I hate to see plastic waste go to the landfills. I try to recycle /upcycle all the plastic waste my household generates. I love gardening and I am always running out of planters. This gives me the perfect excuse to create some planters with these plastic bottles that would otherwise reach the landfills.
I use shampoo or body lotion bottles to make these planters which are beautiful and last long. I have tried using them just as they are after cutting off the top portion but that never works as exposure to harsh sunlight makes these bottles brittle and they crumble easiy. Just an addition of white cement or tile filler paste is enough to keep them lasting for a couple of years. An additional coat of paint makes them even more durable. A little glitter here and there makes them look amazing. All you need a teeny bit of creativity and patience. You can do your bit to save our green planet.
I need to apologize, when I made these planters I wasn't panning on writing about them or making a tutorial.
This is the first step after cleaning and sanding the plastic bottles, I apply a coat of white tile paste on the surface. I make it about less than a quarter of an inch thick. Then I design with a tooth pick and a knife. I just do whatever I feel like, I don't exactly have a design in mind, though that would help. I sometimes create shapes with the same material and create my design as in the container on the right in the first image.
This ordinary plastic container was broken, I usually throw these away. However, this time I covered the crack with a sealant and did the surface work to strengthen the pot and designed the white tile paste with a tooth pick. This is how it looks when I finished it.
These are some of the finished work, it isn't exactly perfect but will do fine in my garden. I painted it with enamel paint and highlighted the raised surfaces with gold paint. All this work only took me about a couple of hours. Now, I can add another half a dozen plants to my garden.. isn't that wonderful? I am happy that so much junk didn't end up in the landfill.
All images used in this blog are mine.
This post was first posted by me on Uptrennd.