I haz bukkits. Alert lolrus.

May 2, 2008 6:52 PM

What to do with 150+ plastic buckets?

I'm cleaning up my mom's house. She's somewhat of a hoarder and a cat person, and so we've got empty cat litter containers stacked to the rafters. They're all shapes and sizes, but most of them are the yellow buckets which held 38 lbs of litter.

If I can't figure out a use for them, I'll just recycle them.

All ideas welcome, from practical to whimsical (and yes, I've already considered building a fort out of them. That'd be awesome.).

posted by BitterOldPunk to Home & Garden (16 answers total)

Buckets are much beloved by the lolcat community (originally because of this photo). I recommend arranging them in some sort of pyramid, taking a photo, and adding a funny caption. Plz post results here kthxbye
posted by grouse at 6:59 PM on May 2, 2008

Drumming party!
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 7:06 PM on May 2, 2008

If the buckets have caps and are air/water tight, you could always make fishing jugs from them.

My buddies and I spent many weekend nights on the lake as kids jug fishing and smoking cigars. You can really catch some monster catfish this way too. Also, I've never come across a better way to free my inner redneck.

As you're in Alabama, if these buckets fit the bill and you're not interested, I'm sure you could find a local lazy fisherman who would take them off your hands.

(There's also something intriguing about catching catfish with cat litter buckets.)
posted by stuboo at 7:32 PM on May 2, 2008

Best answer: Upside down tomatoes (and other veg, presumably)
posted by Chrischris at 7:47 PM on May 2, 2008 [5 favorites]

You should definitely throw an add up on Craigslist. Lots of people have lots of uses for lots of buckets.
posted by sanka at 8:06 PM on May 2, 2008 [1 favorite]

Donate to a neighborhood gardening organization?
posted by jtron at 8:55 PM on May 2, 2008

Best answer: Freecycle! Basically, the name of the game is "I have a thing I don't want, but it's far too nice to throw away." I've used it to get rid of a lot of clutter in my basement.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 9:10 PM on May 2, 2008

Go to a public square or something in the wee hours of the night, create a structure (pyramid, tower etc.) from them, and just leave 'em there. Guerrila art, man!
posted by saxamo at 10:50 PM on May 2, 2008

Front lawn water garden! Just add lotus seeds, waterlily roots, arrowroot, rushes, water hyacinth, water lettuce and don't forget the mosquito fish.
posted by Scram at 11:29 PM on May 2, 2008

You can also grow tomatoes right side up, and they will grow very well in containers. Pot also is great in containers - and I've had great success with it in plastic buckets.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 2:58 AM on May 3, 2008

The local humane society might be able to use some of them.

Greater Birmingham Humane Society
www.gbhs.org
300 Snow Dr
Birmingham, AL 35209
205-290-0055

Shelby Humane Society
www.shelbyhumane.org
381 McDow Road
Columbiana, AL 35051
205-669-3916
posted by mccxxiii at 5:48 AM on May 3, 2008

In the olden days you could make money selling them to a whitewater rafting company for use as bailing buckets. Now I think most companies have self-bailing rafts. I would go with the Craigslist listing. Someone will want them.
posted by procrastination at 5:58 AM on May 3, 2008

In the southwest, people fill them with sand and use them to form the inner structure of a faux-adobe stucco wall. Cheaper substrate than concrete blocks or straw bales.
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 6:36 AM on May 3, 2008

Seconding the upside down gardening. My squash and cucumber seeds have sprouted and I am going to need some soon - too bad you're not in the area.

Post on Craigslist and Freecycle, advertise them as "great for upside down gardening" or "cement or grout mixing" and I am positive they'll go.
posted by jerseygirl at 7:23 AM on May 3, 2008

Best answer: Lots of good ideas here.

But before you do any of them, find a quiet road, build a big triangle out of them all, and drive a car through/at it.
posted by dowcrag at 11:37 AM on May 3, 2008 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks for the answers, folks. I'm going to combine all of the above -- upside-down gardening is a great use for several of the buckets, and I'm kicking myself for not thinking of it -- I've done it before with good results. And I'm going to try to get rid of the rest on freecycle. I checked the wish lists of local humane societies, but alas, looks like buckets aren't on there.

I would totally totally love to take dowcrag's suggestion, but I need to borrow a friend's car first....
posted by BitterOldPunk at 12:39 PM on May 3, 2008