What to Do with Empty Essential Oil Bottles

Have you ever wondered what to do with empty essential oil bottles? Throwing them away seems like such a waste, especially since there are several ways for you to reuse them. Instead of tossing them in the recycling bin, consider finding a storage place for the bottles and start saving them to use later. As you learn more about aromatherapy and begin blending oils, there will come a time when you’ll be glad you kept them.

Why Keep Empty Essential Oil Bottles

If you’re like a lot of homeowners, you probably throw everything that you don’t think you’ll ever use away. It’s a great way to avoid clutter and keep your home neat and clean.

However, you may want to hang on to your empty essential oil bottles. If you save your empty bottles it may save you money later, and  of course, you’ll save the environment.

How to Clean Empty Essential Oil Bottles

Sometimes you can reuse an essential oil bottle without having to wash it (when your blend includes the original oil from the bottle), but if you need a clean bottle, you need to clean your bottles thoroughly before storing them.

I would first put the bottles in a container filled with Epsom salts, and leave them there for a few days. The Epsom salt will absorb every last drop of oil, giving me some nice bath salts, and also making the bottle cleaning easier.

After that, the best way to get them clean and to eliminate the scent is to soak everything in a bowl of hot, soapy water. Castile soap works very well. Allow the bottles to soak for about 24 hours, then peel the labels off and check to see if the original scent is gone. Allow to completely dry before storing. If you happen to still smell the original scent, just soak them one more night and it should eliminate it.

8 Ways to Reuse Essential Oil Bottles

At first thought you may not see any way to reuse essential oil bottles but when you take time to think about it for awhile, a few ideas may come to mind. If you plan to make aromatherapy a regular part of your life, eventually you’ll want to start blending your own oils and these bottles will come in pretty handy.

Here are five things you can do with empty essential oil bottles:

1. Use them for your own special blends. Once you start making your own recipes, you’ll need small bottles to store them in and these work great.
2. They’re the perfect size to carry your oils around with you everywhere you go. They fit perfectly in your car, purse or pocket: this way you can carry only a small portion and not your entire stash of oils.
3. It makes it easy to share your essential oils with family and friends. You can mix up a special blend for loved ones and give them as gifts for holidays and birthdays.
4. These bottles fit perfectly in most travel cases, so they’re perfect for storing the oils you take with you when you travel.
5. Use them to display small flowers from your garden: they make adorable miniature vases
6. Make spacial diluted oils for your little ones
7. Create your own signature perfume you can easily carry everywhere
8. Use them to store batches of essential oil blends. You can save a lot of time when you make batches of your favorite blends instead of making them one at a time.

Once you start mixing and creating your own essential oil blends, you’ll find all kinds of ways to reuse these bottles. So don’t throw them in the trash. Store them away instead.