Creative Ways to Recycle and Re-purpose Glass Bottles and Jars

• Weddings
• Parties
• House Décor
• Jewelry Holder
• Storage: food, supplies, kitchen utensils, bathroom essentials
• To serve food and drinks
• To give as gifts for weddings, anniversaries, birthday, graduation, baby shower, Mother's Day, housewarming, etc.
• To give out as awards and prizes

Glass bottles and jars are materials that can be reused and re-purposed in so many ways. They are becoming more popular to use for decorations for the home, at weddings and for parties. Reusing glass bottles like wine and beer bottles cost less for centerpieces, table settings or table number markers. Decorating them also gives you a chance to bring out your creativity and work on a fun craft.

Why not reuse glass jars that you get when you buy pasta sauce or a jar of pickles to save money instead of buying other containers to store food, craft, art and office supplies.

Read more for easy and crafty tips to make use of glass bottles and jars. It is an easy way to save money and helps out the environment!

There are many ways to use glassware for special occasions, such as weddings, where things like decorations and table settings can become expensive quickly.

Here are some ideas on ways to reuse glass that you may already have at home or that you can collect over time:

• Use glassware as vases for flowers
• Table numbers and seating: Use wine bottles or beer bottles to put numbers and even names for table seating
• Make lanterns or chandeliers: you can use baby jars, wine bottles, cut bottles to hold lights inside or attach string lights inside
• Use jars to place photos inside
• Use small jars like baby food jars to put in candy or small party favors for guests. Decorate lids by covering them with fabric or painting them.
• Use glassware as candle holders, using candlesticks, tea light candles or floating candles
• Embellish and paint wine bottles to place as décor and centerpieces on tables or in other parts of the venue. You can do various things to have them fit the theme of the wedding: paint them using spray paint or use glass paint on the outside or acrylic paint inside, use glass etching to monogram the initials of bride and groom, write sweet words like "Love," "Joy," "Happy" or the date of the wedding. You can also use chalkboard paint to cover the area you want to write on using chalk.
• Wrap the bottles with burlap, twine, ribbons, lace, doilies, crochet work, fabric and scrapbook paper to match the theme.
• Decorate them with rhinestones, flowers, glass paint, etc.
• Have guests write advice and well wishes on paper or pebbles and place them in a jar

• Decoration
• Vases for plants and flowers
• Make terrariums
• Photo frames
• Hold a collection of objects (cork, shells, rocks, pebbles, coins)
• Use jars for storage: craft, art, desk supplies, food - sugar, flour, spices, etc.
• Candle holder
• Bathroom containers: cotton balls, cotton swabs, cosmetics, make up brushes, razors, combs
• Soap dispenser
• Kitchen utensils
• Use as glassware for everyday food and drinks

If you do not want to reuse glass for anything, then you can always just recycle them. There are several benefits to recycling glass instead of throwing it away and letting it fill up the landfills or harm the environment.

WWF.Panda.org explains the advantages of recycling glass:

• "The cost savings of recycling is in the use of energy. Compared to making glass from raw materials for the first time, cullet melts at a lower temperature. So we can save on energy needed to melt the glass.
• Glass produced from recycled glass reduces related air pollution by 20% and related water pollution by 50%.
• Recycling glass reduces the space in landfills that would otherwise be taken up by used bottles and jars.
• Using glass for recycling means there are less glass objects lying around in the landfill or bin."

In many grocery stores, there are bins where you can deposit glass bottles and jars.

• Glass paint
• Acrylic paint
• Spray paint
• Chalkboard paint
• Use food coloring and school glue to make a paste that will paint onto glass. Bake in oven for about ten minutes to make it come out translucent.
• Use a hot glue gun to write or draw on glass, then spray paint over it.
• Use a turkey baster to pour paint inside opening of bottle and turn it upside down to let excess paint drip out.
• Use glass etching

There are easy ways to cut glass at home which are shown on the videos here. After you cut bottles, there are several ways to reuse them:

• Tumblers
• Shot glasses
• Candle holders
• Decoration
• Containers
• Plant holder
• Small plate or bowl for dipping sauce (if you cut the bottle closer toward the bottom)

Either method you use to cut the bottle, make sure you are doing it safely! Also, remember to sand the edges.

• Use a wine bottle as a rolling pin
• Use glass jars and bottles as paper weight
• Use them for arts and crafts - trace their top or bottom for patterns
• Use small bottles as soap dispensers - attach a pump on top
• Message in a bottle: can do this for significant other, children, anyone special - maybe a gift for Mother's Day/Father's Day/Birthday/Grandparents
• Vase for candy bouquet or food bouquet
• Other gifts with food can be placed in jars: cookies, cookie mix or cocoa mix, candy
• Store play dough, paint, homemade bubbles
• Wind chime, wall décor - see this link on Oddee for interesting ways to reuse bottles

I first began collecting drinking bottles, such as wine and soda pop bottles a few years ago for sentimental reasons. Whenever my husband and I went somewhere special and I ordered a drink in a bottle, I kept it, particularly if it was a bottle to celebrate a special occasion. I decided eventually to reuse them instead of just sitting on top of my kitchen cabinets. Now, I collect bottles to see how I can reuse them for practical reasons around the house and for parties. I am now inspired to design and decorate glassware since we go through so many of them every month. It is becoming my new hobby, which has been fun and exciting to learn a new craft. I am happy to explore something new and to know that I am helping out the environment in the process.

Do you have any fun or useful ways you reuse glass bottles?

©BNadyn 2014