Thursday, October 11th, 2007
Popsicle Sticks, they’re not just for frozen treats anymore
My wife thinks I’m nuts keeping these, but sometimes you’ve got to challenge the norms to make a difference. We’ve been saving popsicle sticks for a couple months now and use them for a number of things.
It was making me sick to see us throwing away all these little pieces of wood. I started savings them in hope of using them in future art projects with my kids (almost 3 now) but we have collected so many so fast that I have been forced to come up with other uses or given in to societal pressures and pitch them rather than pitching in. Since my kids are a few years away from building bird houses or bridges with popsicle sticks, I’ve found a bunch of other uses for them. Here are a few ideas and I’d love to hear others.
Tea (or coffee) Stirrer - We make a pot of tea most mornings and it just doesn’t cut it to pour in the splenda and wait for it to absorb. I used to use a chopstick to stir, but now with this abundant supply of little wooden paddles, I grab one from the drawer, stir and then put it into the dishwasher when I’m done. You say, “isn’t it bad to wash wooden things in the dishwasher?” The heat and moisture in a dishwasher is an extremely harsh environment for wooden things like spoons and cutting boards. The popsicle sticks are extremely durable and so far, I’ve yet to have one even split with repeated washings. Anyways, if one popsicle stick only last through 5 loads, that’s four plastic stirrers that aren’t in the landfills. I’m sure these would work equally well on a individual cup of coffee or tea too.
Condiment Spreaders - The flat edge is perfect for spreading a little mustards or mayo on a bread. While I wouldn’t recommend trying to spread hard cream cheese with it, they do fine with soft butter and whipped cream cheese. Plus you haven’t dirtied a knife, they are far safer to let kids use than even a standard table knife and take up less space in the dishwasher than a knife.
Paint Stirrer - As with coffee and tea, the popsicle sticks also work well for mixing almost anything, especially kids paint. Since it is water soluble and non-toxic paint, tossing them in the dishwasher afterwards is easy cleanup. I also use them for more caustic stuff, like wood stains and finishes, but toss them out afterwards. I’m happy if I’ve gotten a few uses from the popsicle stick and don’t have to use one of those big wooden or plastic paint stirrers which doesn’t really fit in the small cans I typically use for little projects around the house.
Hopefully these few ideas will inspire you to think of other uses for popsicle sticks or other items you commonly throw away. Another item we reuse frequently are the plastic containers that microwave food comes in. They make perfect kids bowls and plates if they hold up to repeated use and trips through the dishwasher and are microwave safe.
