25 Ideas to Reuse Plastic Protein Powder Jugs, Jars, and Containers

My husband is a runner and works out in one form or another almost every day. After his workout he often enjoys a fruit smoothie with a scoop of peanut butter or protein powder or if he is feeling really crazy sometimes both. 

I’m a fan of adding peanut butter powder to my morning oatmeal along with various nuts and dried fruit – many of which come in plastic tubs with screw on lids. Which means we end up with a lot of fairly large empty, food safe containers.

Sometimes I recycled them but more often than not I reuse those empty plastic containers and my house has never been more organized – for free!

Save this list of ideas and hacks to your Pinterest boards for later! Share it with your friends! 

25 Ways to Recycle and Reuse Plastic Containers

You can remove the empty container labels with a little bit of Goo Gone (you can learn more about Goo Gone here,) cover the container with pretty paper, or leave the original label on the container. (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links in this post for your convenience.)

Repurpose an empty protein powder jug to store shop rags to use for DIY project clean up in the garage

Repurpose an empty protein powder jar to store DIY laundry detergent – I keep doubling my homemade laundry soap recipe (¼ cup of graded laundry bar soap, ½ cup of borax, ½ cup of washing soda) until the container is full and makes around 6 months of laundry detergent for our small family. You can buy my favorite laundry bar soap Zote here, you can get borax here, and get washing soda here.

 

 

I the original amount of bar soap flakes in the  recipe in the photo was way too much. 1/4 cup works much better. I use the same amount per load as I do when I use commercial laundry detergent. In fact, saved and reuse the old scoop.

 

 

Repurpose an empty protein powder tub for bulk food storage – Why is it that the big bags of rice never have zip lock closures?

Repurpose an empty nut and trail mix containers for regular food storage canisters

 

I started using Goo Gone to remove container labels after shredding my fingernails all of the time

 

Repurpose an empty protein powder bucket-as a small bucket for soaking/cleaning items, watering outdoor plants, etc

Repurpose an empty protein powder jar to keep powdered dishwasher detergent airtight and less likely to lose its cleaning oomph by attracting moisture through its original cardboard box or container.

 You can also use this idea to store dishwasher detergent pods or DIY dishwasher detergent

Repurpose an empty nut and trail mix container to organize small items in a workshop or craft room. I switched from storing screws and hardware to empty plastic peanut butter containers after knocking off and breaking too many recycled glass jars that I care to admit.

Repurpose an empty protein powder tub to store open bags of gardening supplies like pearlite, fertilizer, etc. for your yard and garden<

Repurpose an empty protein powder jars to store store paint brushes and small painting supplies

Repurpose an empty protein powder containers to organize and store small toys together like Lego. You can take this one step further and spray paint the container and lid yellow and use permanent marker s to make your own custom Lego head storage containers!

If you'd rather buy than DIY, you can buy Lego Storage Heads here

 

Repurpose an empty protein powder jars to sequester hot process liquid soap paste – How much I need to dilute my Castile soap paste depends upon how I will use it (for example foaming soap pumps need more water added than regular) so I started sequestering (let the saponification process finish) as a paste instead of a diluted liquid. I also use empty protein powder jugs to store full batches of diluted soap because they are very thick jugs (milk jugs are too thin.)

I learned how to make liquid castile soap from this exact book Liquid Soapmaking: Tips, Techniques and Recipes for Creating All Manner of Liquid and Soft Soap Naturally! 

 

Repurpose an empty protein powder container by cutting the top off it needed and use as a disposable bucket for DIY projects like grouting

Repurpose an empty nut and trail mix container as a kitchen compost collection bucket

Repurpose an empty protein powder container to soak and pretreat small clothing items in the laundry room (KWIM ladies?)

Repurpose an empty protein powder container or bucket to store dog food I did this the last time I boarded Lacey and they appreciated it very much!

Repurpose a small empty protein powder container to store dog/pet treats

 

 

I use either an empty glass jar or small plastic jar with a lid (if it is a box of dog biscuits that are bigger than shown) to keep Lacey's dog treats fresh.  

 

Repurpose an empty protein powder jars to store the 8 zillion random cords you end up keeping because they "might be useful someday"

Repurpose an empty protein powder jars to store plastic bags (bread, grocery, parts bags, etc,) for reuse. In our case we save and reuse plastic bags for pet waste pickup and as a household garbage bags 

Repurpose an empty protein powder container by cutting off the top, removing the label and use it as a planter

Repurpose an empty protein powder container and use it to organize emergency supplies (first aid kit, jumper cables, tools etc) in the trunk of a car or camper

Repurpose a small empty protein powder container as a car trash can 

Repurpose an empty protein powder container to store another brand of protein powder that comes in a plastic or paper bag

Repurpose an empty protein powder containers as gift boxes I made peppermint candy gift boxes by covering protein powder containers in striped paper and clear gift basket wrap with ribbon closures when I started to run out of wrapping paper one Christmas

 

You can read the peppermint stick gift box tutorial on my DIY Condo Blues here

 

Repurpose an empty protein powder container to collect spare coins and loose change

Repurpose an empty protein powder container as a DIY yarn bowl for knitting or crocheting

Rather buy than DIY? Check out the following storage container options - and more! - below!

 

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