These cabinets belong to a Barcelona couple who dubbed their new apartment the “R3 Project”—reduce, reuse, recycle, plus some extras, respect and restore. They wanted their home to be “sustainable, fun, and practical.” Their intense eco renovation is profiled in the new April/May issue of ReadyMade, which includes a short tutorial on how to build their awesome recycled wine crate kitchen cabinets.

Here are the direstions according to re-nest.

1. Take off the backs and sides of the wooden boxes and remove all the nails.
2. Lay out the fronts in your desired design to form the layout of your cabinets as a whole. Overlap and mix different kinds of wood to meet your aesthetic specifications.
3. Once you have your layout, cut the 8mm board to the size of each door. (This adds strength.) Use these pieces to mark where to cut the pieces of the wine crates so they fit exactly.
4. Mount the crate pieces to the 8mm wooden board with nails or screws (a greener option than glue). Nail from behind the wood boards so the front stays free of hardware. Use nails that are long enough to hold but not so long that they’ll poke through the front.
5. Add knobs to any drawers. Attach hinges to each door and install, making sure to level.
6. If the wood from the boxes isn’t varnished already, we recommend adding a layer or two so fingerprints and possible cooking spills can easily be removed.

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Make your own bowls and glasses out of empty wine bottles using a bottle cutter.  You can also etch the glass giving your glasses additional character.  Curbly.com has a few suggestions to keep in mind while making your own custom glasses and bowls.

1. The bottle has to be perfectly round to roll on the rollers
2. Clean off all of the labels, you can cut through painted glass just fine
3. Adjust to your desired length and firmly hold the bottle while you rotate it towards yourself.
4. Do not go over the scored glass more than once. If you go over your score more than once you will create deeper cuts that could result in pathways for the glass to take off on
5. Slowly roll your scored glass above a candle heating it up. The thicker the bottle the hotter you should get it. It should be too hot to rest your finger on.
6. Instead of rolling the score with an ice cube I found a better way. Get a bucket or something that will hold ice water tall enough to cover your score vertically. When you feel the bottle is hot enough place the bottle in the ice water vertically and pop the bottle will split almost perfectly every time.

• Now you have cut your first bottle. You now have to deal with the sharp edge. I simply took my hand sander and used a little water and wet sanded the edge.
• You can etch the glass by using vinyl stencils and a sand blaster or there are also chemical etching kits that are available from most craft stores.

These great suggestions come from Curbly.com

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Laurence Brabant has taken empty wine bottles and turned them into some of the most amazing serving utensils and glasses RecycleChicken has ever seen.

Similar to the beautiful Transglass by Artecnica, wine bottles are cut and chamfered to make serving spoons and glasses. Handles are made of beech and the cork base for the glasses are “health treated”.

From Laurence Brabant Editions Cold Cuts Collection.

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this clever outdoor diy idea comes from erik anderson of gerardot & co.- a creative branding and design agency in indianapolis. erik was kind enough to share a fantastic project that turns an everyday bottle into a modern backyard tiki torch. i love the way these torches look and am dying to find a backyard to use these in- too bad the closest thing we have is a 2×2 foot fire escape. but for those of you with yards, i hope you’ll enjoy this project from erik. click here for more info on the project and click here to check out erik’s work at gerardot & co. thanks, erik!

1. Empty Wine Bottle (You can use any bottle you like as long as it’s glass and the neck is 1” in diameter. Be clever!)
2. Teflon Tape 1/2”
3. Copper Top Plate Connector (threaded for 3/8”-16 thread rod)
4. 1” Split Ring Hanger (threaded for 3/8”-16 thread rod)
5. 1/2” x 3/8” Copper Coupling
6. 1/2” Copper Cap
7. Two Hex Nuts (threaded for 3/8”-16 thread rod)
8. Two #10 x 1” Zinc Plated Wood Screws (if your mounting it to wood)
9. 3/8”-16 Zinc Plated Threaded Rod (I bought a 3’ rod and cut it down to 8, 4-1/2” rods with a hacksaw.)
10. Tiki Replacement Wick
11. Torch Fuel (For safety reasons, only use fuel made specifically for outdoor torches. i.e. Tiki brand)

