Empty pill bottles . . . lots of them!

[Bucky]

I'm guessing it is safe to assume that the vast majority of us take pills in some form or fashion - not only to deal with our Sjogren's, but also any other health issues you might be dealing with.

Today, I sat down and peeled off the labels of 100+ pill bottles.    

Now, I have a bag full of empty pill bottles.  I have called around to various drug stores and a veterinary place to see if anyone recycles them.  Nope.   

One person said they "should" be recyclable if your community does recycling.  I'm not sure if my town allows this or not, I'll have to find a phone number on the dumpster and call and ask.

Anyhow, there are LOTS of things you can use empty pill bottles for, so put your thinking caps on and see what you come up with.   

To store:  safety pins
               paper clips
               push pins/thumb tacks
               screws, nuts, bolts
               mini portable sewing kit
               loose change for tolls or parking meters
               quarter storage for the laundromat
               bandaids in your glove box
               stick matches
               beads for crafts
               cotton swabs
               buttons
               keeping small game pieces together (dice, playing pieces)
               bobby pins
               individual M & M's travel size  (you can buy the economy bag and divide it up - I don't do this, I'm just sayin'  )
               travel cereal for the diaper bag

What have you done with the empty pill bottles to recycle, or re-purpose them?

Bucky

[P.Trish]

Oh my, that is a lot of pill bottles. Your re-purpose suggestions are excellent. I use one for holding the other half of my Retasis vial. My OCD (Obsessive Creatvity Disorder) is making me think of little "Pill Bottle People"; there are all kinds of possibilities for decorating the little guys - good project for grandkids. I have a puppet stage hmmm...Pill Puppets...

[Bucky]

Oh, I thought of something else . . . . IF you use these re-purposed pill bottles for things for the children/grandchildren . . . give the bottles a new name and new look.  For instance, if you DO use them for M & M's, call it a tube or something and put some stickers on the tube. 

We certainly don't want children to think that "pills" are candy.  And we really shouldn't "pretend" that M & M's are pills in make believe play.

Ok, I got that off my mind . . . whew!  I certainly don't want to promote pill taking to children, just looking for ways to reuse all the bottles we, as adults, have without dumping them all in the landfills.

Bucky

[engy]

My church collects them for people to take home blessed/holy water.

[P.Trish]

No worries Bucky - about the empty pill bottle puppets - I am just being my silly self.  I will do nothing to promote empty pill bottles (unless disguised, as you suggested) as toys & I don't know of any responsible adult who would use M&Ms as pretend pills for kids.

[P.Trish]

My husband reminded me that he uses the empties to store screws.

[crmak]

You know, you could try to sell them on Ebay.  Artists use all sorts of odd items for their creations (I know 'cause I'm one of them), and often need to buy such things in bulk.  I've seen everything from bags of old acorns, empty seed pods, etc.
I'd give selling them a try.  Somebody out there can use them, I'm sure.
Good luck!

[Joe S.]

Turn them into a work of art and sell them to someone else!

[Bucky]

Turn them into a work of art and sell them to someone else!

Hey, Joe . . you interested in buying some pill bottle artwork??   

engy - interesting idea - I'll ask a friend if her church could use them.

P. Trish - your little puppets sound cute - I had no worries with you, it was just a thought that came to me after I posted.  I know of kids who play "doctor" with their little doctor kits and "tools of the trade" and have used Smarties candies as "pills".  Kids learn and imitate what they see or hear.  Even when you think they aren't listening to the adult conversation in the other room, they ARE
listening!

crmak - @ selling them on Ebay - I'm too lazy, I don't want to have to go to a bunch of trouble to get rid of them - but, a good idea.

Since Joe mentioned artwork - I thought of this - you could take the larger size pill containers and either velcro or nail them to a hard service in a random pattern and either make one of those Plunko type games, or a ball toss to get the ball into the tube - each tube would be worth different point values.  I'm not sure if a ping pong ball would fit, it might be a tad bit too big, but a small plastic egg, coin, or a small superball would easily work.

I guess one could even construct a little bowling alley for the kids filling the tubes with beans or rice to give them weight.

As a side note - these pill bottles are NOT all from me . . . most of them are from my hubbies medicines!   

Bucky

[P.Trish]

Bucky, your mind never stops - that is a good thing. I love your ideas.

[aussie mum]

Our local council provides three different garbage bins -
one for general rubbish incl food scraps,
one for green waste... leaves, lawn clippings etc and
one for other recyclables.... glass, paper and plastic. 

All our empty pill bottles go out with the recycling - not sure what's done with them after that.

The idea of a never- ending work of pill container art it funny though 

[slccom]

I use the tallest ones to hold my M&M candy holder full of water and Listerine and my contra-alto clarinet reeds. That keeps the M&M candy holder's water if it leaks from spreading all over my instrument case.

I bet nobody can top that!

Sharon

[Joe S.]

A young gal from an old fibromyalgia forum was on welfare and could barely afford food. She saved for a couple of months to get more vegetables. She arranged the vegetables into a series of images, borrowed a camera and took photos of them. The photos were displayed to friends, then galleries. She ended up displaying them not only in England but also France and Spain. She has sold several of them through the internet and the galleries. I was hoping you could do something similar with your pill bottles.

[P.Trish]

Joe; Yes, the possibilities are endless. Perhaps something on the level of the artist Christo,  who literally  spread his art throughout the world: yellow umbrellas in CA, orange material that wrapped Central Park....

Empty Pill Bottle Sculpture Art Gallery openings...