Styrofoam egg cartons second life

I have been saving egg cartons for some time now to give to the farmer I usually get my eggs from. I had others save them as well so I ended up with about a half dozen styrofoam cartons. I really hate these as they are usually hard to recycle. So I was trying to think of a way to reuse them for more than just eggs. I came up with the idea to use them as ice cube making trays. I use a lot of ice in the summer for the cooler and buy several bags a week usually. The store bought ice sucks because its small and melts fast as do regular cubes made at home. So I filled up all the cartons with water and put them in the freezer, the ice cubes should be pretty large and hold up to the rigors of the cooler much better than the smaller ones. To release them from the carton I am planning to dip the carton in hot water.

 

When I was a kid my Dad kept golf balls in egg cartons. Of course at that time they were made out of a cardboard kind of material. (Dad used to walk the dog on a local golf course and found lots of golf balls.)

 

Yes the cardboard ones are the ones I try to save and give to the farmer. They dont really care which kind I give them but the stryrofoam is just so permanent I like to see it reused over and over. Some guy sits outside one of the golf courses near me and sells golf balls out of egg cartons as well, perfect size for them.

 

The cardboard ones also make good sound deadening material for studio walls. (very old school, but it actually does work) The Styrofoam ones might as well if doubled up... this would still leave a bunch of tops because this uses only the bottoms of a carton...

 

I keep rocks in them. The paper kind of egg cartons I often use to make fire starters for camping. Add some wood chips, wood shavings, saw dust, dried pine needles, old twine, string, even dryer lint and fill with melted wax. It soaks into the paper, might leak a little so I usuallly do that outside. I try to keep a bit of the twine or jute string sticking out to use as a wick. old denim also works as a wick but I try to save that for patches and making char cloth. I've also made these types of fire starters out of cardboard tubes from paper towels and toilet paper. fill up then cut them into manageable sizes.

They also come in handy to keep beads and making stuff stuff and such separated when I am working on making stuff.


~peace

 

I approve :2thumbsup: