PDA

View Full Version : Convert Garbage to Useful Products



Rick
07-22-2008, 06:39 PM
Every time I go out into the wild I always pick up trash and carry it out with me. It seems like there are aluminum beer cans just about everywhere anymore. You can cut a small door in one of the cans, insert a tea candle and you'll have an instant lantern to use around the camp at night. It's going to be recycled anyway so let it have one more useful life before you recycle it.

You already know that a plastic water bottle can be used to boil water.

Anyone have any other ideas for converting garbage into useful products or tools?

crashdive123
07-22-2008, 06:43 PM
Does that only work with "light" beer cans?

TrappinGal
07-22-2008, 10:51 PM
corny crash.. lol

i use egg cartons to start many of my vegetable plants in. i place one seed per egg slot and after theyre planted i water them. then i reuse my plastic bread bags by inserting the egg carton, after ive removed the top of course, into the bag. i then tie it shut and place the plastic covered egg carton onto a window seal or somewhere it can get light.

the plastic bag covered egg carton acts as a mini greenhhouse and thats how i start my bedding plants for the garden.

Sam
07-23-2008, 12:12 AM
You can make small fish or minnow traps out of plastic bottles, just cut the top off and turn it in side the bottle. and punch small holes in the bottom to let water through.

TrappinGal
07-23-2008, 05:43 PM
i also recyle the plastic bags i use for freeing vegetables and reuse them.

bread bags are also put to use for storing gree pelts in while in the freezer. you just roll them up and put them in the bag and tie em shut.

then when youre ready to flesh and stretch emya just thaw out as many as you need.

Rick
07-23-2008, 05:54 PM
This is some good stuff but I was actually wondering about the trash you pick up when you are out hiking. I always try to pack out any junk I find but it's kind of neat to put it to use until you can get rid of it.

TrappinGal
07-23-2008, 06:13 PM
i have put a few paper towels ive found along the way to good use, does that count? lol

crashdive123
07-23-2008, 06:16 PM
kind of puts Mom's saying "how do you know where that's been" into perspective.

TrappinGal
07-23-2008, 06:22 PM
dont really care for what i was using em for,lol

crashdive123
07-23-2008, 06:24 PM
I was thinking AFTER YOU used it.:eek:

TrappinGal
07-23-2008, 06:31 PM
oh,well yeah.. that could be a sticky situation.. yuck, i just grossed myself out with that post...lol

Gray Wolf
07-23-2008, 07:46 PM
Uh, me too :eek:

TrappinGal
07-23-2008, 09:03 PM
sorry. lol

crashdive123
07-23-2008, 09:10 PM
.....but it could relate to the mark your campsite thread.

Gray Wolf
07-23-2008, 09:22 PM
Only you crash......

crashdive123
07-23-2008, 09:33 PM
Come on. Don't tell me you weren't thinking it.:D

Gray Wolf
07-23-2008, 09:45 PM
What mark your campsite by finger painting! :eek::eek::eek: NO I wasn't!!!

crashdive123
07-23-2008, 09:52 PM
You are now.;)

RobertRogers
07-24-2008, 09:00 AM
When you are real lucky the beer cans are still full.

Ole WV Coot
07-24-2008, 09:19 AM
Recycle those aluminum cans into cash. I save mine for a man too retarded to work and with health problems. He wanted a new Honda scooter, didn't take long with his family and a few friends to get the money to buy one. Now he saves them for gas.

Rick
07-24-2008, 09:25 AM
I try to recycle all of the junk once I get home. However, I try to use it while I'm in the woods. Bit of a game for me to see what I can turn it into in the short term.

I wonder what happened to the age of enlightenment? I'm seeing more and more trash being discarded in wilderness. Aluminum cans and plastic bottles seem to be the most prolific but I pick up a lot of cigarette wrappers, too. If they hoss out there why can't they hoss back home? (rhetorical).

jrock24
07-25-2008, 01:31 PM
I find ALOT of used fishing equipment (spinners, jigs, etc.) along the local streams. I always take them and clean them up, then at our annual kids fishing derby I let the kids use whatevers there.
I also find cans, bottles, and other stuff to recycle, those get bagged and thrown in the truck.
Every once in a while I come across prospector gear, that I leave alone. Those old guys are grumpy.

Rick
07-25-2008, 02:29 PM
Yes we are!

