Uses of Egg Shells

The egg has more utility than you may realize.

If you're throwing out your spent egg shells, you're missing out on opportunities. Egg shells serve a variety of purposes from pest control to gardening. They even make interesting decorative pieces after a little work to beautify them.

Pest Control

Crush up your old egg shells and sprinkle them on sidewalks, around flowers and pots in your garden. Snail and slugs won't get past the sharp edges and you won't need to risk getting salt, used as a slug killer, on any of your plant life.

Mellow Coffee

If you want a smoother, mellower cup of coffee in the morning, egg shells can be the key. This is due to the calcium carbonate in the shell, which absorbs some of the acidic content in the coffee. Clean the shell of a single egg thoroughly and grind it. Add the shell to your ground coffee in the filter basket and run the cycle as usual.

Cheap Planters

Cut off the top of the egg with a sharp knife and use the remaining egg shell as a planter for seeds. Fill the egg shell planters with soil and add your seed. When the seedling is ready to be put in the ground, simply break the shell.

Scouring Powder

Grind up egg shells and use the powder as a nonchemical, environmentally friendly scouring agent. Dust the surface to be scrubbed with the powder and set to work with a sudsy sponge or towel.

Garbage Disposal Cleaner

For the same reason that egg shells work as a scouring powder, they also work to clean garbage disposal. Run the garbage disposal through before adding the egg shells to remove any food particles. Then add the shells and run the disposal again.

Soil Aid

Grind up the shells and add them to the soil in your garden. Alternatively, add them to your compost pile. The nutrients in the shell, especially calcium, will help your plants grow.

Decorative Projects

Dye broken pieces of egg shell in different colors to create interesting egg shells mosaics. Alternatively make a homespun "Faberge" egg by piercing the top and bottom of a raw egg, blowing out the contents, and then decorating the hollow shell with paints and glitter. Dollar store varieties of metallic nail polish work well for this purpose.

References

• Delish: 12 Clever Uses for Eggshells
• Repurposeful: Eggs-citing Ways to Reuse Egg Shells