2 ways to repurpose plastic soup tubs
2 ways to repurpose plastic soup tubs:
It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of messy-creating. It’s one of the reasons I built my Members inspiration platform – which is filled with creative DIYS and movement and yoga and mindfulness and all things awesome connected to a central theme of the season. I think one of the things I love most about creating is the process of it all, and the experimentation of it all – which is really the thing that allows you to get out of your head and into the flow of it all.
The Warr and I eat quite a number of store bought soups (shock, horror) – which may not always be the most nutritionally beneficial, but on days when I get home late from teaching – it’s hella-dang convenient to heat these up.
What does bother me though is the amount of plastic waste that they produce, which I’m obviously less of a fan of.
So I’ve been thinking about some ways in which to repurpose these plastic soup tubs and decided to try them out with the two nieces when they came over for a sleep over.
For some reason I have a VERY vivid memory (from about age 7) of creating a yogurt tub pencil holder using some kind of plaster of Paris and shells, and it was literally the best thing I ever made. I even called my mom before embarking on this repurposing project to pick her brains on, “you remember that yogurt tub project we did 24 years ago – what exactly did you use?”
Of course, she had no idea – so I decided to experiment with some air-drying clay that I ordered from Hobby craft.
We first peeled off the sticky labels from the soup tubs and made sure all the stickiness was gone. Then we divided the clay up and began sticking it to the tubs.
I had a few different coloured buttons that I thought would be fun to decorate the tubs with.
Philippa decided to make a big “P” for her tub and decorate the top with buttons.
But to be fair I think she was more interested in making one thousand tables for her Sylvanian families.
Learning points on repurposing plastic soup tubs using air drying clay:
Because the clay that I decided to use is air drying, it is VERY important that there are NO air bubbles underneath the clay as you layer it onto the tubs. Even just the tiniest air bubble underneath the tub will dry and harden the clay from the inside causing it to crack off the plastic soup tub. I layered mine with white buttons all over it, which I think helped to push out any remaining air pockets, but at the tops of the tub where the plastic is ridged, it has definitely started cracking.
Which then led me to my next way to repurposing plastic these soup containers –
WASHI TAPE.
This is by far way easier and less messy than the air clay and the tubs themselves then make for a great way to store any of your washi tape as you can tape the tape around the plastic tubs and then pop those exact washi tapes into the container so that if you are looking from the outside, you always know which rolls are in the tub.
I created a blue one and a pink one and they both look so great sitting on my shelf!
I’d love to know if you have any other uses/re-purposing ideas for plastic tubs!
I think they would also make great storage jars for small kids toys (like Sylvanian families for instance, ha!)
