Recycling Tips
If you too are passionate about the environment, you can continue the Woodland theme, by recycling your carton. Here are some suggestions to get you started. If you have other environmentally-friendly ideas you would like to share, we’d love to hear about them.
Tip #1: Planters
The egg carton makes a perfect planter for seedlings. Fill each of the “cups” with seed-starting mix, plant your seeds and nurture. When the seedlings are big enough, separate each carton cup and plant, including the carton!
Tip #2: Compost
Egg cartons are wonderful as part of your compost mix. Just tear the cartons into chunks of about 5cm and drop them straight into the compost bin. Because the cartons are themselves made from recycled paper, they break down and soon merge into your compost. Of course, the compost is also the ideal place for your egg shells.
Tip #3: Packing When Moving House
You can use egg cartons as protection for both large and small items, when you are moving house. They are great for packing small ornaments or can be opened out flat to provide cushioning between furniture. And when you’ve moved, you can tear them up as the base of your new compost heap or use them to get some vegetables started for your new vegetable garden!
Tip #4: Crafts
As the winter days close in, new and inexpensive ideas for keeping children entertained indoors are always welcome. An old egg carton can be used as a painting palette, shopkeepers’ till or decorated to become a jewellery box. They can even be used to help teach addition and subtraction. First, the children need to find 10 items for each carton “cup” – such as bean seeds, paper clips or small pebbles – then they can count away to their hearts’ content. Three beans plus two pebbles equals…
Tip #5: Christmas Decoration Packing
Keep your Christmas decorations safe and tidy by popping each one into its own carton “cup”. Not only does the spongy carton protect the decoration, it provides a tidy packing system until the next December.
Tip #6: Bulb Storage
Dedicated gardeners “lift” their bulbs after they have flowered and died back. Egg cartons are the perfect place to store bulbs over this period. They are kept dry and you can easily write on the carton, so you know which bulbs are which, come plant-out time in autumn.
Tip #7: Freezing wontons
Jutta uses her old Woodland free range egg cartons to store her homemade wontons in the freezer. “They don’t stick together and can easily be removed after freezing”.Tip #8:Happy worms
Gae soaks her egg cartons in water, then puts them on top of her worm farm. It keeps the worms damp, dark and happy – just the way worms like it.
Tip #9: Miniature greenhouse
Pierre takes his Woodland free range egg cartons and turns them into miniature greenhouses, by planting seeds then covering the top of the cartons with plastic.
Tip #10: Draining oil from food
Heather uses her old egg cartons to drain oil away from food. She places the food on a paper towel, then on top of the carton. “The shape of the carton means oil will drain away from your food. One carton will last for umpteen uses – until they get messy or tatty. It’s just the basic use/reuse ethos.”
Tip #11: Jewellery and chandelier crystal storage
Stella of Feilding has several uses for her old Woodland free range egg cartons. “I use my cartons for storing jewellery. I find them particularly useful when travelling. I just put a piece of cotton wool across the top of the jewellery and the pieces stay in place. I also store my extra crystal drops for my chandelier in the cartons. I’ve never had anything broken by doing this.” And, outside of the house, Stella has another use for the cartons: “I tear the cartons into two halves and nestle them in my tiger worm farm. The worms like to curl up inside them.”
Tip #12:Sound proofing
Simonne’s Wellington household use their old egg cartons to line the walls of the children’s play room, so it is lovely and sound proof. “And any extras go in there for them to make crafts with. We are all happy!”
Tip #13: Playing “shop keepers”
Gloria finds her Woodland free range egg cartons make ideal “tills” for children playing shop keepers. “You use each cup for different denominations.”