How can I reuse or recycle jerry cans?

We’ve had an email from Lieze:

how can i recycle an old jerry can in a creative way ?

Lieze doesn’t say whether it’s an old school pressed steel one or a newfangled plastic one – or whether it’s been used as a fuel container or a water one.

My first thought for anything container shaped at the moment is “plant pot” (has anyone else had a scarily successful germination rate for their seedlings this year?!) but I think I’d be hesitant to use an old fuel canister for that, even if I could work out a way to make the opening bigger. Anyway, that’s not particularly creative so … I don’t know – maybe if you can slice off the front off a metal one, you could attach hinges and make it into a fun storage cabinet. (I love the idea of it being painted bright pink for the juxtaposition with the cold, industrial metal ;) )

Any other suggestions?

(Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

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4 Responses to “How can I reuse or recycle jerry cans?”


  1. Agata says:

    My dad used to fill them with water,cut the upper half off and hang them on tree branches,so that birds would use them as bird bath tubs.

  2. Alice says:

    My first thought for anything container shaped at the moment is “could I make my own Bike Bin out of that?”

    http://www.bikebins.com/product-details.html

    Obviously they’d need the top completely sliced off first, you’d need to scrub them out well and then make a hinged lid, then attach hooks for the bike…

    • louisa says:

      Funnily enough, when I was looking into the construction of jerry cans, I noticed the three handle format on the top (for easy carrying by one or two people) and remarked to John that it looked like a bike parcel rack (or whatever those bits at the back are called). If you could make it into a bike bin, you could have a double width parcel shelf thing for extra carrying potential.

  3. Steve Nunn says:

    Jerrycans, especially if really old (e.g. 1940s/50s) are collectable and go for good money on Ebay.



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