I try to live as eco-friendly as possible, so I have a pile of mason jar lids waiting to become a craft project because I just can't bring myself to throw them out. They've practically begging to be used for some sort of DIY project. If you haven't tried to recycle mason jar lids in the past, now is the time to start.
If you're a fan of canning like me, then you already know what it is to have a stockpile of used canning jar lids taking up space in your pantry because you just can't bring yourself to throw them out. The most unfortunate thing to me about canning is that the food-grade lids are made for one time use. Reusing them is a gamble with bacteria since the gasket may not properly seal after the first use, and then all your good preserves go to waste. Luckily, there are a lot of fun ways to reuse them and create something totally new! Here are a few ideas.
8 Ways To Recycle Mason Jar Lids in Style
Baking
Metal mason jar lids have a surprising use in baking; they can be used as a mini springform-like pie pan to make tiny tarts and pies! Perfect for tea parties, these dainty treats will be a crowd favorite. The lids are dishwasher safe, so you can throw them in the dishwasher and use them over and over again. You can use both wide-mouth mason jar lids and regular mouth mason jar lids to have two different sizes of baked treats.
Coasters
If you take a regular mouth canning lid and add some adhesive cork, you have an instant coaster ready to use! These are especially helpful with plants, as terra cotta tends to stay wet and can damage wood. By slipping on a canning lid coaster, you can protect your tables and shelves. I also use plastic lids and leak-proof lids as trays to catch excess water runoff from my smaller plants.
Gardening
There are many creative uses for lids in the garden. You can paint the ball jar, Kerr jar, or mason jar lid with chalkboard paint and use it as a reusable label for your plants. If I have a lot of metal canning jar lids, I will also use them to space out sprouts in the garden visually. The lids can be used to make a DIY soil blocker for sprouts as well.
Cooking
Wide mouth canning lids make fantastic cookie-cutter like tools for frying eggs and making meat patties. If you want uniformity and a nice, circular fried egg, these are perfect for those purposes.
Flowers
If you take the open metal half of a mason jar lid, you can use wire to create a grid that is a useful tool for flower arranging called a frog. It keeps flowers in place and helps you get the shape you want with your flower arrangement. Another fun use for jars and flowers is making sun-catchers with pressed flowers. Using the flat part of the lid, cut out circles in contact paper. Peel off the sticky side and attach the flowers. Attach the art to the rim and hang it in a window for a gorgeous decoration! You can also use both parts of the lid to make more of a shadowbox effect.
Containers
I have a lot of trouble with organization in my drawers. It seems like every time I close them, they become less and less organized. I started introducing mason jar drink lids as storage containers in my drawers for things like jewelry and hair clips, and it's helped keep things organized.
Ornaments
I've seen so many different kinds of lovely ornaments made from jar lids. They make great circular picture frames, as well as snowmen if you combine two sizes and paint them white. You can also use the metal rim of a jar lid instead of an embroidery hoop to make this dried orange slice wreath.
Games
A backyard game that's fun for all ages and so easy to set up is a ring toss using wide-mouth lids and any kind of dowel rod or even a stick. You can paint the rings different colors to form teams and use different sizes for different point values. It's such a fun game for barbecues and gatherings.
I hope these ideas inspire you to reuse that pile of used lids! It's always a good thing when something ends up with a new use and a new life instead of becoming more garbage.
