How can I reuse or recycle toothpicks?

toothpicksWe’ve had an email from Jo:

Work was clearing out a stockroom the other day and unearthed a giant box of 10000 toothpicks which must have been there for years. My boss was going to throw them away but I jumped in to save them. Please tell me there is something I can do with them!

Like used matchsticks, they’d be great to use as spacers while tiling or you could use them to make modern, spiky ornaments.

Any other suggestions?

(Update 9:13pm: apologies for the unexpected downtime we’ve had this afternoon – our hosting provider had a server crash.)

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7 Responses to “How can I reuse or recycle toothpicks?”


  1. Corey Burger says:

    If you have any friends that do model railroading or wargaming or the like, these make great scenery bits.

  2. Lynsey says:

    You can turn them into mini flags! Also on that vein you can add little paper circle etc and turn them into cupcake toppers – great for parties!

  3. Nicole says:

    They make great mini knitting needles for crafts and stuff. Also, in school I remember two projects – one was a cross shaped Christmas ornament – the other was a bridge for science class to see how much weight it could hold.

  4. Oraxia says:

    Throw a (really, REALLY big) party, serve lots of cheese cubes and other toothpicky foods. Set toothpicks out for stabbing & eating said cubes/foods. Fin.

    Since there’s a whole lot, you could also try donating it to a school for craft projects or science projects (marshmallow & toothpick towers, anyone?).

  5. carol says:

    Some things are ok to throw out…… I have put them in the compost.

  6. Karmae says:

    If you have a loose screw in a wooden chair or something, stuff the hole with toothpicks and they will have something to grab on. I have actually used this with the old metal kitchen chair frames as well.

    We have a small parrot who just loves his treats on a toothpick. Afterwards he plays with them for hours and uses them to “feak his beak”.
    (Cleans out the roof of his beak.) He then shreads them up and another bird – a love bird – uses them in nest construction after she chews them up even more!

  7. Jack Cornish says:

    The suggestion of using them to help fix chairs is a good one. Or send them to be, i use massive amounts of cocktail/toothpicks in my carpentry/art work! (i’ll pay for P&P!)

    Jack x



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