Creative Upcycling Of Cans

“Upcycling” describes the trend to use discarded things for other purposes, such as cans. Not everything that has served you for a specific purpose belongs straight to the trash!

Food cans are not exactly environmentally friendly: they use valuable raw materials and a lot of energy in their production. Even if they are recycled, it takes a lot of energy to melt down the cans and make new products out of them.

Avoid tins as much as possible – and if you buy some, keep using them!

“Upcycling” food cans

“Upcycling” describes the trend towards using discarded items for other purposes, such as food cans. Not everything that has served you for a specific purpose belongs straight to the trash!

There are so many things that you can put to another use, make great things out of them or make gifts!

Food cans are very stable and it would be a shame not to continue using the metal. In order not to cut yourself on the can, you should use a can opener that edges the edge cleanly and does not tear open sharply.

Wash the tin cans thoroughly with hot water and soap before you realize one of our ideas:

Tea lights

You can make a beautiful tea light out of flat cans (such as tuna cans). Either you cover the edge of the can with beautiful fabric or paper and use the can as a lantern, or you drill a small hole in the edge and hang the tea lights on it. Both look beautiful and spread golden candlelight.

Utensilos

Colorfully painted (or simply without a label), they are good storage options for small items such as paper clips, thumbtacks, pins, … Smaller tins, for example tomato paste, tuna or spreadable sausage, are particularly suitable for this.

Pen cup

With colored stickers, they are suitable as pen cups or holders for cooking utensils. As a holder for wooden spoons, spatulas and the like, the cans are often close to the stove and quickly become dirty with fat and splashes of sauce.

In this case, please only clean with detergent and not in the dishwasher, otherwise the cans will rust!

Organizer

If you have many cans of different heights and diameters, paint them in different colors and put them together to create an organizer. This is ideal for keeping your desk or sewing in order.

If you glue the cans to cardboard with a hot glue gun or nail them to a board, nothing can tip over.

Flower pots

Colorfully printed tin cans (e.g. from olive oil) are beautiful flower pots without you having to beautify them.

You can also use the tin cans as bare metal cans like planters or paint them in bright colors if you need weatherproof planters for the garden or balcony. On the windowsill you can also use colored tins covered with fabric or paper as cachepots.

Lantern

To make a pretty lantern out of a can, all you need is a hammer, a thick wooden nail and a piece of wood that you can put in the can.

Secure the piece of wood to the workbench with a clamp and place the can over it. Then punch holes in the sheet metal with a hammer and nail, using the wood as a base.

If you paint motifs on the can beforehand, you can create hole patterns in the form of flowers, stars, suns and more. Please paint the can only after you have punched it, otherwise the paint could flake off.

candle holder

Fill the can to the brim with bird sand, pebbles, bark mulch, stones, marbles, or other materials and put a candle in it. You can design the surface of the filling material according to your preferences: sand with shells, gravel with driftwood, bark mulch with moss, …

Make sure that the candle flame does not burn the decoration.

General tips:

If you want to use cans in a damp environment (bathroom, kitchen, garden, balcony, …), you should paint them. Use clear lacquer for a silver-colored surface, otherwise colored lacquer.

Make sure to also paint the underside of the cans so that no rusty marks can form.

This also applies if you want to cover the cans with fabric or paper and they will then be in the bathroom or other places with high humidity: the unprotected metal gets flash rust and quickly looks ugly and causes stains.

Usually the inside of the can is provided with a layer that is white, light gray or light blue. Then you don’t have to paint the inside of the can, but the outside and the bottom do. If you don’t have any varnish on hand, this is also an ideal way to use up leftover nail polish. Be creative!