How To Easily Upcycle A Glass Bottle Into A Chic DIY Flower Vase

by Christine Tusher April 21, 2022

As we celebrate Earth Week - and our commitment to being zero-waste by 2025 - we thought we’d share our social media team’s handy hack for upcycling glass bottles from skincare products. 

Our community loved the Reel we posted describing how to upcycle an empty bottle of Squalane + BHA Pore-Minimizing Toner into an adorable DIY flower vase. But here’s the thing about how-to Reels: you have to watch them a million times to remember each step. So we’re sharing it here on the blog in hopes of giving your thumbs (and the planet) a break.

 

PHA Pore Minimizing Toner

 

Waste and The Beauty Industry

The cosmetics industry produces over 120 billion units of packaging every year. In the US alone, almost 7.9 billion units of rigid plastics were created just for beauty products in 2018. And while many well-meaning consumers dutifully toss those plastic containers into their blue cans, less than 9 percent of all plastics actually end up being recycled. The rest ends up clogging landfills for eons to come, or worse, bobbing in the ocean and slowly breaking down into harmful microplastics.

What’s more, plastic can leech toxic chemicals. This can make it harder to upcycle beauty products with plastic packaging, resulting in even more waste.

Why Upcycling Glass Bottles Is Better Than Recycling Them

While glass is 100 percent recyclable and doesn’t leech harmful chemicals, recycling it takes a lot of energy. According to the EPA, recycling glass only saves about 30% of the energy cost of creating new glass. What’s more, only about 31 percent of all glass actually gets recycled. The rest ends up in landfills where it takes about 1 million years to fully biodegrade.

That means the most sustainable choice by far is to upcycle glass bottles rather than recycling them.

How To Upcycle A Glass Toner Bottle In Four Easy Steps

1. Remove the cap. Using a butter knife, carefully wedge the blade under the plastic piece on top and twist the handle to loosen it. It should pop right off.

How To Upcycle A Glass Toner Bottle In Four Easy Steps: remove cap
How To Upcycle A Glass Toner Bottle In Four Easy Steps: remove cap

2. Peel the label off starting at the corner. As upcycling pros, we generally find that our labels come off in one piece. If you happen to get a stubborn one, fill your sink with warm water and add 1-2 tablespoons of dish soap plus ½ cup of white vinegar. That sucker should slide right off after a 20 - 30 minute soak.

How To Upcycle A Glass Toner Bottle In Four Easy Steps: remove label
3. Rinse the inside with hot soapy water. Use a bottle brush if you have one. It will help you rinse the bottle clean with less water.
How to easily upcycle a glass bottle into a chick DIY flower vase, rinse inside with soapy water
4. Fill with cool, clean water, add your favorite bloom, and voilá! You’ve made a beautiful, upcycled bud vase to refresh your bathroom or bedside decor.
How to upcycle glass bottles into chic flower vase
Do you have a gorgeous, original idea for upcycling Biossance packaging? Share your fabulous DIY on Instagram and tag us @biossance for a chance to be featured.



Christine Tusher


Christine Tusher
Christine Tusher

Author

As a lifestyle writer and journalist, I’m excited to bring my passion for storytelling to Biossance as an Engagement Content Writer. Two things you should know about me: I have a deep love of the ocean (especially sharks) and I’m obsessed with clean beauty. My bathroom cabinet is literally overflowing with my many-layered sustainable skincare routine. This combo is what led me to buy my first bottle of Vitamin C Rose Oil. I was so impressed by the way it improved my skin that I wanted to shout this brand from the rooftops. Three years later, and here I am doing just that. I’m excited to be on this journey of clean beauty innovation with Biossance, and to share it with you here on the blog.



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