Millions of old toothbrushes, product bottles and loo rolls are thrown away each year, but they still have uses in your garden and around your home
Old, empty and used up bathroom items could help revive your home and garden ahead of the winter season(Image: GETTY)
Households may be able to reduce their waste, boost their garden, cut down costs and clean their homes all by using three items they already have in their bathrooms. One expert is urging people to specifically keep all of their old toothbrushes, empty shampoo bottles and the cardboard inner tube of their toilet roll.
Alex Woods, from Victorian Plumbing, explained: “Although it might be easier to throw away our empty shampoo bottles and old toothbrushes, there are simple, yet effective ways to reuse common bathroom items to not only avoid sending them to landfill, but also save money and even spend some fun family time doing crafts.”
Shampoo bottles
Reusing shampoo bottles requires a bit more DIY skills, but it can be repurposed into plant pots or mini sprinklers. For both options, you’ll need to wash out the bottle completely first and then cut into it.
To transform it into a plant pot, cut it down to your preferred size, add drainage holes at the bottom and you can also decorate it according to your liking. For hanging pot plants, simply add holes and string on the sides.
As for the DIY sprinkler, Woods explained: “If you keep meaning to buy a sprinkler for your hose and keep forgetting, a shampoo bottle is the perfect solution. Poke a few holes around it, attach it to your hose, and that’s it. A cost-free solution for watering your garden.”
Toothbrushes
Toothbrushes can be incredibly useful cleaning tools outside of your mouth. If the bristles are still relatively intact, give it a thorough wash and use it as a fine edge scrubbing brush to reach the tricky spots like tight corners, tile grout or even to dust out the vents at the back of a hairdryer.
Once the bristles are too worn down to be of any use, you can rip them out and use the handle of the toothbrush as a gardening tool. The expert explained: “It can be handy for poking holes to plant seeds, or even as mini support sticks for seedlings.”
Toilet tube
Once you are left with only the cardboard inner tube of the toilet role, this can be repurposed in a number of ways, but given the time of year one of the best ways to reuse this piece of waste is by making Christmas crackers.
Woods explained: “It might feel early to start thinking about the holidays, but empty paper rolls are perfect for homemade Christmas crackers.
“All you need is wrapping paper, string, a bit of glue and your chosen fillers. With a little free time, you’ll have fun, personalised, low-cost crackers ready for Christmas.”
These inner toilet tubes can also make for some handy organisers. From pencil holders to toy car garages and lego brick sorters, all it takes is some glue and decorations to arrange the rolls in a way that works for you.
Woods added: “If you have toddlers, you know what it is to have toys everywhere. Glue several tubes together, place them in a box, and you’ve got yourself a neat organiser for small toys like Lego or cars, perfect for keeping playrooms tidy with minimal effort.”
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