10 Ways to Reuse a Beach Pail

Children often end up with a variety of beach pails. They may acquire them as part of their Easter gift, or as a gift for a spring or summer birthday party. Children do not need more than 1 or 2 pails at once, and older kids grow out of the need for a beach pail, so they are fair game for other uses.

These types of containers can be reused for other purposes, meaning that they do not have to end up in a landfill somewhere. It is more eco-friendly to repurpose the pails, than it is to dispose of them.

1. Fill a couple of pails with ice melt to keep inside your front and back doors during the winter months. Place an old can or jar on top of the ice melt, to use for scooping and spreading when ice is evident on walkways and in the driveway, as well as on steps.

2. Use pails to organize small toys in a child's bedroom or in a daycare center. Store small stuffed animals in them, or even trading cards.

3. Keep a pail on the dresser in a little girls room to hold all of her hair ties, barrettes and other hair accessories.

4. Drill a few holes on the bottom of a pail to use as a planter. Cover the bottom with pebbles for added drainage, and fill with organic potting soil. Plant organic, heirloom flower or herb seeds in the soil, and watch them sprout and grow. Line a bunch of these along a walkway, or on a deck railing.

5. Use beach pails to collect seashells when visiting the coast. Separate the different types of shells and other treasures, such as sea glass, into different pails.

6. If you have a child who attends summer camp, or a high school student who stays on a college campus during the summer months for an academic program, send them with a bucket to hold their personal hygiene items. These types of buckets are perfect for hold shampoo, conditioner and other items, and allow your child to keep everything in one place.

7. A pail may also be used to carry table scraps out to a compost bin.

8. Teachers can use pails to store supplies for classroom use. For instance, crayons will go in one pail, markers in another. They will also be able to sort and organize craft supplies utilizing these pails.

9. Store owners might use pails to hold free promotional items. A pail would be placed at each cash register, allowing cashiers to easily access each item for placement in customer bags at checkout.

10. Pails can be used when collecting herbs from the garden, as well as when berry picking.

There are a variety of other ways to repurpose beach pails as. You are limited only by your imagination. Think about the tasks that you perform throughout your day, as well as any upcoming projects that you have, and ask yourself if a beach pail will come in handy for anything.