There are many objects of daily use, such as corks, bottles or cans, that once they are used, they are almost automatically thrown in the garbage and end up in landfills taking a long time to decompose.
But once you’ve uncorked the bottle, drunk the bottle, or consumed the ingredients in the can, all of those items still have plenty of uses!
Soda cans or preserves, for example, have as many uses as you can imagine. With them you can make decoration accessories, lamps, and even a kitchen for camping, a WI-FI amplifier or a solar heater.
In this note you can be inspired by 15 incredible ideas to recycle with cans, to avoid reducing the amount of aluminum that is thrown into the ground, and create practical, beautiful and environmentally friendly objects.
1. Grater
If you just moved in and don’t have a grater to prepare your favorite salad, or add cheese to your pasta, you can improvise one with a can of preserves, slightly sunken inwards and with holes at regular intervals. Make sure it is very clean and that you file the holes well so that none of the aluminum gets into your food.
2. Desk organizer
If you take some tin cans, clean them well and wrap them with a pretty patterned paper, you can create a practical and original desk organizer, where you can put your pencils and other supplies. You just have to stack the cans together and join them with the help of a glue gun.
3. Mobile lights
If you want to give an original touch to an environment in your home such as the room or the garden, or you are looking for ideas to decorate a special party, you can easily create this mobile of lights, reusing flat tin cans. You just have to make a small hole where you can pass a thread to hang them vertically on a hanger, place a small candle in each of them and hang the hanger where you like the most. If you cut the threads in different lengths, it will look asymmetrical and very pretty.
4. Closet organizer
It probably never occurred to you, but if you wrap some cans inside with cloth and mount them on a wooden board, you can create an original closet organizer where you can put your sunglasses, your socks, or anything else you need to have close at hand and orderly manner.
5. Lamp
With a can you can also make an original lamp using it, either as a lampshade or as a base. Here you can find a practical step by step to create one and decorate any corner of your home with it.
6. Vases and pots
One of the ideas, perhaps simpler to do, but not unpretty for that, is to reuse cans to create vases with which to decorate the bedside table or the living room.
You can also use them as pots (as long as you make sure to pierce their base so that the plants can drain well) and plant your aromatics there to always have them at hand when cooking.
7. Bathroom or kitchen organizer
The cans can also be used to organize your cutlery in the event of a family or friends gathering; or to have them stored in your kitchen pantry. This idea is also perfect for keeping your combs, brushes or makeup always organized in the bathroom.
If you decorate the cans or wrap them with pretty patterned paper, they will look perfect on you.
8. Bird feeder
The cans, painted and hung horizontally in the trees, can become beautiful feeders for birds, so that they come closer to your garden with their song.
9. Drawer organizer
A very practical idea is to place cans in a drawer to organize in them all the elements that you may need when working, such as clips or elastic bands.
10. Games for children
The cans can also become practical games for children, like these stilts that you can easily make by tying cords to the cans so that whoever climbs on them can walk.
You can also paint them with the colors and styles that you like the most!
11. Bluebells for the garden
With several cans of different sizes you can create these colorful chimes to hang on the door of your house or in the garden; and enjoy their sound when the wind moves them.
12. Vertical garden
Cans are an excellent option for creating vertical gardens, either mounted on wooden boards, or hung on cords, one below the other.
13. Lanterns
If you draw a pattern on a can and pierce its outline, you will create beautiful lanterns that you can place in your garden and light at night with a candle inside.
14. Candle holders
See how original and stylish your cans can be if you paint them neatly with the motifs that you like the most. They will become beautiful candle holders that no one will notice what they are made of.
15. Luminary
Cans are a perfect choice for light fixtures. In addition to the previous ideas, you can also pierce it and create a very original screen, or hang it on the table, as you can see in the photograph.
Recycle and bring objects back to life before throwing them away!