Buckets

We have had indoor cats for a long time now, and their litter has always been a pain. I used to choose the brand based on price, then on scent, and finally on the impact the chemicals have on the environment and the packaging. The litter, though, is not the biggest issue. What do you do with the packaging? If it's the paper bag or the cardboard box, it's easy- recycle them. But the buckets, hmm. We put them to multiple uses; garbage cans, weed buckets, watering buckets car-washing buckets- anything you'd use a regular bucket for. But cats live a long time and there are only so many uses for buckets as buckets. So, I've got a few more ways to use them and not send them to the landfill or just collect stacks of them around the house. Having three growing boys, we go through a lot of food. Because of that, it's not just more healthy to cook whole foods, but it's economical, and I buy many things in bulk. Large quantities of food can be challenging to store, so I paired the food storage issue with the bucket storage issue, and now have cleaned cat litter buckets for rice, oatmeal, flour, beans, popcorn, etc.

Another fantastic way to use cat litter buckets is for hikers. If you've ever been hiking in the rain, you know how important it is to keep your gear dry. I used to put a large garbage bag in the pack as a liner, but those tear, and have no structure. Our Boy Scout troop began using the cat litter buckets as liners for their packs. WOW! Awesome use! We now share our cat litter buckets with the many boys of our troop, and no longer have the stacks of them around avoiding the landfill. If you don't care about the lids, they make great Frisbee/chew toys for dogs.

I want to emphasize that the choices I make when I make purchases consider packaging. I found a use for the buckets, so I can justify that purchase more than litter in a bag.

What do YOU do with cat littler buckets?