Dryer lint often gets treated as nothing more than messy laundry waste, quickly pulled from the trap and thrown away. But, as one writer found, it can be put to use.
Here's what to know
In an article for Apartment Therapy, the writer described using dryer lint to help light a fire in a chiminea instead of discarding it. The method involved adding petroleum jelly to a loosely gathered ball of lint and lighting it the same way you would light paper or a store-bought fire starter.
In a dryer, lint is considered dangerous precisely because it catches fire so easily. Its mix of tiny clothing fibers burns readily, and its airy, fluffy form lets oxygen move through it, which helps it ignite. In a controlled setting, those same qualities can make a small amount useful for starting a fire.
The approach turns something you already have at home into a replacement for another household item. Instead of buying commercial starters or using extra paper products, homeowners can repurpose lint that would otherwise be thrown away.
More background
The tip addresses two small household concerns at once: waste and spending. Dryer lint builds up constantly, especially in homes that do frequent laundry, so finding a use for it can be more practical than tossing it in the garbage every time.
If you regularly buy fire-starting supplies for backyard gatherings, camping, or a wood-burning fireplace, saved lint could help you avoid that purchase altogether or at least stretch those products a bit longer.
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Lint is flammable enough that it should still be cleaned out of the dryer after every load. The cost-saving trick only works when the material is handled carefully and used intentionally in a safe outdoor or fireplace setting.
Beyond that, too, many clothing fabrics are made from plastic fibers or other materials that may not be safe to inhale, so again, safe usage would be important. With a chiminea, at least, the smoke would be directed higher than with a campfire, for example, which helps to address that concern.
What can be done?
This hack can help reduce reliance on single-use products. Rather than adding commercial fire starters to a shopping list, people can use a material already in their homes and usually treated as waste.
The writer wrote, "I tried this method, and it really is that simple. I was afraid it might ignite too quickly, but it worked like any other starter."
Where can I learn more?
Dryer lint can be an especially useful fire-starting material, but removing it from an appliance can also prevent a blaze and improve efficiency.
• One woman put dryer lint to good use in an easy homemade campfire starter.
• A new homeowner found the dryer vent packed solid with lint, explaining its sluggish performance.
• An appliance maintenance tech shared a simple way to prevent fires and keep dryers running better.
• One TikToker warned that dryer cleaning trends can actually harm a machine.
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