I try not to purchase bottled water but sometimes I forget my water mug. I wondered about what I could do with them since the apartment building I live in doesn't have recycling bins and and I have no room to store them. I also want to remain environmentally friendly by not using/wasting gas unnecessarily to drive five miles away to the recycling center for only a couple of items.
Well, I came up with: Wash them, dry thoroughly and use to freeze chopped veggies and herbs! The bottles are clear so it's easy to see what's in them and they fit beautifully on the freezer door compartment!
I made a funnel with a cone coffee filter but you can use foil, paper bags, etc to easily get the diced and chopped items inside the bottles.
Be sure your veggies and herbs are as dry as possible to prevent freezer burn before funneling ;-)
By Deeli from Richland, WA
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This is a great idea. I also use mine to put my home brewed non sweetened ice tea in and then freeze. It stays nice and cold if I'm in the car on for long time on a hot day. Also if you frequent Wal-mart they have a plastic bottle recycling container near where they recycle plastic bags.
Before purchasing anything with plastic (bottles, containers, etc.), or reusing any plastic products, you need to check out this website, that talks about bpa... what it is, how it is harmful and ways to dispose of plastic products containing this chemical.
I think a lot of this is also on how people store their bottle water. You should never drink out of plastic bottles that have been left in your car over several hours. Go to this site Http://blog.healthyeats.com/blog/2009/02/19/plastic-food-container=saf
I very much appreciate warnings regarding the dangers of plastics posted here but, in my heart, need to mention that there is not one single plastic that is safe whether it be in the manufacturing process or recycling process. Nor is it 100% safe for initial food storage, re-used food storage and even is in many manufactured foods :-(
The one and only 100% safe way for any of us is to not purchase or use 'anything' plastic such as cereal contained in plastic bags within the cardboard box, drinking straws, Styrofoam cups or food containers including to-go items, meat or poultry purchased at the grocery store, plastic serving utensils of any sort, sandwich bags, freezer bags, drinking strawas, garden hose, disposable lighters, lawn furniture, medicine bottles, shampoo bottles, dish soap bottles, DVD's. The list is endless :-(
IMHO placing chopped herbs or veggies in a #1 water bottle to freeze these items is not much different than brewing coffee in a plastic drip coffee maker or processing food in a Cuisinart for years on end :-(
While I appreciate the concept of recycling, those bottles can never truly be "clean" after we use them. If it's just you, then I would say go ahead, just hope you don't use plastic bottles too much!
Reusing over and over by hanging to catch bees and other insects. Throw out the bugs and reuse the bottle.
Thank you, Deeli! You are so right. Reading all these comments was scaring me until I just read your comments. You put it all in prospective. There is no way of getting around it unless you live in the country, grow you own food and never eat or drink anything from the grocery stores.
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