Using Resources Wisely is the Girl Scout Way! Here are 20 ideas on how to recycle your Girl Scout cookie cartons.
Updated February 2022
It’s that time of year when cookie sales tend to take over your schedule and your home. After booth sales or delivering your pre-orders, you have a garage full of empty Girl Scout cookie cartons. Instead of putting them in the recycle bin, here are 20 ways to use your leftover Girl Scout cookie cartons.
20 Ways to Recycle Girl Scout Cookie Cartons
1. If you know someone who is moving, they make great packing boxes. You can share with family and friends that they are available or advertise on a neighborhood Facebook page. If you are bold enough, contact a realtor who has clients who are moving and need boxes. You can hit them up for cookies while you are asking!
2. Use them as part of your cookie booth display.
3. You can use them to make clipboards. Cut duct tape and place it on the back side of the cardboard. Use a large clip placed at the top to hold papers.
4. Cut the long side and use the cardboard as an insert for when you are painting tee shirts or pillow cases. The two sides of the fabric cannot touch and these make perfect separators.
5. Cut out a picture frame shape. Girls will wrap yarn around the cardboard. Here is a tutorial from Let’s Do Something Crafty on how to do it.
6. Girl Scout Daisies can make a robot from the leftover boxes and earn the Daisy Design a Robot badge.
7. The girls can make cat scratcher from boxes. This video is a SIlver Award TAP on how to do it.
8. Call a homeless shelter and see if they can use them to help clients store or move their items.
9. Ask a local food bank if they are needed for putting groceries in for clients.
10. Make a homemade book or photo album. Here are the directions on how to do it.
11. Girls can decorate them with paint, stickers, scrapbook paper and bring them home to hold Girl Scout items.
12. Use them for household storage in your cabinets and on your shelves. You can also store you Girl Scout craft items in them as well.
13, Use them as part of your Girl Scout parade float.
14. Use them as a weed barrier in a raised garden bed.
15. Make birthday boxes for a local food pantry. Include everything one would need for a birthday party (plates, napkins, silverware, tablecloth, balloons, cake mix, etc) and include a card that wishes them a happy birthday from Troop #_______
16. Use them to make World Thinking Day SWAPS.
17. Use them to make a camera obscura. There are different ways to make them. Here are the directions from Instructables.
18. Use them for the Think Like and Engineer badge.
19. Use them to make the pyramids for World Thinking Day.
20. Play Minute to Win it games using the boxes.
How do you recycle Girl Scout cookie cartons?
