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13 Easy Eco-Friendly Craft Ideas for 2024

Have you wanted to try your hand at eco crafts but not sure where to begin?

Do you want to replace single-use plastic or wondering what you can upcycle to give something a new lease of life?  

This collection of free and easy eco craft ideas will help you to upcycle and recycle your odds and ends into brand new items.

If you have empty plastic bottles, a stash of buttons, ends of candles, wallpaper, scrap paper, wine corks, old clothing or wax crayons laying around your home, you’ll find at least one of these eco craft ideas perfect for you.

A woman is holding up a piece of recycled paper with the recycle symbol cut out with green fields and hills in the background

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Learning a new craft using a craft kit is exciting … but even more satisfying is if you learn a craft from waste material you already own!

You’ll have fun AND you’ll be working towards being plastic free and your zero-waste goals.

Pinterest pin.  4 image collage - 1 showing white hands with bowls of homemade dyes, 1 showing a half completed flower using leftover fabric, 1 showing a bouquet made from pom poms and 1 showing bookmarks made from buttons

Eco-Friendly Craft Ideas

In this collection you’ll find the following eco-friendly craft ideas:

  • Re-usable makeup remover pads
  • Beeswax Wraps
  • Natural Dyes
  • Crayon Lipgloss
  • Candle Making
  • DIY Notebooks
  • Button Bookmarks
  • Wine Cork Stamps
  • Pom Pom Projects
  • Fabric Flowers
  • Plastic Lid Windchime
  • Plastic Bottle Planters
  • Bird Feeder

1. DiY Re-Usable Make-Up Remover Pads

glass jar holding re-usable make-up remover pads made from scrap fabric for an eco project
Happiest Camper

Using biodegradable facial wipes is a step in the right direction but still a long way to go towards zero-waste.   

You don’t need many supplies for this eco craft project, yet it will have a huge impact!

You’ll need fabric from your stash to follow these easy step-by-step instructions (photos included).

These reusable make-up remover pads make up in no time.  Make them for yourself and gift them to family and friends.

Tip:  Upcycle this eco craft by substituting the white flannel with a square from an old cotton t-shirt or scraps of towelling.

2. How to make Beeswax Wraps

White hand holding a knife to score a piece of beeswax to make a beeswax wrap

These homemade beeswax wraps will keep your lunch fresh, are reusable and very simple and quick to make.

Source your sustainable beeswax from an independent shop if you can, then you’ll be supporting small businesses as well as the environment.

Tip:  Let everyone choose their own fabric from your stash and make different beeswax wraps for each member of the family.

Want to ditch the plastic but you don’t have time to make your own beeswax wraps?

Have a browse of the beautiful reusable wax food wraps at Honey Bee Good. Choose from 40+ gorgeous patterns!

3. How To Make Natural Dyes

White hands making natural dyes from kitchen ingredients. Bowls of coloured dyes in orange and red with a bowl of bicarbonate of soda

Try making your own natural dyes using simple kitchen ingredients, then use them to make tie-dye patterns on your left-over fabrics.

This eco friendly craft is fabulous to do with your kids. 

They’ll learn what colours to combine to make new colours.  And all with natural ingredients such as:

  • red cabbage
  • beetroot
  • baking powde
  • turmeric
  • lemon

You’ll even learn an interesting science fact!

Need to know how to tie-dye? Follow these easy steps to make tie-dye patterns on your recycled fabric.

4. Crayon Lipgloss

3 pots of homemade lip gloss balanced on crayons
MomDot

What to do with those ends of crayons that don’t get used?

Upcycle them into lip gloss of course 🙂

This DIY Crayon Lip Gloss tutorial is a super easy eco craft and it takes less than 10 minutes to make a batch.

If you don’t have any suitable lip gloss containers, they’re inexpensive to buy.  And you can wash them out and re-use them again and again.

Great for gifts too!

5. How To Re-Use Candle Wax To Make New Candles

half used tealights, wicks, broken up candles in a bowl for melting and making new candles

I love the soft lighting from a candle flame but one thing that is really annoying is they just don’t burn until the end do they? 

Candle wax is an inevitable waste but don’t throw it out!   

Follow these three easy steps to make your own candles with your leftover wax.

Tip: Make sure not to mix different types of wax, such as beeswax, paraffin and soy wax.

