Knowing that there are various ways to reuse a plastic bottle makes it one of my close companions in the wild. As preppers, we can always think out of the box & figure out ways to reuse items, and plastic bottles aren’t different. Suppose you know how to reconstruct plastic bottles for survival purposes. In that case, you’ll certainly be in possession of improvised gear at all times since there are over 5 trillion pieces of these bottles going round the world.
7 Ways to Reuse a Plastic Bottle
Water Filter
With the right materials, you can convert a plastic bottle to a water filter. To make, remove the bottom of the container & seal the drinking hole using a clean bandana or shirt. Place the bottle in sand, and add more coarse materials, pebbles & larger rocks. As the water passes through the bottle, large debris is filtered out & cleaner water is collected through the bandana. Note that this water filter system is not enough to cleanse your water completely.
Cordage
Making cordage requires a knife or any sharp cutting tool. To start, make a hole close to the top or bottom of the bottle, slicing through the plastic to the end, and then working the blade around the bottle until the whole container is finished. This is similar to peeling an apple or orange and will leave you with strong lengths of cordage when you’re done.
Water Collection
I’m not referring to the usual method of fetching water from a water source. Instead, I’m talking about getting water when there’s no water nearby. What to do is gather green vegetation at the drinking spout of a bottle and leave it to be heated by the sun. This will create a greenhouse effect, causing water to be deposited at the bottom of the container as they are heated out of the vegetation.
Another method may be to use a cordage length to guide water from a shallow spring or wet rocks into your bottle.
Rope Weight
If you need to add some bulk to your rope for heaving purposes, you can fill your bottle with water or rocks and attach it to the end of your rope. This will allow you to heave weights more easily.
Build a Fire
You can build a fire by using a plastic container as a magnifying glass (improvised, of course). To use, fill a bottle with good water, and using the curved edge of your bottle, guide & focus sunlight onto a pile of tinder. Take your time, though: this technology takes a lot of patience.
Waterproof Container
A plastic bottle is excellent for storing water, but it is also used to keep water out. You can use your plastic container to keep objects like tinder & matches away from water.
Floatation Device
There’s so much plastic going around the earth & littering everywhere because they don’t sink in water. So, if you come across a huge pile of these bottles and have to cross a river, you can put them together using your cordages & cross the water with.
Concluding the Ways to Reuse a Plastic Bottle
Plastic bottles are common all around us. Take advantage of the ways to reuse a plastic bottle, as we discussed above, to put them to good purpose. You can also use a plastic bottle for security alarms & fish traps.