Reuse Plastic Drink Bottles for Camping

We make a lot of garbage at home and at the campground. We drink a lot of bottled water and soda pop at both places. Since most of us are trying to be more environmentally conscious, this means we look for ways to recycle and reuse what we create as garbage. Did you know you can reuse your plastic drink bottles for camping? Here's how.

Sealed Storage Containers

Some folks tend to avoid adding water or food to empty plastic drink containers, because of bacterial contamination or plastic toxicity. But there are non-food items that you need at the campgrounds, and these items fit nicely into empty plastic drink bottles. Detergents, soaps--anything you want to keep dry, keep vermin out of, or carry in a small sealed container--work well in empty soda bottles or water bottles.

Campfire Songs

If you plan to strum the guitar or sing songs around the campfire, you can make a guitar pick from an empty plastic drink bottle, or you can add a few pebbles or popcorn kernels to an empty drink bottle, screw on the lid, and you have a musical shaker for percussion.

Biscuit and Burger Rings

When making campfire biscuits or forming meat patties, you can cut rings from the width of your empty drink bottle and use the rings as a biscuit cutter or to shape meat patties.

Handy Icepacks

You always need ice when camping. Before leaving on your camping trip, fill several empty plastic drink bottles about ¾ full with water and place in the freezer to make icepacks. When you are ready to pack your cooler, take them out and use them to keep food cold.

Nature Containers

Use the bottom half of a plastic drink container to hold your kid's collections of leaves, pebbles, insects, shells, feathers, worms for bait, or other found objects while camping. If you cut 2 drink containers around the center and make a few slits into the edges of one container, you can form a lid over the other container bottom.

Campsite Game

For a campground game, cut the plastic drink bottle down to about 3 inches in height. Save your plastic lid. The upper half of the drink bottle makes a perfect funnel--should you need one. But the lower half and the lid are great for playing a game of toss the lid into the bowl. You can line up as many bowl-bottoms as you have, and then stand behind a drawn line and toss drink bottle lids into the containers.

Suds and Smothering

After you finish drinking your soda pop or bottled water, add fresh water to the container for later use. You can carry all your empty contains and fill them at one time to save trips to the faucet or shore. This water won't be for drinking. You have a lot of other water needs at the campgrounds. You need soapy water and water for smothering your campfire before you leave. The filled bottles come in very handy.

Next time you empty a plastic drink bottle, save it for camping. And while you are camping, if you drink a few new bottles, reuse them at the campsite too.