Plastic bottles riddle our lives and more often than not, we pop them in the recycling and think nothing more of them – but do we have to? They actually have a lot of potential! Just check out these 13 awesome ways to reuse them and make bottles into something beautiful and creative for your home.

1. Broom

via Bored Panda

2. DIY jewellery stand

Items needed

• 2 x one litre bottle
• 2 x 600ml bottle
• knife
• scissors
• 1 x 12-inch threaded rod + bag of same sized nuts and washers

Steps

1. Cut the bottoms of the bottles with a knife and trim further with scissors
2. Drill holes the same thickness of the rod in the centre of each tray
3. If you want the lowest tray to hang your bracelets on, you’ll need to cut between the ‘petals’ of the bottom of the bottle to separate them.
4. Put each tray between two washes and two nuts and thread through with the threaded rod.
5. Glue a bead on top and you’re done!

Via EPBOT

3. Bouquet lamp

Items needed

• 25 plastic bottles of the same size
• Heat proof glue or staples

Steps

1. Cut bottle bottoms off, 2 or so cm from the bottom.
2. Once all bottoms are cut off, arrange them in the pattern in the picture and glue together or staple
3. Mould the shape into a sphere and add the bottoms one at a time to keep the shape
4. Leave a gap for the bulb and make sure it can rest on the lamp once fitted
5. Secure in place with glue or tape

Via Personalise.co.uk

4. Coin purse

Items needed

• 2 x plastic bottles
• zipper
• embroidery needle
• regular sewing thread
• nylon thread
• adhesive tape
• scissors

Steps

1. Cut the base of each bottle
2. Create a paper guide for the zipper stitching by measuring the circumference of the base – it should be the same length as your zipper.
3. Cut two pieces of paper the same length as the bottle base around.
4. Mark evenly spaced holes around the whole length of paper.
5. Attach to base with tape and make sure straight.
6. Use the thick needle to poke holes through where you’ve marked, all the way around and repeat
7. Pull off the paper and get ready to put the zipper in place
8. Unzip the zipper and attack with tape as you thread the needle through the holes
9. Overlap the fabric zipper at the ends

Via Flickr

5. Curtains/room dividers

Items needed

• 30-50 plastic bottles (same size and colour)
• Scissors
• Needle
• Metal rings or nylon wire or tag ties
• Curtain rod and rings

Steps

1. Cut the bottom of the bottles to look like plastic flowers
2. Use the needle to make holes in the four edges of the bottom
3. join the bottles using the metal rings/nylon wire/tag ties
4. When you finish the size you need, tie the curtain rings to the top and hang on the rod

Via So Creative Things

6. Bathroom containers

Items needed

• Knife saw
• Scissors
• Clothes iron

Steps

1. Saw the bottle at the desired height – you can make your containers as deep or as shallow as you like
2. Trim edges with scissors to even up
3. Put iron on maximum temperature and then place the bottle edges on the iron very briefly to get a rounded edge
4. Fill with cosmetics

Via Pluii

7. Owl vases

Items needed

• 2 x plastic bottles
• white and black acrylic paint
• 2 x paint brushes, one thick and one thin

Steps

1. Cut the plastic bottles in half
2. Paint one white and one black
3. Draw the owl pattern in the photo with the opposite colour

Via Amazing Interior Design

8. Creative gift wrapping

Via Craft and Fun

9. Plant holder

Via Facebook

10. Phone charger holder

Via Facebook

11. Sprinkler

Items needed

• push pin
• bamboo skewer
• 1 x clean, empty 2L soft drink bottle
• 3/4 inch female x 3/4 female swivel hose adapter (from plumbing section)
• extra hose washers

Steps

1. Rinse the bottle and take off the label
2. Put one of the red washers inside one side of the adapter (the side that is going to fit over the bottle lip) and secure tightly
3. Take push pin and poke 8 holes along one side of the bottle and then take the skewer to widen each of the holes
4. Attach the the garden hose!

Via Clever Crafty Cookin Mama

12. Plastic crowns for your grandchildren

Items needed

• 1 x 2L plastic bottle
• glitter glue
• scissors
• tape

Steps

1. Cut a 7cm high cylindrical piece off the plastic bottle
2. Using two pieces of folded tape, put your crown template behind the plastic
3. Trace the outlines of the template – don’t trace the details
4. Cut the inside of the lines you trace so you’re just left with the shape
5. Use glitter glue to trace over the details

Via Paper Plate and Plane

13. Candle holder

Items needed

• Plastic bottle
• Scissors
• Knife
• Glass/ceramic paint
• Paint brush
• Ruler
• glitter

Steps

1. Cut off the top of the bottle with the knife
2. Make even cuts uses scissors and use ruler if it helps to get it accurate
3. Paint all around and let semi-dry then sprinkle glitter on
4. Place candle

Via Guide Central

Which is your favourite? What do you do with your recycled plastic bottles? Share more creative tips below.