How can I reuse or recycle little yoghurt drink bottles like Actimel?

yoghurt_drinks_actimel.jpgChristine Thompson got in touch recently to tell us how much she loves the site (in return, I love those emails :) ) and since she’s a primary school teacher, we chatted about the great primary-school themed suggestions people had come up with for school milk cartons.

She added that she’s made pirate ships out of taller tetrapak juice cartons with the triangular top, Victorian ladies out of “curvy” plastic bottles and:

I also made brilliant ‘Three Wise Men’ from Actimel bottles (saved them for months so everyone could have three!), little craft ball for head and lots of old Christmas paper for robes.

I thought that sounded like an excellent idea so let it inspire today’s post: what else can be done with those little Actimel/Yakult/’probiotic’-yoghurt-drink type bottles?

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21 Responses to “How can I reuse or recycle little yoghurt drink bottles like Actimel?”


  1. yogahz says:

    10 of them plus a tennis ball would make a bowling game for children.

  2. Delusion says:

    I have two in my sewing kit, one for pins and one for sewing needles as I found pin cushions tended to “reject” them after a while :p

  3. christinert says:

    Hi
    Thanks for featuring my idea about Actimel bottles !

  4. john b says:

    I use things like these to put over the end of garden canes. They help you to not poke your eye out when you bend down next to canes stuck into the ground. It also makes it easier to suspend a net over the canes as the base of the bottle supports the net better than a thin cane.

  5. heather says:

    my children are older now, but i used to fill (washed and dried) plastic bottles with rice, beans, pasta, small bells, whatever you have handy and cover with plastic wrap and fasten with a rubber-band to make “music instruments” now i do the same thing to make “cat toys”

  6. Tom says:

    Maybe you could make a mini bowling alley!? You’d only need 10 I guess, then half fill them with sand and you have a mini bowling alley. Haha sounds like a Blue Peter project to me.

  7. heartinacircle says:

    i think they’d make pretty cute bud vases. peel the labels off and paint them with basic acrylic craft paint. then you can put flowers in them and strategically place them around the house.

  8. Elouise says:

    I donate them, along with other cleaned/sterilised food packaging items, to the local toy library. They put them in the ‘supermarket corner’ in which kids fantasy play shopping, selecting items from the shelf, putting them in their shopping cart, etc. The actimel bottles are really cute, kid-size items. Admittedly, there is a limit as to how many one toy library (creche/kindergarten/etc) could take for such a purpose.

    • Ruti says:

      my kids love these for play food, as well as used as bowling pins – good for sand and water play too, but I totally love the music shakers and 3 wise men crafting ideas

  9. jingso says:

    I LOVE these for rooting cuttings. I take a dot of clear plumbers goop and attach them together in a circular formation. I use one in the center which I generally raise and inch or so, anchored with 5 around.

    Dob a spot of adhesive on each and arrange the five around the center (yet undlued. Use rubber bands to hold in place until dry. Remove the center and then place dobs of goop where necessary and replace in center.

    I’ve received so many compliments and people love getting them as gifts. I usually root philodendron, spider plants, ajuga and they make lovely combined displays. The plumbers goop holds so well that I routinely run them through the dishwasher to sanitize after I scrub them with a bottle brush when I plant my rooted cuttings. I’ve never had one come apart.

    They are also handy for cut flowers. I often send fresh flowers to my children’s teachers and never care about getting a container back.

  10. Ariana says:

    Similar to Jingso — I fill them with water and use them for sprouting avocado pits or flowering bulbs like amaryllis. The pit or bulb sits on the lip without the use of toothpicks, with the bottom part in the water. When it sprouts, the root grows into the container.

  11. Sandra Harris says:

    Again on the plant theme I cut off the tops and bottoms then I cut the body in vertical strips and use them for labels for my cuttings

  12. Hilary says:

    Check the recycle symbol on the base of the bottle. If the number is 01 or 02 you could recycle these bottles in the plastic recycling centres organised by your local council.

  13. Piper says:

    I don’t want to spam this post, so I’ll just drop the link to a previous post, on what to do with Actimel bottles!
    http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20071221/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-yoghurt-pots/comment-page-1#comment-1058503

  14. Anonymous says:

    I use Actimel pots to hold small amounts of paint for my g daughter , so if they spill not to much is wasted and not a lot off mess ,
    also these pots make great musical instruments ,
    place lentils inside then cover the top with paper and a band .
    also stretch a rubber band from top to bottom this makes a great sound too . kate pascoe hanley

  15. Jenny says:

    As a settling- in activity in Reception class children can use the bottles to make ‘Mini Mes.’
    Take a photo of each child, print off the same size, chn cut around photo of themselves, laminate, stick photo on bottle so a stand is created, display in Small World area, let the children play!

  16. Frugal millionaire says:

    When you are finished with yogurt, do not wash the bottle, but fill it with whole milk( although it can be any other milk you prefer), place simply in the room, do not close the lid, just keep on top ( it needs air) and wait until milk turns into yogurt, becomes thick. After that keep in a refrigerator. Add milk to the bottle every time you are finished with yogurt, you can even leave a quarter of a glass of yogurt inside to make new yogurt faster. That makes for never-ending supply of yogurt!

  17. Dear baby
    This article is so helpful for me,i like it,thanks!

  18. Really cool post. Its truly extremely pleasant and valuable post.Add milk to the bottle every time you are finished with yogurt you can even leave a quarter of a glass of yogurt inside to make new yogurt faster



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