How to Reuse Empty Prescription Pill Bottles

We all have them--those little orange plastic prescription pill bottles. If you've used up your medicine and discovered your community doesn't recycle the bottles, reuse them in the following novel ways around your home or office.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Empty prescription pill bottles with caps
• An assortment of small items to put in them according to directions
• An awl or icepick
• Twine, ribbon, or fishing line
• Glue

1. Before dedicating you pill bottles to a new use, soak them in hot soapy water to remove the label. Or, skip this step if you don't want to remove the labels.

2. The easiest way to reuse pill bottles is to store household odds n' ends in them, such as nails, nuts and bolts, thumbtacks, or paperclips. Organize your kitchen "junk drawer" this way, and write the items' names on the outside of the bottle.

3. When traveling, store only the vitamins and supplements you'll need during your trip in an empty pill bottle. You won't have to take along a the whole container for each supplement, thereby saving room in your luggage for souvenirs.

4. Make a goofy, ironic Christmas tree ornament (or several) out of empty pill bottles: carefully punch a hole in the lid of the bottle with an awl or icepick, then thread a loop of twine, ribbon, or fishing line through the hole and knot it on the inside. Replace the cap on the bottle. Quite a statement about holiday stress, no?

5. Give a basket of pill bottle filled with different candies to friends on their "milestone" birthdays--30, 40 or 50. Be sure to remove the original labels (see step 1) and replace with homemade labels--such as "Over the Hill Pills." You could even make a birthday card resembling a prescription pad to go with the theme.

6. Make a baby's rattle by filling an empty pill bottle with a few dried beans. Just be sure to glue the lid on the bottle so the child cannot open the rattle.

7. Store your spices in a collection of empty pill bottles, and write the name of the spice on the lid. This is a great solution for storing herbs that you have grown and dried yourself. You could even build or purchase a wall-mounted spice rack to display your collection.

Tips & Warnings

• If you find you have numerous pill bottles and no need to reuse them, consider giving them to a friend (or a child, for playing "doctor") so they stay out of landfills.

[Zazell]

on 1/2/2009 Very good ideas. Thanks. I love to make crafts with the kids so my closets are full of empty containers and toilet paper rolls. :)