A few months ago I told my family to start saving egg cartons. I wanted to use them to start seeds in because they can be put right in the ground, and I won’t have to transplant the plants. I have already planted some seeds in the cartons and I have a pile of cartons leftover… That left me asking, what else could I used them for?

9 uses for old egg cartons:

1. Seed starters. They are excellent for starting seeds because you just have to cut out the pod and put it directly in the ground. No need to transplant and risk hurting the plant! That is always my fear!
2. If you know someone who has chickens and sells eggs, save your egg cartons for them. I know they will appreciate it! Before we moved we used to save our egg cartons for a couple down the road!
3. Crafts! When we were little we used to make flowers out of egg cartons. You just cut out one of the pods and cut down the sides to make the petals, then use a pipe cleaner to create a stem by poking a hole in the middle. There are SO many crafts you can make with just an egg carton!
4. Organize your garage or basement by putting small nails, screws, or nuts in egg cartons. You could even use them to organize lego, or other small toys.
5. Save them for a camp fire, they are excellent fire starters! I can’t wait for summer bonfires.
6. Help your child with their fine motor skills by giving them small items, like different beans or beads, to sort into an egg carton.
7. You can store or transport small muffins, cupcakes, or even deviled eggs.
8. Use egg cartons as color palettes when you are painting. They will keep your colors separated!
9. Use egg cartons to wrap small gifts, or use them to put Easter candy in, instead of using an Easter basket.

Reduce, Reuse Recycle.

It’s really important that we try and reduce the amount of garbage that ends up in landfills every year – or worse, garbage that ends up in our lakes and oceans. If we can take a few ideas like the things mentioned above and try to reuse things, we can really make a positive impact for our environment, and that’s just for egg cartons! Imagine the difference we could make if we started reusing more items we throw in the trash very often, like milk cartons and plastic jars.

Keep your eyes peeled for more posts like this… This post is just the beginning of a series of posts on ways to recycle commonly used items!