8 Ways To Repurpose An Aluminum Foil Box Instead Of Sending It To The Trash

The list of social media videos on repurposing aluminum foil is almost as endless as a roll of foil itself, especially when you accidentally drop it and it propels halfway across the house. Resourceful recyclers have found innovative ways to give a second life to the kitchen staple, from aluminum foil hacks that will give you a clean home to using aluminum foil as a caulking gun replacement and even using it to bring shine back to hard water-stained faucets. But what about the boxes?

Luckily, changemakers are unwrapping some ideas for those, too. Instead of tossing your used aluminum foil box in the trash, consider the many uses for it. You can tackle storage challenges, like herding your ever-growing Christmas ornament collection each season. You might make a thoughtfully chosen gift even more special by unleashing your creativity to transform it into a unique gift box. And, if you're in the workshop looking for a certain tool, the box may become your inner-maker's new best friend.

Aluminum foil boxes provide the perfect dimensions for storing washi tape. First, disassemble and flatten a box, laying the outside atop a panel of fun and colorful peel-and-stick wallpaper. Then, cut off the extra wallpaper with scissors, leaving enough around the box to fold over and cover the edges. Reassemble the box, using a hot glue gun to put the ends of the box back together where they had been glued. Your rolls of washi tape will look so snug that you'll want to keep them in there forever!

If you regularly use masking tape or one of those handheld packing tape dispensers, you'll understand the rushing-to-get-something-done moment when you realize the blade has worn down. You then have to cut the tape by hand or scissors and inevitably waste some. That's where an aluminum foil box can help. In this hack, you can refresh the dispenser's blade with the foil box's blade. Remove the long metal blade strip from the box, cut it to the length of the blade on your tape dispenser, and tape or glue it on.

This is a great upcycle for those with limited bathroom wall or storage space or who like to change up their decor on a regular basis. Decorate an aluminum foil box any way you choose. Paint the box, cover it with colored paper, add beads, even decorate with tape. Once you're happy with the outside, cut two slits in the top that are the width of a sheet of toilet paper. Two rolls can be placed inside, and the paper can be dispensed. This upcycle will likely work with paper towels and facial tissue as well.

For this upcycle, aluminum foil boxes become the legs of a planter. Find a cardboard box to place the plant in first, and reinforce the box and four aluminum foil boxes with heavy-duty tape. Cover the outside of the boxes with patch filler. You can use tools such as a putty knife or a scraper to create the texture you'd like. Attach the foil boxes as legs to the bottom of the large box, and you're done. Just place a potted plant inside this household item-turned-planter.

Anyone who is moving or who started a pandemic-time side hustle selling on eBay will appreciate this idea: Turn aluminum foil boxes into packing material. Shredded and torn apart, old aluminum foil boxes will work particularly well for packing boxes that contain delicate items such as ceramic and glass — just make sure to remove the serrated metal strip. This is because the material will be stiff, helping to prevent movement inside a box that could lead to breakage. When moving, boxes can come in handy for transporting office and crafting materials such as pens and erasers and for bathroom items such as makeup and soaps.

Old aluminum foil boxes are the perfect size for storing Christmas ornaments. Some boxes are sturdier than others for protecting against damage, so keep that in mind. You can strengthen boxes by wrapping them in heavy-duty tape before filling them. This is a smart storage hack that'll keep your ornament collection from shattering, especially when placed inside a larger plastic tote. You can label the kinds of ornaments each foil box contains by material or color, for instance. Of course, you can always decorate the boxes to make them more festive.

You've seen many hacks on socials about using aluminum foil to sharpen blades, from knives to scissors to computer-driven cutting machines. But have you seen any videos using aluminum foil boxes to become a blade? YouTuber @ermah has tried it. "Need to cut a plastic pipe but don't have a saw?" he asks. "No problem. Just use the serrated edge of an aluminum foil box." He then proceeds to cut the PVC pipe with the foil box's teeth. "It works wonders." To put a fine point on it, it's unclear if this works on other materials.

There are many beautiful, whimsical, and display-worthy examples of aluminum foil boxes upcycled into one-of-a-kind gift boxes. This is a project where you should let your creativity flow. Make sure to remove the serrated edge before you start. Painting the inside and outside of the box provides an excellent base upon which to work. Sponging can give the box an antique effect with an unexpected texture. You can then stencil, apply stickers, glue any item of your choice, or even decoupage a material. To make sure the box closes, use Velcro strips, hooks, or buttons.