By Tiffany Threadgould
Your granola may be packed with crunch, but when the packaging is left behind, what’s an eco-crusader to do? Rather than tossing it away, craft it into this simple collapsible and reusable dish. All it takes is a few cuts, folds, and some hook and loop fasteners to transform the packaging into a multi-purpose bowl.
When you’ve finished with your granola wrapper, you can move on to all sorts of flat food packaging. Simply scale the instructions up or down based on your tastes.
If you’ve completed this project and still have more Bear Naked granola wrappers than you can bear, check out the TerraCycle wrapper brigade to collect and send them in. Your wrappers will be transformed into new products, and better yet, your collection will earn money for your favorite charity. These granola wrappers will dish up a lot of upcycling potential.
Materials
Granola bag or other food wrapper
4 self-adhesive hook and loop fasteners
Ruler
Pen or marker
Scissors
Tape
Directions
Step 1: Start with a granola bag that is 6.5″ wide. Cut the top off in a straight line. Measure 6.5″ down from the top and mark a line. Cut the wrapper along this line. You will end up with a double-layered square of plastic with an open end.
Step 2: Take a long piece of tape and place it lengthwise across one of the open ends of the plastic square. Fold the tape over to the other side to seal it shut. Repeat for the other end.
Step 3: Mark a border 1″ from the edge, along each side of the square. Fold along this line. Unfold and flatten it.
Step 4: Fold up 2 sides at one corner of the square. Make a diagonal crease from the corner to the folded border creating an upright triangle. Repeat this for all corners, then unfold them.
Step 5: Take the hook and loop fasteners, unfasten them, and stick each one on either side of the corner of the square, one per triangle. Make sure that they’ll line up when folded and fastened.
Step 6: Fold up the bowl at the corners and press the hook and loop fasteners together. You’re ready to dish out your favorite health snack in your new bowl!
Tip: You can make this project bigger or smaller by adjusting the size of the square you start with in Step 1 and the size of the border in Step 3.
About the Author:
Tiffany Threadgould is a design junkie who gives scrap materials a second life. She’s the head of design at TerraCycle, a company that collects and creates products from waste. She also keeps up her own green biz, RePlayGround, where you can find ReMake It recycling kits and oodles of DIY projects. Tiffany thinks that garbage has feelings too and can sometimes be found talking to her pile of junk at her design studio in Brooklyn, N.Y.
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