Ole WV Coot
07-25-2008, 06:42 PM
Old men ain't grumpy and I will shoot the first "youngster" that says so !!!

bulrush
07-31-2008, 01:54 PM
I use the larger juice bottles (1/2 or 1 gal) for drip irrigation. Poke a pinhole (or drill 1/16 inch) in the bottom, cut off the top (save for a funnel), cover the bottom with rocks, then pour in water. The water will drip out over an hour or so and stay by your plant, thus reducing weeds.

I also use yogurt cups and Taco Bell plastic cups (and similar sized cups) for growing seedlings. Yogurt cups are great for single plants.

1 gal plastic milk cartons can be used as a mini greenhouse. Simply cut around the side about 3/4 of the way around. Open the carton, add 3 inches of dirt and seeds, water and cover. Water as needed. The seeds are protected from birds and wind but not larger animals.

I use various sized cans for mini 1 person cook stoves, either wood or alcohol powered. Many cans are pull top now, and this leaves a lip on the top of the can. A slightly smaller can fits perfectly on top, you don't need anything else to make it stay up there. A tea light candle would be enough to warm (maybe not boil) 1 cup of water this way. Now you have a non-electric mug warmer. Put a tea light in the bottom can, your mug on top. To reduce soot, put a piece of metal between your cup and the candle, or turn the bottom can upside down.

I also freeze 1/2 liter juice/pop bottles for medical uses, or to bring the temperature down in my fish tanks in the summer.

I also fill a 1/2 liter bottle 1/2 way with water, then when I go on a car trip in the summer, I fill the rest with water. Now I have ice water for the next 3-4 hours. It should work for hiking/camping too.

I use a pill bottle to measure just enough Gatorade mix to put into a 1L bottle. I make a mark on the outside of the pill bottle to show how much Gatorade I need. I carry Gatorade in a tough ziplock bag. Now on the trail I can make my own Gatorade. It really perks me up on those hot days when I've sweat a lot.

wildWoman
07-31-2008, 11:06 PM
We pick up and take out what trash we find but there is very little of it out here. Most trash is a few decades old, there's lots of rusted heaps of cans in the bush. Last year, we caught a lure while fishing and re-used that one until we lost it ourselves...

Rick
08-01-2008, 04:08 AM
Bulrush - those are some great tips! I never thought about the yogurt cups for planters. Brilliant! My wife will be pleased, too. Something else for me to horde.:D

Ryleyboy
08-14-2008, 07:17 PM
[QUOTE=Rick;61891]Every time I go out into the wild I always pick up trash and carry it out with me. It seems like there are aluminum beer cans just about everywhere anymore. You can cut a small door in one of the cans, insert a tea candle and you'll have an instant lantern to use around the camp at night. It's going to be recycled anyway so let it have one more useful life before you recycle it.

You already know that a plastic water bottle can be used to boil water.

Anyone have any other ideas for converting garbage into useful products or tools?[/QUOTE

If you split a popcan the edges are razor sharp. some how if you need to survive you could use it as a knife or even a spear if you attached it to the end of a stick.

Nwy
09-23-2008, 11:23 AM
I lived near the ocean growing up, and there are a whole lot of things you can find on the coast that are cast aways of another time that can be used again.

I've used old glass buoys to boil water, if found intact they're round hollow balls of glass that almost always have a nub on top where they sealed the glass shut when blowing it. This can very easily be chipped off with a rock used as a lever. They certainly aren't the safest thing to put to your lips to drink, but it can be used to boil water if you don't want to risk your plastic bottles. (which I always used after rinsing with boiling water to carry water.)

Also, you can always find netting on a rocky beach, I pretty much guarantee it. This netting can be used for all KINDS of things depending on how big a piece you find. One time I used a piece of netting propped on driftwood pikes like a tarp, then covered it with thick dried seaweed for a brush shelter. It worked VERY well if you're used to or can handle the briny smell of the seaweed. I suppose I could have escaped the smell and used it as a hammock, but I wouldn't have had nearly as much insulation or protection from the elements.

Netting can also be used to tie beams together, repair things, anything you need rope for really.

I suppose if you needed to, you could even wrap the netting around your feet and fill it with grasses or bark to fashion makeshift shoes if you were in dire straits. Even better for this purpose is if there are old rubberized or soft plastic buoys, you could cut to fit your foot, thread the netting through and make a neat pair of sandals to go wading through the tide pools with. They would certainly protect your feet from sharp rocks, urchins and crabs.

Sometimes you'll find old lobster and crab traps on the beach, the nails in the wooden frames can come in handy, and the wood can be used for fire.

