What can I do with kitty litter jugs and plastic coffee cans?

[daisybun]

I hate to throw this much plastic into the landfill!  What can I do with these large plastic containers?

[jazzminh]

I actually look for those kinds of large plastic containers all the time - to store materials I use like corks, electronic components and all sorts of odds and ends for crafts. When I've had a surplus, kindergarten teachers were happy to have them for storage.
Gardeners would probably like the containers for use as planters, to store compost or leftover gravel and such.
They also serve as a good base for paper mache - cut off the top and use the bottom as your base for a paper mache basket.
Use to store dry foods like beans, rice, etc.

[daisybun]

I appreciate your quick reply.  Many thanks!

[LillyinCinci]

Hi Daisybun, I use my 30lb litter buckets for all kinds of great storage.  You need to wash the inside out first and use a cup of bleach and a tablespoon of dawn dish liquid, scrub the inside and lids, then rinse is fresh water and allow it to air dry outside for a day or so to get the scented litter smell to fade away. Now, that it nice and dry with only a slight detectable odor, use a couple unscented garbage bags, stuff them opened up into the bucket, pour in dog food, cat food, laundry detergent, garden soil, anything bulk you would like to store, attach the flip back lid to the top over the garbage bag and voila! the lid works really well to seal the bucket. I have also cleaned the buckets and painted them and made them small recycling bins in my kitchen. Given the extra painted ones to our neighbors with welcoming products inside when they have just moved in, you don't know how handy a bucket with a lid and a couple garbage bags inside can be when you just move in to a new place. I hope these ideas save a few kitty litter buckets from the landfill, thanks ladies for making a great contribution to saving our planet.
- Lilly

[extrasharp]

Great idea for the larger containers.  Still looking for more crafty for Christmas with the coffee containers.

[Cherie]

My hubby brings large coffee tins home now and then and I had quite a collection sitting in my stash. Last week I used them in a craft session.  I took along a whole load of wallpaper samples, bits of lace and all kinds of bling.  Everyone gave a coffee tin a basecoat of emulsion and then when they were dry they decorated them with all the things that I took along.  They had a lovely afternoon and it cleared a large space in my workshop. (it will soon fill backp).

[mountianlady]

Those are great ideas and you can paint them make them over and use them as a plant holder in the spring for plants or if you have a few that are different sizes you can make a set of canisters out of them,i get alot of ideas from Pinterest"then i just add on my own.

[steiconi]

I use the coffee cans for compost in the kitchen.  All vegetable waste goes into the can.  I use about one bucket worth of coffee a month, at which time I swap in the "new" compost can, wash the old one and poke holes in it for a planter.

If I really had it together, I might save them up for gift cookies over the holidays.  But they're pretty big, that would take a lot of cookies!

[JS]

Hi Daisybun, I use my 30lb litter buckets for all kinds of great storage.  You need to wash the inside out first and use a cup of bleach and a tablespoon of dawn dish liquid, scrub the inside and lids, then rinse is fresh water and allow it to air dry outside for a day or so to get the scented litter smell to fade away. Now, that it nice and dry with only a slight detectable odor, use a couple unscented garbage bags, stuff them opened up into the bucket, pour in dog food, cat food, laundry detergent, garden soil, anything bulk you would like to store, attach the flip back lid to the top over the garbage bag and voila! the lid works really well to seal the bucket. I have also cleaned the buckets and painted them and made them small recycling bins in my kitchen. Given the extra painted ones to our neighbors with welcoming products inside when they have just moved in, you don't know how handy a bucket with a lid and a couple garbage bags inside can be when you just move in to a new place. I hope these ideas save a few kitty litter buckets from the landfill, thanks ladies for making a great contribution to saving our planet.
- Lilly

I am loving these bucket ideas.  DD2 has cats and has been pondering ways to reuse those handled and lidded buckets.  After a good scrubbing, they would be great for anything.  I envision knitting needles and yarn storage, picnic basket, tote for car trunk, collected cans of spray paint and wood stain in the garage.  Now I want to make a bucket apron. 

[digreen]

I'm having this situation because my elderly cat has failing kidneys, so he has three litter boxes, just for himself!

In terms of the original post, the litter 'jugs' may have NOT been the bucket types, but like plastic milk jugs, so similar upcycling for those: cut off top into scoops (using handle as handle, but upside down & diagonal), bottoms for bowls/open containers, or punch holes around rim and crocet or knit a top as an extension into a larger basket, or a into a drawstring closure type of container. Will go research some other ideas.

Oh, & for milk jugs (which are a but smaller, and more circular) my family uses them as gray water catchers for the kitchen, garden and laundry for various things that don't need fresh water, as mixing bowls for small concrete and tiling projects, to catch fresh cold water in the shower as it warms up (it's about a gallon usually), bowls for vinegar water for medium size and larger clean projects, I've cut down the larger cat litter ones as a mop bucket, the milk jug gallon bottoms cut off, but with handle attached as a carry-all from room to room when tidying up and moving small things from one place to another.

The plastic itself, if cut into rectangles, should be useful for something. I will post back here any ideas I find particularly useful or innovative