How can I reuse or recycle anti-perspirant bottles?

Anti-perspirant roll-on bottlesWe flipped to roll-on ones from aerosol anti-perspirants for environment reasons – both big, out-there environment (the aerosol bit) and little, in-here environment (the spray quickly made the bathroom unpleasant as it deodorised your lungs) – but now we’re left with lots of roll-on bottles instead.

I suspect the bottle and the ball are different types of plastic so am wary to throw them in the recycling bin – anyone know if they can be recycled? Does it help if you pop the ball out first?

But better than that, are there any reuses for them? Either complete or in parts.

And what about stick deodorant containers (the narrower, ball-less ones)?

Best Suggestions

  • Reuse: Use the rollerball action in other useful ways: pop the ball out with a spoon and fill the bottle with thin PVA glue instead of buying glue sticks, or bleach to control its application during laundry.
  • Recycle: Some bottles are made from easily recyclable plastic – check the bottom of your bottle to see if you can recycle it in your area.
  • See the comments below for more suggestions and ideas

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22 Responses to “How can I reuse or recycle anti-perspirant bottles?”


  1. LisaP says:

    fill them with a mixture of glue and glitter to make glitter pens for kids. Add a few drops of food colouring too. The glue has to be quite thin though.

    You can probably make the flour glue from the other article, but make it really thin.

    • Anonymous says:

      The problem with your last idea though, is that flour glue will only hold for a few days. So it would have to be for a one-day project, not to store. You may want to try rice glue instead. I haven’t tried it, but heard that it would hold for weeks.

  2. sarar says:

    I keep too in my stationery cabinet at work, one filled with thin pva paper glue, the other just filled with water. I used them for envelopes and stamps and the like that aren’t self-adhesive. Saves licking or looking for pritt stick.

    -SaraR

  3. snapper says:

    my wife does the same thing with belach so she can just put a little amount of it on stains on clothes beforfe washing them.

  4. Sumachy says:

    I Clean them and then refill them with sun screen for my children to use at school.

  5. Koshi says:

    Anyone have ideas about what to do for stick deoderant, the dry powder kind? They can’t get a second life as a glue-roller-on I don’t think…

    • Anonymous says:

      There is a website called instructables.com and a member on there use a deodorant tube as housing for an LED flashight he made. I know you can’t go making a flashlight every time you have a deodarant tube, but it’s one thing.

  6. Tamara says:

    roll the stick all the way back down, then

    melt some old crayon bits with similar colors i.e. reds/pinks, blues, greens etc. in seperate pots or in old plastic containers in the microwave. pour the melted mixture into the clean deodorant tube and voila!

    fat crayons for little fingers.

    i might mention that i have a tiny old broken-handled pot that i got for free at a garage sale, so i’m not using a nice pot that i eat from… although cooled crayon will come off a pot…

  7. Jim says:

    Does anyone know if the deodorant/anti-persperant bottles (plastic) are recyclable at all? I throw mine away too…don’t want to trip up the recyclers but it seems such a waste.

  8. SoloSalsa says:

    I also want to recycle them. I use gel deodorant that comes in the same oval tube as solid sticks. I keep saving the empty ones, with hope that they can be recycled one day.

  9. Mark says:

    When I dropped and shattered my crystal deodorant stick (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alum), I got an old deodorant bottle, put a few shards in and filled it with water. voila!
    Glass bottles are easier to refill as the plastic housing for the ball just lifts off. For plastic bottles, you have to prose the ball out with a spoon.

  10. Pram says:

    I do the same as Mark with the alum :)

  11. Lizzy says:

    use the ball for ping-pong?

  12. Sandy says:

    I use the roller balls as eyes in my craft projects. I do a lot of paper mache so I’ll try filling one with mache glue and see if it is less messy than using a paint brush.

  13. Be careful with putting any former deodarant containers in the microwave, check there is no metal in the mechanism to make it rise and fall.

  14. Robin says:

    What great ideas! Thank you!!

    I pop out the ball and refill mine with milk of magnesia for an alternative, non-aluminum and very inexpensive deoderant (actually also works as antiperspirant in some, and I think it actually does help a little in that regard for me too). I am a recent convert to M.O.M used in this way in my attempt to stay away from questionable ingredients since my breast cancer diagnosis. I find it works better (since it seems to help not only with odor but a little bit with perspiration for me) than many store-bought non-aluminum deoderants. If interested in this approach, do a search on milk of magnesia and deoderant.

  15. Stacy says:

    Clean out the stick deoderant and refill with a natural, skin soothing formula like: Mix 1/4 C Corn starch with 1/4 C Baking soda add essential oils (8 drops lavender, tea tree oil, lemon, etc.–be creatiave & make your own blend) Add 2 Tbs coconut oil (or any oil solid at room temp–shea butter or coco butter) and a few drops vitamin E (optional). Mix ingredients together until they form a silky mass. Add more coconut oil or dry ingredients to adjust. Pack into your recycled container. Let it set up for a day or two.

    Odor is caused by bacteria, not by sweating. The essential oils are great antimicrobials and should do a real number on all bacteria. It will not keep you from sweating (that’s the bad aluminum in store products), however essential sage oil is an antiperspirant.

    Now you won’t have the continuing containers to recycle. I was so happy the labels came off so easily on mine!

  16. Olia says:

    Use as massager, with olive oil.

  17. anna says:

    One more use for the balls from the roll-on deodorant: pet toys for cats or e.g. hamsters, ferrets or other smaller pets.
    You can use e.g. scissors to pop the ball out, and then just rinse it. My cats like to play with those ping pong type balls every now and then, and for the rest of the time there are a few of them in their toy box so they don’t get bored with them.

  18. Roger says:

    Can you not buy in bulk amounts of antiperspirant and refill the pots. You could make a small hole and inject it in with a syringe. Some one must sell it in bulk? A 500ml pot would last me for years! Any ideas?

  19. Uluska says:

    Fill them with sunscreen and use on a beach to spread over the skin.


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  1. How can I reuse or recycle unwanted deodorant and body lotions? » How can I recycle this? 04 04 08

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