Helpful Tools: Channellocks, adjustable wrench, hacksaw, power screwdriver, and a funnel

****Safety Note: This is for outdoor use only. Tiki brand recommends that the wick never be set higher than 1-inch, and I recommend that you exercise the same discretion and common sense that you would with any small open flame.*****

The Hanger

1. Decide where you want to mount your Recycled Bottle Torch. Position the Top Plate Connector on your mounting surface and mark the holes for where the screws will go. It’s easier to keep it level if you pre-drill your screws first.
2. Once you have your Top Plate Connector mounted you can screw in the 3/8”-16 Rod until it stops. Channellocks are helpful for this part.
3. Thread the two Hex Nuts on to the Rod and tighten one all the way down at the point where the Rod meets the Top Connector Plate. Leave the other Hex Nut at the front end so it can be used to secure the Split Ring Hanger.
4. Thread on the Split Ring Hanger just enough so that the Rod is flush with the inside of the ring. Turn the 2nd Hex Nut counter-clockwise to snug it up against the Split Ring Hanger.

If you’d prefer your hardware to keep its shiny, unweathered look you can always give it several coats of clear polyurethane before you mount it. Personally, I think a weathered patina will add a nice element of character.

The Bottle

1. Carefully and tightly wrap the 1/2” end of the Coupling with your Teflon Tape. You’ll want to keep each wrap nice and clean so that it creates a smooth, even surface. Continue building up the tape until it fits very snugly into the opening of your bottle. You obviously don’t want it to fall in.
2. Insert the Wick into the Coupling until it sticks out about 1/4”. The Tiki brand replacement wicks are about 3/8” in diameter so they fit really well. Once they absorb the torch oil they’re even tighter.
3. Unscrew the Split Ring Hanger on one side and position the bottle neck into the ring.
4. Flip the front half of the ring back into place and tighten down the Hanger evenly on both sides. You may need to loosen the other side to make sure both sides are an even tightness. (Don’t over tighten the Hanger. You don’t want to break the glass.)
5. Use a funnel to fill the bottle with your favorite torch oil. (I use Tiki’s BiteFighter because it’s clear and seems to do a good job of keeping the mosquitoes away.)
6. Insert the Coupling & Wick into the top of the bottle and twist it snugly into place. Give the Wick a few minutes to absorb the oil before you try to light it.
7. I typically just blow my torches out. Use the Copper Cap to keep the Wick dry when you’re not using your torch.

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The folks at Stave Lighting reused old Napa Valley, CA wine casks to create these hanging pendant lights. These lights are some of the finest examples of reusing and recycling RecycleChicken has ever seen.

To Purchase Stave Lighting, visit their website: http://staveluminary.com/

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Every year BILLIONS of drink pouches end up in dumpsters and landfills across America. TerraCycle, Capri Sun and Honest Kids are working together to put an end to this awful loss of resources. As an eco-friendly innovator, TerraCycle converts the used drink pouches into unique fashion bags, tote bags, pencil cases, and other items for kids and adults! TerraCycle is proud to team up with the largest producer of drink pouches in the country, Capri Sun, and a young organic entry into the market, Honest Kids, to help address this problem! Together with your help TerraCycle CAN make a difference.

The TerraCycle Drink Pouch Brigade™ program allows almost any school, non–profit organization or individual to save drink pouches from taking up space in landfills. TerraCycle will donate $.02 for each drink pouch we receive. which will go to the school or charity of your choice. If you don’t have a charity currently in mind, you may choose from a list of existing charities! There are no signup fees whatsoever.

