for recycling projects.

1. Remove the labels. Nobody but you, a significant other, your health provider and your pharmacist should care what meds you’re taking. Take the labels off! A citrus based cleaner, some vinegar or a good soapy soaking will usually remove any residue adhesive from those pesky labels.
2. Thoroughly wash and dry the pill bottles.
3. Sort them by size, color, clarity (but only if you’re really compulsive).

1. Pill Cups

Why clutter the dinner table with your pill bottles when you can place your evening dose in a pill cup instead? Pill cups also sit nicely on the breakfast tray. With a trusted set of PVC pipe cutters, you can quickly turn a pill bottle into two easy to use, semi-disposable pill cups. The trick to cutting the bottles in half without shattering them is to apply pressure with the pipe cutters, slowly turn the bottle scoring it until a cut begins, then ratcheting down on the cutter to complete the cut.

2. Coin Holders

Tired of rummaging through the ash tray in the car for coins to feed the parking meter? Do you have that "special place" in the bedroom/bathroom that coins pile up when you empty your pockets? Various sized pill bottles will quickly tidy up your coin collection and make it useful! Quarters, nickels, dimes, even pennies sort neatly into most bottles. The larger wide mouth bottles are great for dumping handfuls of change.

3. Rubber bands

Make recycling your rubber bands even easier by cleaning out that kitchen drawer and putting them into a pill bottle. Then, next time you need one, it will be easy to find! This works pretty well for hair bands in the bathroom too.

4. Tackle Box

You could become the uber-recycler and create your own fishing floats from the empty bottles by devising some clever way to attach your line to the bottle. Be careful poking holes in the bottle though because they’ll fill up with water and maybe sink. Of course, if you figured out the clever way to attach the line and then filled them with sand, they’d be weights great for bottom fishing (and lead free!). Less engineering is necessary, however, to use the pill bottles to hold sinkers, swivels, loose hooks, small lures, fishing flies, and the like. Pretty much anything in the tackle box that originally came in a flimsy plastic bag can be repacked and neatly labeled in a pill bottle. A large, wide-mouth pill bottle can be recycled into pocket tackle boxes with a little planning. Extra fishing line can be wrapped around a cut-down pop cycle stick or wrapped around the outside of the pill bottle (some electrical tape wound over it keeps it in place).

5. Toothpick dispensers

Tired of that half-empty toothpick box spilling it’s contents all over the cabinet every time you pick it up? Take a pill bottle long enough to hold the toothpicks with the cap on. Carefully drill a hole in the cap to shake a toothpick out when you need it.

6. Toolbox Organizers

Washers, small screws, extra drill or screwdriver bits all seem to get misplaced when you really need them. Pop them into a pill bottle and they can’t escape.

7. Arts & Craft Organizers

Sort beads, glitter, sequins, googly eyes, dangles and doodads to keep them organized and handy. The rule of thumb is that if it comes in a plastic bag, it’s going to get lost. Pill bottles are generally clear enough to see through so you might not even need to label them.

8. Arts & Crafts Projects

Schools, youth groups and kids with proper parental supervision can reuse empty pill bottles (and film canisters) in a variety of arts and crafts projects. A quick search of the World Wide Web yields a variety of plans and ideas. Key Word Search: film canister and pill bottle crafts

9. Pocket Sewing Kit

Pins, safety pins, needles, and a few buttons easily fit into a small pill bottle and can be slipped into your pocket, purse, glove box or backpack. Various color threads can be wrapped around a piece of pop cycle stick.

10. Recycle Them!

"Wait!" you say, "They’re not made out of the right plastic to dump them in my blue recycling bin." Sadly, most municipal recycling programs can’t or won’t recycle pill bottles (number 5 plastics). But all is not lost! While they generally can’t be reused in the U.S. to dispense medications for humans, check with your veterinarian, local pet shelter or pet adoption agencies to see if they might be able to reuse them for pet medications. Local charitable service organizations may collect the empty pill bottles for medical missions to poorer countries where they are acceptable. Finally, ask your pharmacist if they participate in an empty pill bottle program of any type.

Waste can be anything from physical objects that become litter on the ground to chemicals and other environmental pollutants. Many people want to be able to reduce the amount of waste they contribute to their city, but it can be hard to know where to start. Here are 10 ways people can make a difference without even going too far out of their way.

1. Recycle

Local recycling centers all have bins that can be purchased to separate recyclables from the trash. Most cities also offer a pick-up service either weekly or bi-weekly.

2. Reuse

Another of the three ‘R’s, reusing as many things as possible seriously puts a dent in the amount of trash that goes out. Did the queen size sheet get torn? It doesn’t need to be thrown out because there are lots of people who could make use of the fabric. Same applies for broken down electronics and furniture.

