Have you steadily been accumulating pill bottles with little idea of what to do with them? One TikToker has shared a genius way to reuse the little plastic containers.

The scoop

Self-proclaimed sustainability enthusiast and trash artist Hey Lola (@loveheylola) detailed that one day, before heading out to their studio, they realized they needed a vessel for the salad dressing that they wanted to add to their lunch.

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The solution was staring them right in the face. They had tons of pill bottles lying around, which were the perfect size for a dollop of ranch.

After giving the orange vial a good rinse, they were ready to go to work, safe in the knowledge that a tasty meal would be awaiting them after a few hours of hard graft.

How it's helping

This trick will have stopped their salad from becoming saturated in dressing during the morning, making for a limp and unappetizing lunchtime bite. 

But it's a tip that also helps the planet. In another scenario, Hey Lola might have considered buying a new plastic tub or bottle to store their sauce. But by using something that already exists, they are saving money and contributing to a circular economy, which involves keeping items in use for the longest possible time.

While those bottles could be sent for recycling, it's not certain that they would go through the process that would turn the material into something new. According to Beyond Plastics, the recycling rate for post-consumer plastic in the United States in 2021 was just 5% to 6%. 

Data shared by Statista shows that in the same year, it was estimated between 40.1 million and 51 million tons of plastic waste were created in the country. In the worst-case scenario, that means over 47 million tons of plastic waste was not recycled. 

Hey Lola's hack helps to keep pill bottles out of landfills, where they will take up space and contribute to the production of methane — a gas that is far more potent in planet-warming potential than carbon dioxide. 

What's more, those pill bottles won't naturally degrade for centuries — if ever — but they will shed microplastics over time. These tiny pollutants can ruin soil quality and enter water sources through rain runoff. 

Micro- and nanoplastics are found in the air, in the water we drink, and in the food we eat. They can accumulate in the bodies of animals and humans, and they have been linked to a number of health issues. 

What everyone's saying

"Love what you do with trash!" one impressed TikToker said.

Of course, a container for salad dressing isn't the only use for old pill bottles. Other crafty people have used them to store sharp items, to fill with detergent for use at the laundromat, and even to make a tiny survival kit. 

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