How can I reuse or recycle TicTac boxes?

Tic Tac boxI was re-watching Juno the other day and it gave me an “ooh, how could I recycle…” moment.

For those who don’t know, Juno is an interesting and funny film about the titular character’s unplanned pregnancy at 16. While Juno herself is a little too wise-cracking for me, the rest of the characters and performances are great so I wasn’t too upset when it got the Best Original Screenplay last month (I’d have given it to Lars and the Real Girl ahead of Juno but the Academy didn’t put me in control of picking the winners this year, boo).

ANYWAY, the father of the baby in the film, Bleeker, has an obsession with orange TicTacs and at one point, he opens his postbox to find Juno and her best friend have filled it with a hundred boxes of the things as a gesture of Juno’s love for him. Since I’m a bit of a recycling geek, my first thought wasn’t “aww, cute”, it was “once fictional Bleeker has munched his way through those, what could he do with the boxes?”

So any suggestions? If you’re not familiar with the low-cal sweets, the clear plastic box is about 5cm (2.5inches) by 3cm (1.5inches) and about 1cm (0.5inch) thick with a little flip lid at the top.

(Photo by bruno-free)

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57 Responses to “How can I reuse or recycle TicTac boxes?”


  1. Delusion says:

    Good size for keeping small tacks / nails in.

    Good to keep in your handbag for if you lose the back of an earring and want to keep the front section safe.

  2. Mary says:

    How about organizing small craft and sewing supplies–little buttons, glitter, brads, safety pins, etc.

    Make a travel sewing kit–needle, threads wrapped around cardboard, several buttons, pins.

    Mini first aid kit–bandaids, trial size ointment, wipes

    keep loose change in (instead of all over the bottom of your purse or backpack!)

  3. Teanah says:

    They’re good for keeping different beads in if you do bead crafting.

  4. Ben says:

    It’s the perfect container for making a wide range of electronic devices inside of, including LED flashlights.

    Rock On, Plactic Containers!

  5. Lupa says:

    Pill boxes! Label each one with a day of the week and put your daily vitamins and other medicines in them.

  6. sir jorge says:

    Pills would work great.

    Or antacid?

    Gas-x or something?

  7. Miriam says:

    INSECT COLLECTION!… put insect (one you found dead somewhere)….then pour resin inside….will last forever.

  8. Vikki says:

    I use them to keep various sewing needles in it as they are perfect size for a portable sewing box. I put styrofoam in the container so that I can stick the needles into it.

    I have also used them to contain beads for beading. Could also be used for a portable container to keep jewelry for travel, although I have not used it for this yet.

  9. Melinda says:

    They are good for saving small seeds for those who collect them at the end of the growing season.

  10. Kris says:

    My husband uses them in his tackle box for hooks and those little swivel things.

    They could be used for safety pins to keep in your purse in case of emergencies!

  11. tom says:

    use them to store BB’s or refill them with other sweets

  12. Kristen says:

    Yep, they’re brilliant for storing seed beads and sequins! And because they’re rectangular and slim, you can get lots of them packed into a larger container.

  13. NOOO kidding about the wise-cracking Juno. That movie was annoying. I suppose you could put a 1st trimester fetus in a Tic-Tac box, had the movie gone differently.

    • Kitty says:

      I don’t remember her wise cracking, but then I read the book, when I was in HS. it was a good book.
      maybe as a teen I liked wise cracks, or maybe they made her that way for the movie.

  14. Annie says:

    such a lot of great suggestions here im tempted to go out andbuy some tic tacs specially. or am i missing the point? ;-)

  15. Ady says:

    As a kid, I used to cover them with scrap paper and use them as Barbie cereal boxes and play with them. Stack a few together, tape ’em up and cover them, and you have an excellent Barbie endtable as well. :) And to think, I thought my mother was sooo evil for never buying me extra Barbie stuff!

  16. smith says:

    A; they were cherry tic tacs
    B; they were full boxes of tic tacs in the mail box too.

    as for recycling them…there plastic they can be recycled and can be made again into new boxes, bottles etc.

  17. Billy Bob says:

    keep a box filled with holy water at the side of your bed just in case Vampires stop by.

