Oddly enough, one of the most common green parenting questions that I am asked is centered on those pesky toilet paper and paper towel tubes that accumulate so quickly in the family recycle bin. Sure, you could do a craft with them (there are several craft ideas list below) but that idea may lose its luster after you’ve made your 18th eyeglass case or pencil holder. So here are some great green parenting tips for reducing, reusing, and recycling your old toilet paper and paper towel tubes.
Reduce
Want A Deeper Shade of Green? If you want to be really hardcore, you can reduce your family’s overall use of toilet paper tubes by eliminating the roll altogether. Enter, the family cloth. If you’re not familiar with this concept, here’s a quick primer. You take a couple of clean old rags (old t-shirts and towels are popular choices), cut them into “wipe” size pieces and place them in a basket next to the toilet. On the other side of the toilet, place a clean bucket to hold the used cloths until you are ready to toss them in the wash. It may sound a bit extreme, but it is similar in concept to cloth diapers. And in addition to being very green for the planet, it will save you some green on paper products each month.
Reuse
Give your toilet paper and paper towel tubes a second life by reusing them before or instead of recycling them. Here’s how:
- Donate old toilet paper or paper towel tubes to your local school or library to use as craft projects.
- Use toilet paper tubes as packing material.
- Give them to your pet hamster or bird (or to a friend that has one) to play with.
- Store holiday lights by rolling them around paper towel tubes to prevent tangling.
- Attach 2 or 3 toilet paper and/or paper towel tubes together to make an art organizer that holds pens, paint brushes, markers, etc.
- Do a Craft: Here are some great craft ideas for reusing toilet paper and paper towel tubes:
Toilet Paper Tube Crafts
Gift Box
Puppets
Vase
Napkin Rings
Recycle
Recycle toilet paper and paper towel tubes with your cardboard or paper products. Also, consider buying toilet tissue and paper towels made from recycled paper as these products are most likely to also contain tubes made from recycled paper. For example, Green Forest paper towel and bathroom tissue tubes are 100% recycled, with a 75% post-consumer recycled content.