by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Disposable cigarette lighters come to the retailer in little plastic racks/stands holding 50 lighters. Once sold out they are tossed out by the store and market stall holder and end up in the landfill or, if we are very lucky, in the plastic recycling stream.
However, those make great soap dishes to keep soap going soggy. The rack can either be reused as is, if the space is there by the basin, or cut down, thus upcycled, as shown in the pictures.
In about a minute, using only a sharp knife and a safe cutting base, such as a chopping board, from something tossed into waste stream, a useful item can be created (if you don't just simply reuse it).
Soap racks made of wood, bamboo or plastic, that do more than this though may look a little prettier, can be bought but why when you can reuse and upcycle something to fulfill the same purpose for nothing and, at the same time, take some weight of the Planet.
The great advantage, aside from keeping something out of the waste stream and not having to buy it, is the fact that one of these can be tossed into the water when it has soap residue on it and cleaned in a few seconds and does not require drying or such.
© 2012