Along with drink pouches TerraCycle also pays you to take many other items such as:

• Stonyfield® Yogurt

• Candy Wrappers

• Cookie Wrappers

• Flavia Fresh Packs

• Chip Bags

• Energy Bar Wrappers

• Bear Naked Bags

• Kashi Packages

• Cell Phones

• Huggies® Packaging

• AVEENO® Packaging

• Scotch Tape

• Wine Corks

• and many more

For more information on how to send you trash to TerraCycle for Cash visit their website at www.terracycle.net

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Handmade in Colombia of recycled glass from old car windshields, these pitchers, beer, and wine glasses are a really cool way to add some recycled flare to your bar collection. Sturdy and strong, these heavy glasses have a slight green hue from the tint originally added to lessen the sun’s glare. Beautiful and interesting, these glasses will please everyone from the environmentalist to the car enthusiast. Each is one of a kind and will vary. They are sold as a set of 2 and every glass is unique.  RecycleChicken loves that old windshields have been recycled into interesting and useful items.  These glasses and pitchers range in price from 20 to 52 dollars and can be purchased at www.uncommongoods.com

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An average restaurant can produce 150,000 pounds of garbage each year.  The goal of green restaurant certification is to encourage food service facilities to move toward the goal of becoming zero-waste, through reducing waste output, increasing stock of reusable items, and recycling and composting what is left.  You’re already recycling in your home and now you can eat out without wondering what’s going to happen to that wine bottle when you leave the table.

Green Certified Restaurants are required to recycle:

Dine Green also has a search engine that allows diners to find green restaurants in their area. This allows you to easily find restaurants in your area that are active recyclers.

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Almost all of us wine drinkers have the basket or bowl sitting around full of wine corks that we swear we’re going to do something with, well here are ten ideas from Crafting a Green World that might help you make room in that bowl for many more corks to come.

1. Make your next party fancy with wine cork place card holders! Just cut a small slit into each cork and slide the place card right in. Bonus points if the place cards are made from reused material, too. Maybe discarded cereal boxes?
2. Glue slices of cork to the bottom of your flowerpots to keep them from scratching the floor or your deck and give any moisture a place to go!
3. You can slice the cork into rounds that would work wonderfully as beads for a necklace or bracelet!
4. Make a trivet! All you need is a wooden frame, a bunch of corks, and glue!
5. Similar to the trivet, a cork board is a good project if you have a big collection of corks. Peter Beardsley made a really cool cork board, and you can see the steps on his Flickr! (Creative Commons photo)
   
6. In the Garden. Put slices of cork into the blender. It makes a great mulch and helps your garden hold on to water.
7. Corks make great stamps! Check out Elaine’s awesome cork stamps. (Creative Commons photo):
   
8. Design Sponge has a different take on the wine cork trivet. It looks a bit more labor-intensive, but the results are so delicate!
9. I know, we just made it through the holidays, but I couldn’t resist this awesome tutorial for making wine cork Christmas ornaments over at Indie Fixx!
10. Do you have a ton of old corks that need a new life? You can slice those suckers in half lengthwise and attach them to the wall along the floor or at waist height to make a cork chair rail!

These are just a few fun ideas to try out, and they may give you inspiration to come up with your own ways to reuse all those corks. Have fun making room in that cork bowl and reward yourself with a new bottle of wine when you’re done.

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Collin Dunn of Corvallis, OR has a few suggestions on how to put those empty wine bottles to good use.  He gives five ideas as to what you can re-purpose wine bottles in beautiful and useful ways.  His article Reuse Those Empty Wine Bottles: Five Ways has given several ideas as well as  loads of inspiration to maybe come up with some ideas of your own.

1. Make a Soap Dispenser by adding a pour spout to an empty wine bottle

2. Create wall sconces or hanging lights

3. Use a bottle as a base for a lamp

4.Create and oil lamp by adding a long wick, lamp oil, ceramic stopper, and glass flame guard.

5. Use empty bottles as candle holders by inserting candles into the top of bottles.

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