3. Drink water

A filter for the refrigerator is a great way to prevent a plastic bottle build up in the trash can and keeps people healthy too.

4. Volunteer

There are many highways that need to be cleaned up and anyone can volunteer to do it. If that seems overwhelming, even just picking up one piece of trash from the ground a day can make a difference over time.

5. Keep a cup

Refills are available at a lot of gas stations and food places. Many will sell special cups that are able to be washed and will offer a discount on the price of a drink when refilling that cup.

6. Avoid over-packaging

Besides asking for paper instead of plastic, people should also consider the packaging on the things they buy. Single wrapped bread, bulk items, and reusable container products all reduce potential waste.

7. Cook

Cooking in the home means fewer wrappers, packages, and other pre-made food waste. It also gives the opportunity to make healthier meals and create smaller portions.

8. Careful shopping

Some products want people to pay more because they will last a lot longer. Despite the higher prices, that’s a good reason for people to make the extra investment. It will save the environment and even a wallet to buy a product once and have it last for ten years than buy a product for a third of the price and throw it out every year.

9. Buy an upgradeable computer

Technology is always advancing and city dumps are filled with leftover computer parts. Most computers can be upgraded so rather than buy a new one to keep up with the times a person can simply buy new parts to install. Computer stores and shops can help with this process.

10. Go hybrid

There are many models of hybrid cars now and all of them cut down on the amount of gas a person needs to use. It’s a great option for those who can afford it and some people may even be eligible for a tax break when the make the purchase.

By now you have likely heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a tragic byproduct of the plastics industry and consumerism that is an island of garbage floating in the northern Pacific Ocean. Originally the size of Texas and approaching the size of the Sun, this gargantuan pile of plastic is collected by currents that swirl around in a big circle. Most of the debris is picked up from the shores of both China and North America that sandwich it.

As plastic never goes away, it eventually crumbles up into tiny bits (photo-degrades). These bits of plastic enter the food supply and are passed from the jelly fish all the way back up to humans where it is stored in their livers (that part is only fair). Plastic also pollutes the water with PCB’s (Polychlorinated Biphenyls, dangerous carcinogens and hormone disruptors). While no one person is to blame, every person has contributed to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (it’s a safe bet the Atlantic also has one lurking somewhere).

Whether one throws litter on the ground or trusts in their municipal trash companies to do it for them, everyone throws away plastic and it ends up in the ocean and then back in our bodies.

While some say cleanup is impossible, hopefully someday someone will find a solution. Perhaps they will find a way to convert plastic to energy (it is made of oil after all), and they can make a ship refueling station out there that will produce energy from plastic. Or perhaps nanotech robots can disassemble it and bring it to the recycler. (Such technology would be extremely dangerous as it would have to be careful not to accidentally disassemble Kenny Rogers face). In the meantime there are many things people can do to at least help prevent this pile of garbage from getting any larger.

1. Avoid Products that use Plastic to Begin With

Plastic is made from petroleum hence it is so ubiquitous today. Plastic is convenient but most of the cheaper grades (the clear stuff) find its way into our food, often leaving a film on anything that is wrapped in it and which we then eat. Microwaving anything in plastic cooks plastic residues right into the food, vaporizing other chemicals that contaminate the food and air. Consider the amount of sheer waste a single meal or even serving produces (Kraft Singles is second only to Individually Wrapped Breaths of Air ™ in the Most Wasteful Products Award). Reuse glass or Tupperware containers for leftovers instead of plastic wrap. Store water in the high grade blue plastic bottles only. Prefer cheese that is made from raw milk.

2. Kick the Bottle

High on the list of most wasteful products is Individually Wrapped Drinks of Water, a lingering 1990’s fad for those pretending to be health conscious. Picture a lake compared to a lake of plastic bottles and that is basically what we now have in the Pacific. Corporations are taking over town aquifers and selling it back to the people for $2 per bottle. Shipping one bottle of water costs on average 1/3 bottle of fuel. It is best to filter or distill your own water and use metal or glass containers. Companies like Nalgene make trendy reusable water containers of high grade plastic. Opt for tap water with lemon in restaurants. Note: wait staff seem trained to always supply a plastic straw with every drink (probably so you don’t notice the lipstick on the rim of the glass), so remember to request no straw with your drink.

3. Recycle or Reuse Materials

Plastic can be recycled and you will find that when you start recycling you at least save money on trash bags. Many containers can be washed out and reused (though they should be sterilized with apple cider vinegar). Note that only the higher grade plastics can be reused.

4. Choose Products with Biodegradable Plastic

Now many plastic cups along with packaging peanuts and other supplies are available in a biodegradable form. Companies like Ecosafe and Natur-Tec are providing real solutions to the plastic problem.

