If you have any old prescription bottles lying around and you don't know what to do with them, try turning one into a little survival kit you can bring with you anywhere.
One outdoor adventure couple, Jaime and Richie, known as Where We Wild (@WhereWeWild) on YouTube, shared what they stored in their handy DIY survival kit.
The scoop
As an outdoor enthusiast and a fisherman, Richie filled his survival kit with things he might need out in nature.
The first item on his list was fishing line, which he wrapped and taped neatly around the outside of the bottle to keep the line organized and out of the way. To the inside of the prescription bottle cap, he taped a bunch of different-sized fishing hooks organized on a small safety pin, which kept the hooks safely out of the way. If he were ever in an emergency and needed to fish for food, he would be able to pull out this handy kit and create a simple, makeshift fishing setup.
Richie also proposed wrapping electrical or duct tape around the outside of the bottle in case you'd ever need tape handy.
The inside of the bottle, he filled it with various tools he might need or use in an emergency. This included medication (Advil for pain or fever, Gas X for upset stomachs, Benadryl for allergic reactions), a tiny sewing kit, a pocket knife, a first-aid kit (bandages, ointment, tweezers, Chapstick), paper clips and safety pins, and fire starting material (lighter, matches, Q-tips).
"That's like 40 items," he said, with the bottle's contents laid out neatly in front of him. "This [bottle] lives in my bag at all times and I can't tell you how many times I dipped into it."
The prescription bottles are also usually waterproof, which could be helpful if you were ever caught in the rain or trudging through water.
"You mix and match depending on where you think you're going to be," Richie said. He encourages people to personalize their survival kit based on their needs.
How it's helping
Making a DIY survival kit out of empty medication bottles is a great way to repurpose old packaging and containers while saving money. A similar pocket survival kit by the Boy Scouts of America will run you $40, not including shipping. You can build your own kit for free with things you already have at home.
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Most old prescription bottles can be recycled, but many recycling systems cannot process them effectively due to their small size, according to GoodRx. As a result, many of these empty bottles are thrown away, filling the landfill with medical waste.
Repurposing old prescription bottles helps divert trash from entering landfills, which protects our oceans from unintended pollution by trash that gets carried by the wind or rain.
Organizations like Trashie and ThredUp also help divert fashion waste from landfills, giving your old clothes a second life while freeing up your closet.
What everyone's saying
Many commenters were inspired by this creative reuse solution.
"This is a really cool idea!" one commenter said.
"I think this is one of the coolest things I have seen on YT, and using the outside of the bottle is pure genius," another user said.
"Amazing. 1 bottle?!?! I'm gonna copy you," a third commenter wrote.
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