  18. thestoob says:

    Without trying to steal someone else’s brilliant artistic thunder … but her little matchbook project is awesome, and these tic tac containers would make great ones, too, for a similar project.

    http://www.blurty.com/users/matchboxproject

  19. sarah johnston says:

    how can i make something out of one tic tac box

  20. Henry Ruddell says:

    Well i allways wash it out and and wrap up some head phones and shuv them in thair. or drill a hole in the side and get a good pair of head phoens and stick the jack through the hole and coyal the head phones in
    the HPs in the box and hot glue the jack in the hole and wa la plug in your ipod and or mp3 and crank up the tuns (ithink i spelled tha wrong)

  21. I found 2 in our recycling bin. I retrieved them, washed them out and dried them. I now use them as salt and pepper shakers in my lunchbox. I was so set against buying salt and pepper in disposable / single-use sachets that I went without salt and pepper for quite a length of time. Now I have two neat-o shakers and they look stylish as anything.

  22. TheDrunk says:

    You could put ur beer in it.

  23. Brittany says:

    Hey,good question :P
    But any-way,for my little sister’s Girl Scout Project called,
    ‘Trashy Art,” We came up with the idea of get a flashlight,drilling a two holes,(One for the button to the flashlight,the other for a keychain).
    We put a tiny little flashlight and stood it up against the drilled hole,so you could actually press the button,and when you opened the lid,
    Light!
    xP
    We put a keychain on it and decorated it with Sharpie and Glitter,
    and for a Girl Scout Project,we blew toilet-paper pencil holders
    OUT OF THE WATER !! :D
    Hope this helped? :)

    • Judy says:

      I use empty tic tac boxes to store picture hanging hooks/screws/nails. They’re also great for safety pins, dressmaker pins, buttons, and all kinds of small hardware because they’re see-through.

  24. Kerby says:

    When I was little, I pretended they were my Barbie’s fish tank and taped small aquarium pictures from magazines on it.

  25. Talia says:

    Try making little robots out of them!

  26. someonebored says:

    i think that making robots out of them is an awsome idea, but some guy has made a Tic Tac Tunes out of it.

    go to indestructables and have a look,
    IMENSE!!!!

  27. grecia says:

    I think they’re perfect for holding bobby pins in your purse, but you can get crafty with them. Like Bleeker, I have an obsession with orange tic tacs, and that is my favorite movie!! :D So I have like a zillion empty boxes I’ve collected and am making a pyramid of them :o

  28. Jizzle says:

    I put tacks, pins, safety pins, and other little things in them. Also glue beads, gems, and sequence to the outside for some flair.

  29. Cameron says:

    I always use them to hold spare parts to anything. I have like 500 containers and they’re all filled

  30. Eszti says:

    Hi!

    I’d like to use them to store and organize my beads… They are clear and rectangular, so they are ideal for this purpose!

  31. Emma says:

    i put all my silver necklaces in for holidays

  32. I sort out small beads for my art projects, but you can also place safety/straight/needles in them as well. Those little containers have a million uses.

  33. Molly says:

    I write down ideas for stories or lyrics for songs on sticky-notes, fold them up, and drop them inside.

  34. Anonymous says:

    MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE!!!LOL ;)

  35. Kat says:

    Could be perfect for a little emergency kit. A few Q-Tips, cut in half, a little picture of the family, a piece of tin foil could be used as a signal, little substantial snacks, like a broken up health bar, and a few of those mini plastic baggies filled up with water and shut tight. You could also include a few band aids, and some way of catching food. If you want, you could include a match or two in a mini baggie, with the lighting strip in a separate baggie.

  36. Dana says:

    Bobby pins!

  37. Ed says:

    You can make a first-aid kit – put in one condom and carry in a handbag. Make one kit for each handbag you have.

  38. SimplyJuan says:

    I use it to store loose gems, broken gold jewerly and 1 oz Johnson Matthey silver and gold bars…Great for them! You can store 5 or 8 of these bars!

  39. Savannah says:

    use them to store buttons bobby pins tictacs ha earings hope thats helpful

  40. Savannah says:

    mini bandages

  41. Savannah says:

    nials tooth picks tacks

  42. Savannah says:

    a cereal box for your american girl dolls and put little pieces of crumbled up construction paper.

  43. Savannah says:

    if your going on vacation put your pills in it or if you might need ibu profen

  44. Savannah says:

    put candy in it for the movies

  45. Abbie says:

    I have really bad epilepsy and after some seizures I have no memories or temporary amnesia which normally lasts for about a week so I use themenu to make memory boxes – I have some with wallet sized pictures of my friends and family with their name and a description of them on the back. I also put thingso in that represent something in my life eg a guitar pick, miniature flag, bullet and a poppy badge and a chain with a minion on it. It is also really handy if you have little kids when you go to a beach just fill it with small seashells and stones and sand and write the date on the side or bottom of the container :)



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