How can I reuse or recycle fibre glass baths?
Rosie has emailed:
My partner brought home 3 brand new fibre glass baths (minus handles) which were going to be thrown in the skip. Any suggestions for use and does anyone want them?
That’s just the type of thing I’d want to bring home too – they seem so useful (and so new!) that I’d struggle to resist ;)
They’re bigger than a lot of the things we feature on here so I think the reuses are going to be limited, unless you have a lot of space. Old baths are regularly reused by people with horses or livestock in a field as drinkers, or buried by people wanting a quick and basic pond. I know also some people with large gardens/allotments use them as deep “no dig” raised beds or for containing crops that have a tendency to be invasive (like mint). I’ve also long been interested in aquaponics – I wonder if a bathtub could be used for the water bit of that…
Away from animals and growing, I sometimes play the “what I would do if I had loads of workshop space” game (all crafters do that, right?) and one of the things that would probably feature on my list is a really big dye bath so I could dye long lengths of fabric etc in one go. It’s a will-never-happen thing for me, but I’d probably find a bathtub if I ever did have the space.
If you don’t have room or the need for those type of reuses, someone on your local Freecycle/Freegle group might want them instead. Due to so many people having bath renovations these days, there are a lot of old baths knocking around – but it certainly doesn’t hurt to offer them on there.
Any other suggestions for Rosie either for reusing/recycling ideas or for ways to pass it along?
I would think fishermen could use it for a worm bin. Just add a cover screen and you’d be good to go. Plus you’d have all that good worm poop for your garden.
-Habitat for Humanity or another not-for-profit home-building company could use new bathtubs.
– They could be used in a form of game for a fair for children- fill with sand and pennies of other small prizes, so they can take a handful, or take a dig for a chance to get one.
My favorite teacher filled her old claw-foot tub with pillows and let us climb in it. It was so comfy and awesome! I think most tubs would also work as mini ball pits for small children, too.
The aquaponics idea sounds very interesting! Wonder if you could grow some lettuce using the waste from gold fish? I’ll have to give it a go.
I am going to cut up several of these and use them as the basis for a hot tub in the garden. I think. I will try to fabricate a basic shape and see if it is possible to join up the pieces using a fiberglass kit the sort of thing used for making canoes etc. Any comments i.e ” You are mad etc… would be welcome