11 Uses For Cardboard Toilet Paper Tubes

While some people may already be buying the new “tubeless” toilet paper, most of us continue to buy the kind with the cardboard tubes in the middle.

(And really, that tubeless kind called Scotts Naturals is only 40% recycled paper, so please don’t buy it. Buy 100% recycled content toilet paper instead.) But at the end of each roll, what do we do with the tube? We throw it in the recycling bin, of course! However, there may be a few uses around the house for these cardboard gems that can keep them out of the recycling stream for a while, and here are a few to get you started.

• Create pencil or pen holders by taping one end shut
• Make a knife sheath for camping
• Put them in your compost bin
• Store string by cutting a notch into each end of the tube
• Tape 2 tubes together side by side, making pretend binoculars for the kids

• Use as kindling to start a fire in your fireplace
• Store pantyhose in your drawer to keep them from getting snagged
• Store Christmas lights until next year
• Collect a bunch of them and let your kids try to build things with them
• Cut tubes into shorter lengths and use for seedlings
• Use several inside your boots or shoes to help them keep their shape

Source: The Good Human

Another use for toilet paper tubes, especially relevant at this time of the year, is for crackers- put sweets or whatever inside the tube and then make the rest of the cracker using gift wrap paper (re-use old wrapping paper for this).  In our throw-away society, it’s easy to overlook great uses for things that would usually be discarded without a second thought.  Not only do small things like this help the environment but they save money too!  Remember, from an environmental and energy-use point of view, it is often better to re-use rather than recycle (see Recycling vs. Reusing: Is there a difference?)

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Contact us for a free quote on a rainwater tank,  rainwater harvesting system, grey water recycling system, Atlas Plastics & JoJo water tanks (we are authorised JoJo Tanks dealers in Mpumalanga and Limpopo), green plumbing systems or solar water geyser (made by Solsquare in Germany).

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