Comments on: I haz bukkits. Alert lolrus.

Question: I haz bukkits. Alert lolrus.

BitterOldPunk — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:52:20 -0800

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.).

By: grouse

grouse — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:59:36 -0800

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

By: computech_apolloniajames

computech_apolloniajames — Fri, 02 May 2008 19:06:32 -0800

Drumming party!

By: stuboo

stuboo — Fri, 02 May 2008 19:32:37 -0800

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.)

By: Chrischris

Chrischris — Fri, 02 May 2008 19:47:33 -0800

Upside down tomatoes (and other veg, presumably)

By: sanka

sanka — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:06:48 -0800

You should definitely throw an add up on Craigslist. Lots of people have lots of uses for lots of buckets.

By: jtron

jtron — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:55:34 -0800

Donate to a neighborhood gardening organization?

By: Kid Charlemagne

Kid Charlemagne — Fri, 02 May 2008 21:10:15 -0800

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.

By: saxamo

saxamo — Fri, 02 May 2008 22:50:38 -0800

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!

By: Scram

Scram — Fri, 02 May 2008 23:29:59 -0800

Front lawn water garden! Just add lotus seeds, waterlily roots, arrowroot, rushes, water hyacinth, water lettuce and don't forget the mosquito fish.

By: The Light Fantastic

The Light Fantastic — Sat, 03 May 2008 02:58:33 -0800

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.

By: mccxxiii

mccxxiii — Sat, 03 May 2008 05:48:25 -0800

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

By: procrastination

procrastination — Sat, 03 May 2008 05:58:39 -0800

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.

By: M.C. Lo-Carb!

M.C. Lo-Carb! — Sat, 03 May 2008 06:36:46 -0800

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.

By: jerseygirl

jerseygirl — Sat, 03 May 2008 07:23:20 -0800

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.

By: dowcrag

dowcrag — Sat, 03 May 2008 11:37:15 -0800

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.

By: BitterOldPunk

BitterOldPunk — Sat, 03 May 2008 12:39:30 -0800

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....