Author Archives: Kacie Bates

Box of boxes

I have a lot of bubble mailers. I enjoy supporting small artists so I have ordered many items from various artists. Most would be clips, stickers, prints, and some larger items such as clothes. I am also a patreon subscriber for a few artists that ship out monthly items such as pins, prints, and stickers. Because of that I have ended up with a lot of shipping envelopes that I refuse to throw away. I have a specific box in my room that I put them in, it may be at capacity but I don’t do as much online shopping anymore! Yes I still have 8 active patreon memberships but most of them are now just digital and the one that still ships me pins, they only send every other month! I really like packaging material, tissue paper, holographic resealable bags, confetti, pretty envelopes, ziplock baggies and i will even keep those clear single use self adhesive bags if they are cute. Some people, especially my parents, may see this as a hoarding problem; but I know I will use it some day! I even actively use them now. It’s useful for organizing all of the stickers, prints, postcards and items I have gotten from those shops! I also am actively working on my own shop right now and have shipped 3 packages so far. Packing materials are verya box with an assortment of used packing materials. expensive to buy at the store and I have disdain towards Amazon (and other overconsumption online shops) so it makes sense to save the packages. It’s not like they are strewn across my room (anymore), they are in their own spot hidden away from view. I would probably cry if I had to throw them away because it is such a waste to do so. I mean that, thinking about my dad throwing away my packing materials while I am off at school makes my heart drop and dread begin to brew. If they go in the trash then I can’t use them and I will feel guilty. I hate that so much. So I will simply keep them until I use them. WHICH I WILL!!!

 

Pill Bottle Pile

How to Recycle Medicine Bottles – RecycleNation

(https://recyclenation.com/2014/08/recycle-medicine-bottles/)

An empty medicine bottle is considered waste. I take a lot of different medications daily so I end up with a lot of empty orange bottles that I don’t know what to do with. When I say a lot I mean multiple bags full of empty pill bottles over the years. My pharmacy does not have a take back program so I assume many people will simply throw them away after the course of 30 days where they get another bottle that will become empty and repeat that cycle. These are made of a nice plastic and could be reused and there are places to ship them to so they don’t end up in landfills but despite my collection (which includes my sister’s and parents) has been growing. I don’t have the energy or reminders to find a box, create a shipping label, potentially pay for it, print it out, then package it all, tape the box, and then ship it off. The amount of tasks it requires creates a stall in my brain. It fills with clutter and static, then I decide to simply deal with it later. There are also interesting crafts that they can be used for, I have seen people attach the individual bottles to the bulbs of Christmas lights to decorate dorms. My friend used to make earrings out of unconventional items so these could work too albeit a bit large (some do like bulky earrings and jewelry). I have seen them as storage of small objects, I bought a bag of jewelry making supplies a few years ago at a thrift store and some of the beads were inside of old medicine bottles. I have also seen the bottles used for geocache containers which is brilliant since they are generally waterproof.

Pill Bottle LED String Lights | Spirit Clouds

(https://spiritclouds.square.site/product/pill-bottle-led-string-lights/5)


An empty medicine bottle is considered waste as it has finished its original purpose, to hold medication in a uv resident enclosed space that keeps the medication fresh and safe to use. It contains a label which shows the ownership of the medication, the type, amount, how to take it, and when the pills inside expire. The medicine bottle’s life cycle is considered over once the medication runs out, not to be reused as it is considered “contaminated” , unable to be reused for its original purpose by the pharmacy.
While the original use is lost, there is potential for reuse; we just need to be creative.