HOW-TO: Recycling Candle Jars

If you're a candle junkie like me, and you buy the kind where the wax is inside a container, you'll be left with a ton of them after they've reached their "end of life."

Some people tend to throw these away but some, like me, will find a way to re-use them (or at least the containers worth keeping).

Read on to see how I clean these jars and re-use them for whatever it is you need.

Once the wax burns down to the base of the wick, place the whole container in your freezer and leave it in for about a couple hours.  The cold air will cause the wax to separate itself from the edge of the container after it hardens.  

Once you remove the container from the freezer, do the following steps:

• Flip the container upside down onto a firm surface.  You may want to put a towel down to catch any mess.  A towel is essential especially on hard surfaces like your kitchen or bathroom counter tops to prevent a glass jar, for example, from shattering.  
• Firmly pound the container 1-3 times to loosen the wax from the base and, if all goes well, the wax should easily fall onto the towel.  If the wax is being stubborn, I'll use a butter knife or a pen to gently break the wax apart.  
• If you're lucky, the wicks will fall with the wax.  If not, soak the wicks in hot water to loosen the glue and peel the wicks off.  
• Gently peel the labels.  For glue residue left behind, you can soak the container in hot water for an hour or two, then rub off.  

For any super stubborn glue residue (leftover from the labels or wicks), there's always Goo Gone!  You can get a bottle at your local Rite Aid, Bartell's, Target, etc.  

Give your container a good wash and you can use your container for anything you want - we use ours for multiple things...storage for cotton pads/balls, Q-tips, hair ties, batteries, push pins, etc.  Sometimes I use it to hold makeup brushes and my roller ball perfumes.  I've even used them as packaging for gifts!  So, there are lots of possibilities!

For this blog entry, I used my Bath & Body Works candle, but I've done the same with my Voluspa or Yankee candle jars. 

​My whole family utilizes these containers in ways that work for us.  If you're wanting to recycle your containers and decide to give this a try, I hope that you're able to find ways for it to work for you!

~ XOXO, Mari