Egg Cartons: 10 DIY Uses

From Networx' Adam Verwymeren:

Eggs are a versatile and readily available food, and if you're a fan of them fried, poached, boiled or scrambled, you likely have a ton of old egg cartons lying around.

But rather than toss them into the trash, why not put these household helpers to work?

Here are some of the best uses for egg cartons. (List courtesy of Networx)

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Comments

[Deep Thinking Man]

05:46 PM on 01/17/2012

fir a campfire starter...use wood shavings with the wax, not sawdust !!!!!

[crystalsmuse]

10:56 AM on 01/17/2012

I use egg cartons to start seedlings for herb gardens. Picture tutorial: http://momisanunderstatement.blogspot.com/2011/06/easy-seedlings-on-balcony.html

[bhalle1]

10:19 AM on 01/17/2012

I used to make doll houses out of old egg cartons and furniture for the house as well.

[robodawa]

10:12 AM on 01/17/2012

Mulch. And if there are no evergreen boughs, I'd rather ice fish with these under my tail than not.

[ontariogirl]

10:09 AM on 01/17/2012

We recycle ours with farmers in the area that we get our fresh eggs from. Once they are no good we compost them.....if they are cardboard.

[PrincessHaven]

10:03 AM on 01/17/2012

I use plastic egg cartons to keep my earrings sorted.

[stjoshy]

09:07 PM on 01/16/2012

hahaha number ten i just started laughing... bahahahaha!!!

[ElleLuv]

12:36 PM on 01/16/2012

For the firestarters - Girl Scouts taught us a similar way but with dryer lint and those little blocks of paraffin wax.

[linilla]

11:24 AM on 01/16/2012

What about the salmonella and other bacteria that is found in egg cartons? I don't see directions for sterilizing them before reuse.

[cacafranca]

01:21 PM on 01/16/2012

yeah ur right, i will not use a plastic egg tray for making ice to avoid errunds, we have to remember that the egg are not washed or heated, it is straightly harvested and packed prior to delivery.

[maribelles]

06:57 AM on 01/16/2012

They are also (if not styrofoam) compostable, and can be used several times over if you get your eggs, as a growing many to, from local farms offering pastured/grass fed meat & dairy product.

[anitafeeney]

02:53 AM on 01/16/2012

i sometimes use them to start seedlings off

[Just4theHalibut]

10:03 AM on 01/16/2012

Me too, but they should be small seedlings. I naively once planted sunflower seeds this way
and they quickly overwhelmed the small cups and fell over. Also, if cardboard cartons get reused to the point that the egg vendors don't want them back, I just throw cartons in the compost pile, they decay rapidly.

[judithelise]

11:08 AM on 01/16/2012

I was wondering about composting them. Is it safe do you know or could there be something toxic?

[anitafeeney]

04:15 AM on 01/17/2012

another good idea thanks for the tip on not doing sunflower seeds

[ccairnes]

03:47 PM on 01/16/2012

The tiny pot in the photo here is of a peat pot, not an egg carton. I have found that paper egg cartons do not work well for seedlings because they fall apart after a watering or two and just make a mess.

[anitafeeney]

04:21 AM on 01/17/2012

threre is also the compost pile too

[mjmpf]

10:50 PM on 01/15/2012

A restaurant here in Cebu, Philippines has ceilings of egg cartons painted blue. Not a bad effect.