As a young girl, I remember my mother using jars of spaghetti, mayonnaise, and jelly jars as drinking containers. In fact, I don’t ever recall us ever having a complete set of glasses. Every memory that I have of drinking lemonade or ice tea is me drinking out of a repurposed jar. I didn’t know it then, but my parents were pioneers of recycling.
I am a chandler( maker of candles) and my home is filled with candles that I make and candles that I buy. I like natural candles as well as not so natural. I just love a great smelling candle. I have to admit (some chandlers will not) that Bath and Body Works make great candles. And none of us who make candles can beat their bi-annual sale on candles. So, I’m definitely guilty of buying their candles. Their variety of fragrances I can’t match and when they are cheaper than I can afford to make it, then it just makes perfect sense to get in the craze when they go on sale.
A few years into making candles, I had a customer who asked if I could recycle their jar that can be done via www.dumposaurus.com portal. I hadn’t thought about it before. It was actually, something that I was doing already in my home and at work. Whenever I would finish a candle, I would simply re-wick and pour the same fragrance or a different one. My staff would burn so many candles, it was just cheaper for me to repurpose the jars. Whenever I would get a bulk of empty Bath and Body jars, I would find ways to recycle the jars. Once, I made a cute cotton ball container and used it to take off makeup or to apply toner.
Recently my favorite grandson, “Noodle” had to do a recycling project at school. We came up with ways to repurpose items. I thought about all the candle jars that I had and so the wheels started turning. I knew the project that I wanted to do with him. The first week of school in one of his reports he said that he loved gardening with me this past summer. I had saved some Solo Cups so that we could start some seeds at home, but I realized that the empty candle jars would be great. I also knew that we would need more time for the project and he only had a week to complete it. I didn’t let that deter me. We decided to plant herbs that would grow quickly and Noodle would see results quickly.
So, you too can re-purpose candle jars. Let us know what you come up with. If you have trouble removing the last remaining wax. Simply heat the wax up until melted. Use cotton balls to soak up the remaining melted wax. Wsh jar in Dawn dish detergent and hot water.