6. DiY Notebooks In 5 Minutes

brown scrap paper on a table surrounded by ears of corn

Just finished a home decorating project? Do you have scrap paper in your craft box or even left-over wrapping paper? 

This tutorial is perfect for you!

Notebooks are something you can never have enough of and those pretty covers in the shops are so hard to resist!

This eco craft project will not only help to save the environment by upcycling what you already have but will save you money as well!

Follow these free and easy instructions for making your own notebooks in 5 minutes. Yes really, that’s all it takes.

7. Simple And Cute Button Bookmarks

6 button bookmarks on a piece of paper made from buttons and paperclips
Photo Credit: The Inspiration Board

I think most homes have buttons laying around.

Don’t throw them out.  Turn them into bookmarks!

This eco craft really is so very easy.  You’ll be wondering why you didn’t think of it before …

All you need is your stash of buttons, paperclips and glue.

These button bookmarks would make fabulous quick and easy gifts to say thank you, teacher gifts or stocking fillers.

Tip:  If you have a stash of ribbons, substitute the buttons and make some pretty bows to use instead.

8. Make Wine Cork Stamps The Easy Way

scrap paper stamped with hearts made from a wine cork stamp
Photo Credit: DiY Candy

Instead of throwing out those corks from your wine bottles, re-purpose them!

Create your own stamps following these easy-to-follow instructions. 

Use your upcycled stamps on scrap paper, craft paper or scrap card to design your own wrapping paper, greetings cards, postcards, gift tags – the list is endless.

9. How to make Scrap Yarn Pom Poms

bouquet of flowers made from scrap yarn pom poms
A simple bouquet made from scrap yarn pom poms

If you crochet or knit, it’s very likely you’ll have yarn left over from your projects.

This tutorial shows you how to make pom-poms in 7 easy steps.

What to do once you’ve made your pom-poms from scrap yarn? Check out these fabulous 35 cool pom pom projects.

10. 5 Minute Fabric Flowers

partially made fabric flower from scrap green fabric
Photo Credit: Treasurie

Don’t throw out clothes that no longer fit or have stains on you can’t remove.

Re-purpose the material and make fabric flowers!

This very easy step-by-step tutorial for making fabric flowers is fabulous for using up fabric scraps.

If you’re a visual learner, there’s also a video tutorial to take you through this eco craft project.

Add your fabric flowers to brooches, hats, hair clips, necklaces, and all your favourite outfits to give a new look.

11. Make a bird feeder from recycled materials

We love to watch the birds in our garden.

Sparrows dive bomb each other on the seed feeder and fat balls, tits and blue tits love the peanuts, pigeons love the bird house that Pete made and they all love to have a bath.

Home made bird house made from recycled wood
Made from recycled wood and looking a little worse for wear now!

If you want to tempt birds into your garden, it’s easy to make seed bird feeders from recycled material.

A homemade bird feeder made out of a plastic bottle filled with bird seed

These three easy to make bird feeders use recycled materials.

If you have plastic bottles, empty toilet rolls or chipped tea cups/mugs, these step-by-step guides show you how to make:

  1. Plastic Bottle Bird Feeder
  2. Toilet Roll Bird Feeder
  3. Bird Feeder in a Tea Cup

You’ll be helping the wildlife to flourish as well as recycling your old materials. Win-Win!

12. Recycled Plastic Lid Windchime

wind chime made from plastic lids hanging in the garden
Crafts by Amanda

Using colourful plastic lids that can’t go in the recycle bin is a great way to keep them out of the landfill. 

This tutorial shows you step-by-step with photos and text just how you can make your own windchime.

Tip: scroll down the article if you’re having problems threading your lids for ideas on how to solve the problem.

13. How to Make Super Simple Plastic Bottle Planters

three planters made from recycled plastic bottles
Canadian Wildlife Federation

How cute are these!

They’re not recognisable as plastic bottle are they. This is such a clever idea.

As well as the supplies you need for this eco craft, these instructions will show you how to:

  • map out the shape
  • cut
  • sand and paint
  • attach accessories
  • plant

Which one is your favourite? the Peek-a-Boo Cat or the Dinosaur planter?

Once you’ve started crafting with waste and re-cycling what you already have, you’ll find yourself thinking what else you can re-purpose and make into an eco craft.

Have fun!

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