Brighten your window sills by making your own colourful plant pots out of plastic recycling!

Plastic food and drink containers are perfect for plant pots. So rather than put them in the recycling bin, repurpose them (bottles, yoghurt pots, punnets, milk jugs… whatever you’ve got!) into beautiful planters for herbs, seeds, flowers or even rescued vegetable scraps like spring onion roots.

All you need is a brush, a marker, scissors and some acrylic paint to transform your pots into anything you like, whether that’s woodland animals, scenes under the sea or decorative works of art.

Here’s how to do it

Step 1: If you’re using large plastic bottles, draw a ring around the bottle about a third of the way up from the bottom. You can also draw the outline of some ears or eyes here if you’re making them into animals.

Step 2: Cut along the line.

Step 3: Paint your pots and leave them to dry completely.

Step 4: Customise them either by drawing on them with permanent markers, sticking pebbles and sticks on with a glue gun, or bedazzling them with plastic gems.

Step 5: To make drainage holes, heat up the head of a metal screwdriver and stick it through the bottom of your plant pot to melt a small hole. Repeat 3-4 times.

Step 6: Once you’re done, fill them with compost, plant and water your seeds and place them in a warm sunny spot.

Want to know how to plant your own herbs? Check out our blog post, How To Plant A Kitchen Herb Garden.