DIY Your Own Dustpan With The Help Of An Empty Kitchen Staple

A dustpan makes it easy to sweep up messes on hard floors, but what about those times when you do not have one on hand? You can actually use your crafting skills to make one yourself using a kitchen staple you likely already have in your refrigerator. Simply cut an empty milk jug into a scoop. The jug's handle will double as the handle for your DIY dustpan. Additionally, the thin plastic material the milk jug is made of is perfect to use for a dustpan because it allows trash and debris to glide right onto the surface. Once your dustpan is filled, you can easily pick it up and toss the contents into the trash.

One of the many perks of this hack is that it allows you to reuse plastic and make your home more eco-friendly. Repurposing plastic packaging is great for anyone looking to live sustainably because only 9% of plastic waste actually ends up being recycled, according to the Global Plastics Outlook published by the OECD in 2022. This DIY dustpan can help you get more use out of your plastic milk jug before it ends up possibly adding to that statistic.

To reuse a plastic milk jug by making it into a dustpan, you will need to start out by giving your jug a thorough wash to remove any milk residue. Next, set the container out to dry completely. After you have allowed it to dry, use a permanent marker to circle top of the handle where it meets the side of the jug and draw an outline starting from behind the bottom of the handle and down the sides in a shovel shape. Next, use a sharp pair of scissors to cut along the line you drew to create the scoop. Trim away any excess plastic as needed, and you should be left with your very own milk carton dustpan.

Although this milk jug DIY is a convenient option to use when you are in desperate need of a dustpan, it is not a great long-term solution. The milk carton dustpan likely will not hold up for nearly as long as a conventional dustpan. You will need to either continue making them from used milk jugs or invest in a regular dustpan after your DIY version becomes too flimsy to continue using. You can snag an affordable one from Amazon for less than $3 or check out your local dollar store.