These three words seem to be on everyone's mind these days (with good reason) and as a small business, we are always on the lookout to trim down on our excess wastage. Unfortunately, being a small business also comes a high price of implementing these ideas. That’s why even the smallest ideas we are willing to take on board to use or share.
You may have noticed some of our packaging is not reusable and while we are working on a suitable alternative, in the meantime, we thought we’d share a few ideas to bring new life into our cardboard tubes.
We use these cardboard tubes to house our deliciously nutritious DIY Doggy Cupcakes.
Store your doggy biccy's
Probably the easiest way to reuse our cardboard tubes is to simply have it as a container to store your doggy biccy's in. They can be kept in the pantry, in your fridge or even out on display. Just make sure they are out of reach from your pooch... they won't be able to resist trying to get their little mitts on them!
Make an enrichment toy for your dog
These toys can mean hours of entertainment for your pooch. If your dog needs constant interaction, set them up with a home-made enrichment toy.
All you need to do is create some holes in the tube large enough for some dog treats to fit through. Then simply fill with treats, put the lid on and chuck it on the floor (you may need to tape the lid shut depending on how aggressively your dog pushes it around!).
The aim is for your dog to figure out how to get the treats out. They will be able to smell them through the holes. Eventually, they should be able to work out that if they roll it around on the ground, the little treats will fall out of the holes. The more they push it around, the more treats fall out.
A great little toy to leave them with if you are heading out of the house for a while!
Photo credit: Pinterest.com
Create a seed birdfeeder
The great thing about this one is not only is it attracting beautiful wildlife to your backyard but it's also so, so simple!
All you have to do is cover the tube in a thin layer of peanut butter (smooth or crunchy - birds won't mind) and roll it in birdseed. Place it in an area you want to attract birds and within hours you'll see birds flocking to eat from your delicious, cheap and reused cardboard tube.
Photo credit: Pinterest.com
Storing your single-use plastic bags
We know everyone these days tries their hardest to use non-plastic bags when shopping but we still somehow end up with crazy amounts of these pesky single-use plastic bags at the end of every week.
So, another simple and very quick way to reuse your cardboard tube is to turn it into a plastic bag storage container. It should fit nicely tucked away in the back of a cupboard and doesn't look anywhere near as unsightly as a bag of plastic bags hanging on the back of a door.
Photo credit: Pinterest.com
Sowing seeds for your garden
This one takes a little more time than the previous two but will be worth it in the end.
Step one: Grab yourself some soil from your local garden store
Step two: Cut our tubes in half to create two smaller tubes
Step three: Put soil in the empty cardboard tubes
Step four: Place seeds in the soil (making sure to follow the seed packets instructions)
Step five: Water
Step six: Watch 'em grow!
Like we said in 'step two' as the tubes are quite big, don't feel shy in cutting them in half and making more pots out of them. You can also use toilet paper and paper towel rolls for this too.
The tubes are foil-lined cardboard so they should hold in moisture pretty well but keep an eye on them in case they start to dry out.
Just make sure there is enough airflow around the 'pots' so they don't go mouldy from the moisture!
Photo credit: Pinterest.com
Organise your life! (or the desk)
Being a nice, round enclosed container, these tubes are absolutely pawfect for storing items. We could make a HUUUUGE list detailing every item you can store but we thought we'd leave it up to you.
Google/Pinterest are your best friends when it comes to storage ideas but we think the simpler the better. We love a good pen holder or knick-knack container in your stationery drawer (everyone's got one). You can funk them up by painting them or covering them in paper or contact.
Photo credit: Pinterest.com
Turn it into a speaker
Yes, you read that right. You can turn it into a cheapo, improvised speaker. We know most people these days have a good JBL or BOSE portable speaker but for a fun craft idea with the children, why not give it a crack?
Most instructions are for turning a Pringle can into a speaker but seeing as there are similarities between our tubes and the mighty Pringles can, we don't see why this wouldn't work.
Plus, ours are wider = more bass*.
*Not technically correct. We know nothing about sound and science.
Photo credit: Pinterest.com
Make a child's toy
Another easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy, child-friendly, time busting, crafty idea is to make a simple toy with (or without) your kid.
You can paint it, draw on it, stick googly eyes on it, make bunny ears for it, place arms and legs on it, anything your child can think of - do it!
Once again, Google is your friend for inspiration but we like the idea of letting your imagination run wild.
Photo credit: Pinterest.com
Create a lamp
That's correct. Make a lamp. Well... depending on how artistic you are.
Grab a sharp knife and cut whatever shapes you want into the tube. We are circle people here but we have no qualms with square or rectangle people.
Unfortunately, primary school shapes are the extent of our artistic skills so we will leave it up to you to come up with some crazy patterns and shapes.
Pinterest has a tonne of amazing reused cardboard tube lamps and is always a great place to start looking for ideas. All you will need is a little light or fairy lights to go inside!
Photo credit: Pinterest.com
Organise your drawers/wardrobe
These cardboard tubes make great sock/underwear organisers.
Simply cut them into sizes you'd like (we'd recommend in half or even quarters) and place them inside your drawers right next to each other.
Now, you have an easy and convenient way of seperating your blacks from whites, naughty from nice.
Photo credit: Pinterest.com
Design a masterpiece
If you REALLY love our DIY Doggy Cupcakes and have found yourself with lots of cardboard tubes, then make a masterpiece for your house.
Click on the image below for other great masterpiece ideas.
Happy baking, happy crafting and say hi to your happy dog for us!