Okay, theres a reason why people like to congregate around water, its not only that we need it for drinking, we can get our food there, wash there, have fun in the water, but there are a lot of neat things that get washed up on the shores, especially after a storm.

So thats my two cents to this thread.

Pict
09-23-2008, 01:19 PM
I did a "bush recycle" once that I was very proud of. I was doing a solo on the AT in Pennsylvania. I wanted to read and my flashlight batteries were low. I was spending the night in a trail shelter and I noticed that there was wax drips all over the logs from people propping up candles.

I scraped them all off with my SAK and stuffed them in a foil tube with a piece of cotton string harvested from a nail. After heating it and letting it cool I had a 3 inch candle about as big as my finger. I used that candle in my PSK for a long time. I have since reused wax with scraps of foil to extend the burn time of my candles many times. Dribbles of wax left behind by others are a resource that is easy to overlook. Mac

erunkiswldrnssurvival
09-23-2008, 01:51 PM
I have used discarded fishing lines for years, I make use of all kinds of trash

Gray Wolf
09-23-2008, 02:07 PM
May gramps always told me, "One mans trash is another mans treasure".

then again he said:

"One mans sheep is another mans Prom date"...

nell67
09-23-2008, 02:15 PM
May gramps always told me, "One mans trash is another mans treasure".

then again he said:

"One mans sheep is another mans Prom date"...

baaa baaaa!!!!!!!!!!:p

Gray Wolf
09-23-2008, 02:23 PM
Thanks nell, coffee keyboard and monitor....

trax
09-23-2008, 02:27 PM
Wow, after reading all these posts I'm sure glad that I keep throwing crap away wherever I go so you all have something to do with it. Hey, any little contribution I can make.:D :D :D

nell67
09-23-2008, 02:31 PM
Thanks nell, coffee keyboard and monitor....

Any time GW!

yukon55
09-28-2008, 05:15 PM
if you cut up a beer can (any can will work) you will have a good sharp edge

yukon55
09-28-2008, 05:26 PM
and you can use the opener thingy for a hook to fish with

minuteman
01-07-2009, 10:28 PM
You can make a fish hook out of a pull tab off of any type of pop or beer can if you have a multi tool. Cut the tab into a J hook. Here's one that I just learned and I look forward to trying this out. You can make a fishing lure out of a pop bottle cap. Just fold the cap in half and drill or puch 2 holes ( one on each end ) tie a treble hook on one end and put a swivel on the other and wa la, you have a recycled bottle cap fishing lure. I've read that they actaully catch a wide variety of fish. I just recently started researching this because I got tired of loosing expensive lures and want to start making my own out of basically household junk.

bulrush
01-13-2009, 10:04 AM
- I use old tin cans to melt wax and make new candles.

- I have used an old glass jar to make a battery, along with a galvanized nail (for zinc) and piece of copper wire. It gives about 1vdc but I don't know for how long.

- A stack of 100 or 50 CDs comes with a top with no holes. SO I use the top as a specimen container for my fish. Like if I have to transfer fish from one tank to another.

- An upside down CD stack (top and bottom) makes a good storage container for garage stuff. Simply snip off the center rod. You now have a transparent container to see what's stored inside.

- Fairly large vitamin containers make great geocache containers, and can also hold stuff in the garage. But they are not transparent.

- I filled a large butter dish with sand, and now it holds candles and incense. The sand won't burn and the sand adjusts to any size/shape candle.

swampmouse
02-17-2009, 03:07 AM
I find limb hooks in the river and either reuse them or cut them loose to use them as hangers at the camp. Use vienna sausage cans for tea light holders. Drink cans for bait holders. I have found a gallon can in the bush and boiled water in it. I like to just practice this survival life if possible. I pretend to be New to the life style. Old clothes torches or fire starter material. Old belts for strap material. Tire tread can be used on the bottom of shoes for repairs. buckets for storage. old barbed wire for security. old metal for spear points for hunting fishing. Rocks for ambushing fish. On and On!

Durlaburban
02-17-2009, 07:31 PM
Theres tons of junk around here. old couches even up in pine plains. old tires and everything. even found a gun once. like i said... get lost in vermont with a .22 and come out fat. But i find gallon milk jugs esspecally good for catching the good ole curious squirrel. you cut the top off and turn it around. cut out that to make a squirrel sized hole. put peanut butter and ashes mix in the bottom. place a snare from handle to the hole in front. leave it somewhere wedged so it wont be dragged off by a choking squirrel. there so curious they dart into the jug and whalla. there caught. the ashes help to lure them. they wanna know what the delicious smell is.