Recycling Wallets

A recycling wallet is a purse made out of recycled material. It is made out of waste, out of material which we would normally throw away, or out of material which was already thrown away and taken out of the trash again to use it to create something new.

To be honest, I am not sure if 'recycling wallet' is the best expression to describe my wallets in english, but I like the way it sounds, so I call my wallets 'recycling wallets'.

In this article I am writing about making wallets from empty milk and juice packages. There are many other examples of products made from trash. Even within the category of wallets and bags there are many different examples of objects made out of recycled materials. In this article I will focus on creating a purse from an empty milk package.

The wallets described in this hub are made from empty Tetra Paks. The name Tetra Pak actually is the name of a company that produces products for liquid packaging. Tetra Pak is not the only company that makes such packages. For example another company that makes liquid containers is SIG, which produces the Combibloc. However Tetra Pak is the largest and probably best known packaging company. And often all cartons used for liquids are referred to as Tetrapaks.

Within the product range of Tetra Pak there are different models. The one that I prefer for creating my wallets is the 1 liter Tetra Brik package. This package has a rectangular shape and is the easiest to turn into a wallet. Especially if this is the first time that you are trying to make a Tetra Pak purse, I recommend to use an empty Tetra Brik package. You can usually see on the bottom of the package which type and model it is.

Before you throw away your next empty Tetra Pak, consider to change it into an original purse. An empty Tetra Pak is perfect for creating a small wallet. It needs only a few adaptations and it has the perfect size for credit cards and folded money bills. A wallet made of a used milk or juice package is a beautiful example of recycling and it is a lot of fun to make one yourself. This hub will show you some videos, links and ideas.

Follow the link on the right for a step by step manual with 88 photos: -->

The photo manual allows you to go through all the steps slowly, without having to stop the video. It also offers some additional information which is not included in the video manual.

A great idea is to create tetrapak money wallets with kids. A workshop with children in which each kid makes its own recycled purse is usually a big success. Children from about 5 years old are already able, together with some help of adults, to make their own purse. Children can also be very creative in decorating the wallet once the basic shape is ready. It also teaches children to look differently at objects and materials which are generally considered 'trash' and which are usually thrown away without even thinking about it.

The video below shows a 4 years old boy creating a wallet from an empty milk package all by himself. Children also enjoy playing with the wallet after they have made one. And when the wallet is damaged after a while, you can simply make a new one.