You’ll find an egg carton or two in most recycling bins. Once your eggs have been eaten and you’re left with the cardboard packaging, it seems there’s nothing else for it. It’s a very precise shape with a precise purpose: simply carrying eggs, surely?
However, before you toss away the carton, know that there are indeed ways you can upcycle it. In fact, an egg carton can benefit your home and your garden, improving organisation as well as encouraging plant growth. Here are some ideas to get you started:
Note: The following upcycling projects are suitable for cardboard egg cartons alone. Polystyrene and plastic may not be suitable.
1. Start your seedlings
When the carton is cut in half, each egg cup is ideally sized as a seed starter. You just need to poke a hole in the bottom of each cup so water can drain through, then fill with potting soil, plant your seeds and you’re good to go. The lid can be upturned and used as a drip tray or as a larger plant pot.
Once the seeds have sprouted, you then cut or tear each seed away from the pack and bury it directly in the ground to break down naturally. Transferring from pot to soil couldn't be easier!
Empty toilet roll holders are also brilliant for seedlings if you have any of those hanging around.
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2. Protect your Christmas baubles
If you buy large eggs, the egg carton may also be perfectly sized to store Christmas baubles. It’s ideal for keeping them separate and secure when not in use, plus the carton is soft enough that they’re less likely to shatter in transit.
If your baubles don’t fit, you can alternatively tear up the carton and use it as additional packing material to protect delicate Christmas decorations.
3. Makeshift bird feeder
Birds will flock to your garden to enjoy a bird feeder! This is a very straightforward project: just cut the carton in half, discarding the lid, then poke a hole into each corner of the cupped side (four holes in total). Next, feed a piece of string through two adjacent holes on one of the short sides and repeat on the opposite side, creating two handles for hanging.
Then, use a butter knife to coat the inside of each egg cup with peanut butter, sprinkle in some bird seed and you’re ready to hang it in the garden. Remember to keep it well away from the ground or anywhere there might be predators.
4. One for the compost heap
Cardboard egg cartons are also good to go on the compost heap as ‘brown material’. They’re beneficial because they’re high in carbon, which balances out the nitrogen found in the ‘green material’, such as grass clippings and fruit and veg scraps.
They also improve the aeration in the heap and help keep smells to a minimum by soaking up excess moisture. Just remember to tear them up to help them break down.
Check out things never to throw on the compost heap for more guidance.
5. Organise your hardware
If you have an array of nuts, bolts, screws and the like scattered around your garage, an egg carton can keep them each separated and categorised. If there are multiple sizes of a specific tool, you can divide them up and write on the lid which is which to remind yourself.
6. Cute cat toy
Egg cartons make for fantastic cat toys. You just need to drop some dry treats into the cups and let your cat paw at the carton to get them out. You can even close the lid to up the difficulty.
And if you’re fed up with losing cat toys or almost tripping over them, an egg carton can also be used as a handy container to keep six cat toys together. Or, if there’s a great many cat toys, opt for a dozen carton!
7. Ready-made paint palette
For a fun project with kids, you can also convert your egg carton into a ready-made paint palette: simply tear it in half and use the cupped side to hold six colours at once. It’s fantastically lightweight and there are even indents in the bottom to help little ones hold on to it.
Bear in mind that an egg carton is no longer suitable for recycling once there’s paint on it, so throw it in the household waste instead – or just let it dry and keep reusing it!