5. Repair, Sell or Upgrade Gadgets

Many people run out and buy the latest new cell phone or iPod more often than needed, discarding their old phones in the rubbish where they not only add to plastic landfill but also leak out various other contaminants like Mercury. Meanwhile older components, while larger, are often superior as they tend to be constructed of much more solid materials. By repairing your items you can keep things in top shape much longer. Tackle small problems when they arise. Take the time to fix things right. Buy used products when possible and sell your items when they are no longer needed. Prefer products that offer replacement parts.

6. Recycle Computer Parts

If you must discard items like monitors or printers, at least take them to an electronics recycler. Staples accept old monitors, etc. for a small fee.

7. Use Cloth Grocery Bags

While this is more of a challenge for men as they look like pocketbooks, it is important to avoid bringing home so many plastic bags. Cloth bags can help. Some shoppers at the farmers market seem afraid to let any vegetables touch any other vegetables, insisting that each be individually wrapped. A better method is to use as few bags as possible, to reuse those taken, recycle them when they tear, and especially to avoid using them to begin with by bringing your own bag. Eventually this will save money as stores are considering charging for them.

8. Do Sweat the Small Stuff

The worst pieces of plastic are the tiny bits. These are the ones that birds, turtles and fish mistake for food and eat and then can’t pass them. Eventually these poor animals become full of plastic and they die of starvation, or they are consumed by larger animals and the process continues. After these animals die, the plastic is the only part that is left behind where it kills again.

9. Don’t be a Litter Bug

Many feel that if they don’t litter, they will be putting the garbage man out of a job. Some will simply chuck their used car batteries (full of sulfuric acid) into the woods behind their home. The truth is that this debris will persist for decades and humans leave enough of a footprint without adding insult to injury. In the 1970’s there were TV commercials with Woodsy Owl reminding us to “Give a Hoot Don’t Pollute”. In today’s corporate controlled media the best we get is talk about the Carbon Tax. Even the threat of Nuclear War is brushed aside by the media in favor of the War on Drugs, the War on Terror, and the War on Manners.

10. Clean up your Neighborhood Ponds

Many neighborhoods have small ponds containing water that is cleaner than their municipal tap water. These ponds are often teeming with fish and turtles that help keep them pure. Sadly however these ponds (and wildlife) are normally loaded with plastic debris. By taking 15 minutes each week, one person can really help clean up their neighborhood. The process is surprisingly relaxing and the animals will appreciate it. Do note that random passerby will think you are out on parole, so wearing an orange jumpsuit is not recommended. Ideally, organize a neighborhood trash pickup (nowadays that may require legal waivers in case participants obtain a boo boo).

It’s all well and good getting these fancy energy saving gadgets, but what do we do with all the old gadgets we’ve got? Recycling electronic devices is not that easy, so here are 10 eco-friendly ways to recycle your gadgets rather than send them to landfill.

1. Sell your stuff on eBay

ok, so that’s an old tip, but it’s worth getting some cash for your gadgets first of all. The best form of recycling is reuse.

2. Swap your old mobile phone for cash

there are a number of companies who will give you money in return for your old mobile phone. There are lots to choose from, so shop around to find the one that pays the best!

3. Give your gadgets away to friends and family

if you know someone who’d appreciate something you no longer need, just give it to them. It’ll probably make their day, and your unwanted electronics get another use.

4. Give away your gadgets on Freecycle

If you’ve never heard of Freecycle, it’s basically a local group where you offer bulky items you no longer want for free. It’s designed to give items a second home that you couldn’t otherwise sell. So if you have no friends or family, Freecycle is a great option!

5. Send your stuff back to the Manufacturer

Companies such as Dell and Apple now have their own recycling programmes, where they’ll recycle your old computer or ipod for free.

6. Use a professional recycling service

this kind of service will safely and appropriately dispose of your electrical waste. Increasingly, there are tighter regulations for safe waste disposal, potentially resulting in large fines if you don’t comply.

7. Give your old computer another purpose

If you have a old computer, you could use it as a home server, photo frame or something else. Just be wary, old computers are not always that energy efficient.

8. Find a local recycling center

myGreenElectronics and earth911 both have zip-code searches so that you can find local recycling points near you. The search results will tell you the type of facility (such as a charity, business, or service) and exactly what you can recycle there.

9. Ask for ideas

if you have something very specific to recycle, but have no idea on how to recycle, then just ask some fellow eco-enthusiasts how do I recycle this? You’ll get plenty of useful ideas on just about everything you can think of, and not just gadgets!

10. Turn your gadgets into furniture

if you’re  artistic, you could turn your old computers into furniture. It might not be very comfortable, but at least it’s eco friendly