Stop pitching your coffee pods. Today I’m going to show you several fun ways to reuse k cups.
The idea of enjoying a fresh cup of coffee each and every time is appealing to all coffee lovers. Throw in the fact that you can also make tea, hot chocolate, apple cider, and more and it’s no wonder our landfills are overflowing with these cups.
The sad thing is that many brands of k-cups aren’t recyclable. Thankfully, there are ways you can use these containers around your home.
Whether you use them as seed starters or for crafts supply storage, there are plenty of ways to reuse k cups.
How to Clean a K-Cup for Repurposing
In order to reuse your k-cup, you’ll first have to remove the foil label and wash out the coffee grounds. The easiest way to do that is to insert scissors into the hole in the middle of the lid and cut a slit.
Grab the slit and carefully peel the foil label away. Make sure to get any small pieces that stick to the edge since the foil can be sharp.
Next, spoon out all of the coffee grounds. Then, insert a knife so that the tip sticks into the bottom of the filter inside the cup. Twist the knife a couple of times to wrap the filter, then carefully lift the filter away. Pick away any pieces left behind.
Finally, just rinse and dry! Now you’re ready to reuse your k-cups for a variety of fun projects.
Clever Ways to Reuse K Cups
Whether you’re an organizing master, gardening guru, or a craft queen, you’ll find some great ideas to reuse k cups below.
Seed Starters
A great way to reuse k-cups is to use them as seed starters. This is much better than going out and paying for something.
Just give the cups a good wash and you’re ready to go. There’s even a hole already punched in the bottom for drainage.
You may need to start saving your k-cups far in advance, but it’s well worth it. Just use a permanent marker to write what’s in each cup so that you know where to plant what.
Here’s a handy video to show you how to make your own k-cup seed starters:
Barbie Laundry Hamper
If you want an alternative use that your kids will love, turn those old k-cups into a Barbie laundry hamper. Your kids can decorate the cup with washi tape or paint.
Let them be creative. This is such a fun way to reuse those cups. Imagine all of Barbie’s cute clothes piled in a hamper covered in pink glitter washi tape.
Stacking Game
Another fun way for kids to reuse k-cups is to use them to create a stacking game. Just wash the cups when you’re done and set them aside until you have enough to create a good game.
Ten to twenty would probably be a good place to start. Let your kids see how high they can stack them. They’ll soon be asking for more cups to add to their game.
Craft Supply Storage
Get a large round container, such as a metal cookie container, deep enough to hold your cups. Decorate the container with washi tape, stickers, or paint and then place your k-cups inside.
You can fill the cups with beads, needles, thread, whatever supplies you need to store. Pop the lid on and you’ve got everything you need for your project in one place.
Party Lights
Last, but not least, widen the holes in the bottoms of the cups to poke a string of lights through. Decorate the cups with washi tape, paint, or whatever.
Slide a light through each cup and then string them. You’ll have a custom set of lights to match any theme.
Best of all, you made them by reusing something that would normally go in the trash.
The process for making k-cup party lights is basically the same as making them from paper cups, except you can skip the step of creating the hole for the lights! Plus, washi tape is much faster and easier than gluing on craft paper and trimming it to size.
Make an Advent Calendar
K-cups are the perfect size for holding small treats like Hershey’s kisses, stickers, or a folded kid coupon. Just cut out 1″ circles (or use a circle punch) from colored paper and write the numbers 1-25 on them.
Fill the empty k-cups with whatever treat you want, then glue one of the numbered circles onto each one. Glue the k-cups in any shape you want onto some poster board and hang on your wall.
Kid Crafts
One of my favorite ways to repurpose used k-cups is to let kids transform them with their creativity. Not only is it a great way to give the empty coffee pods new life, it occupies the kids with a fun activity at the same time!
As I’ve mentioned many times before, I’m not particularly crafty. Thankfully, many of my fellow bloggers are! Here are some clever k-cup craft ideas from them:
- Artsy Momma has created dozens of k-cup crafts from cartoon characters to animals.
- Crafty Morning turned her used k-cups into adorable k-cup turkeys.
- Domestic Mommyhood created these clever k-cup witches’ brooms.
There are so many ways to reuse k cups to keep them out of the trash bin. Whether you make something fun for your kids or turn that “trash” into home décor pieces, you’ll be surprised at what you can accomplish. Not only are you saving the planet, but you’re saving money. Just be creative. You never know what can be made until you try.
