{Eco Tutorials} Recycle It! Things To Do With Egg Cartons

Back in early January, Karen of EcoKaren challenged her readers to one-month of de-cluttering, something she called the De-clutter 2012 Challenge.  Being the encourage-able person that I am, I took on the challenge.  However, after signing on I felt a pang of pain in my chest as I looked around my house and realized that my studio had some how explored into my living space – I had stuff everywhere. Over the one-month challenge, I cleaned out and cleared out a lot of stuff, but there was one unsightly beast that continued to stare me in the face –  the egg carton mountain piled on the side of my refrigerator.

I do use them to hold my pencil barrels when I create lip and eye pencils – they become my extra hands and my sister-in-law has taken a few of my hands when I shared that she could use them as paint holders for the kiddies in her day-care. But my creativity is stumped beyond that, so I decided to ask my fellow EcoEtsy team members for their ideas on how to recycle my mountain of egg cartons.  My wonderful teamies came back with some great suggestions:

Fork Easel by DinnerTimeChimes

1. Eggs Anyone?

“Check with locals who have their own chickens. We use cartons friends/neighbors/family save us to package and sell the eggs from our chickens ”
Thanks to Gavin & Erin Thompson of DinnerTimecChimes

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Recyclded Bottle Cap Pendent by BarkerBall

2. Multi-functional

“I give most of mine to a local farm that raises chickens and sells the eggs.  They can reuse them several times. For surplus, I have a couple of projects I like to use them for: Wet them, shred them, and add them to my worm composting bins (they can also be added to a traditional compost pile/bin) Fill them with soil and plant seeds in them.  Once the seedlings are ready to be planted in the garden, you can snip each cup apart and plant them in the garden, cup and all. They also make great fire starters.  Fill them with dryer lint (all natural fibers only – wool or cotton) and cover with melted candle wax. They are also adorable when used, individually, as light covers on a strand of lights – the effect looks like lilies or a similar flower. There are hundreds of uses, I’m sure.”
Thanks to Tamara Barker of http://barkerbell.etsy.com

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Wine Cork Board by Lolailo

3. Ornament Saver

“Egg cartons are also great for saving tiny Xmas ornaments.”
Thanks to G of http://lolailo.etsy.com 

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Irish Flag with Shamrocks card by Dustibncards

4. Firestarters

“I have made firestarters with my surplus cartons as well.  My neighbor, who is a cabinet maker gave me a large sack of sawdust which I mixed with melted wax and packed into the egg crates.  (Garage sale candles can be found for pennies)  The firestarters are great for camping or any pyromaniacal activities. I have also used the 5 dozen size egg crates in the garden for mulch. Just lay them on your path or border and over time, they decompose and can be tilled into the soil.”
Thanks to Kathy of http://dustbincards.etsy.com

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Pendant Hopslam Bottle Cap by DrinkstoDesign

5. Bean Holder

“For me, they have become little “bead holders” for my jewelry supplies.  I have an apothecary cabinet and I have a carton in each drawer.  Each carries a different color of beads and different kinds of findings.  The little cup sizes are perfect ”
Thanks to Lori Sullivan of http://drinkstodesign.etsy.com

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Quiet Dragon Pattern by Tamdoll

6. Pulp It!

“Soak it and pulp it up to use in paper-maché projects.”
Thanks to Tamdoll of http://tamdoll.etsy.com

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Men's Shaving Bag by UnraveledRevelry

7. Pot it up!

“I use my saved egg cartons as seed starting pots. You can then just cut or tear each section apart when the seeds have sprouted and plant right in the ground.”
Thanks to Elizabeth Revels of http://UnraveledRevelry.etsy.com

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Felt Balls by WebWorksFirberÂ

8. Put Strings on it

“I used some when I taught a puppetry class to small children… they make lovely caterpillars.  You just hinge the segments together with pipe cleaners … you can make them marionettes or pull alongs.  The kids loved painting, drawing and gluing beads, feathers, buttons and glitter to the eggs and had great fun with them”
Thanks to Lori Lee-Weber of http://webworksfiber.etsy.com

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I also scoured the web and found some additional great ways to recycle my mountain of egg cartons and my teamie Lolailo also offered up some great links. Check out these awesome sites that offer up some even awesomer tutorials:

Egg Carton Snow Flakes - http://www.michelemademe.com/2011/11/series-7-ornament-ed-egg-carton….

Super Cute Egg Carton Ornaments - http://www.michelemademe.com/2011/11/dozen-egg-carton-folk-ornaments….

Toilet Paper Egg Carton Flowers -  http://www.michelemademe.com/2010/05/tutorial-1-toilet-paper-tube-egg…

Egg Carton Pendant Light - http://www.addicted2decorating.com/diy-egg-carton-flower-pendant-light.html

Ring Holder - http://www.merrimentdesign.com/ring-holder-made-from-a-recycled-egg-carton.php

Egg Carton Office Lamp - http://inhabitat.com/egg-cartons-recycled-into-awesome-office-lamps/

From the looks of it there are thousands of ways to recycle egg carton.  Do you have some suggestions?  I’m all ears. Just leave your comment below.