Zero Waste Lifestyle: Reuse and Recycle Ideas for Plastic Bottles

You drink milk, water and juice, but where do all your plastic bottles go?  Throwing them away is not an eco-friendly thing to do, as it has damaging consequences for the environment. Here we give you some creative reuse and recycle ideas for plastic bottles (one in each “zero waste” post).

Making pencil cases from plastic bottles

You need:

• 2 water bottles (of the same size and brand)
• 1 zipper (long enough to fit around the circumference of your bottle)
• hot glue
• heavy duty scissors

Begin by cutting the lid section off from each of your bottles. Decide how long you want your case to be and cut down your bottles to an appropriate size.

Be sure that your zipper fits around the bottle, with a slight overlap at one end. If your zipper is too long, cut some of the zipper length from the two free ends.

If you have enough of an overlap, glue the ends as much as necessary.

Now, begin gluing one side of the zipper down to the inside of the bottle, with the correct side of the zipper facing outward.

Be sure the zipper track is a little away from the bottle, so that the zipper pull can function freely.

Once you reach the end, overlap the ends of the zipper fabric onto the other end of the zipper, and glue in place.

Do the same for the other side of the zipper.

Pop in your pens and pencils and Hey Presto!