Recycle Vinyl Blinds into Plant Markers: Another Quickie Tutorial
Our house is chock-full of vinyl mini-blinds, and one of the things that I’d most loooooove to do is to chuck them all in favor of something natural and something less likely to strangle my dear babies. I haven’t yet, however, because they are perfectly serviceable still and I can’t stand to just throw them in the trash just because I want to upgrade.
And then I thought, “Why do I hate vinyl so much?” Because it will basically never, ever decompose back into the earth.
Where, however, could such a quality ever be an asset?
In the garden, that’s where! No matter what happens between spring and fall–rain, sun, heck, the apocolypse could strike at any second–I am always going to know exactly where my chives are.
Here’s how you can transform your crap blinds into indestructable chives markers, too:
You will need: vinyl blinds to recycle; REALLY sturdy scissors; permanent markers (you bought some Sharpies to make your #6 plastic shrinky-dinks, right?)
1. Snip away the twine holding your vinyl blinds together to separate them into the nice, long planks.
2. Using your very sturdy scissors, cut each plank into a good length for your plant markers. Mine are extra-long so that my four-year-old daughter can help me and practice her BIG printing, but the bonus is that the extra room also gives me a cheat-sheet of sorts–on some, I wrote what the plant is supposed to look like, so that I don’t accidentally weed it, and on others, I wrote any special water or other care requirements, just so I don’t forget..
3. Using permanent ink pens, label your plant markers any way you’d like.
And that’s it!
Whatever do you do with your sucky old vinyl mini-blinds?
This is a genius idea, but I have to ask – isn’t there a risk of lead poisoning from vinyl blinds, especially older/imported blinds? That’s what I’ve heard…I want it to not be true though, because these markers are so cute.
I just made a bunch of these last week! I made them smaller so they would fit inside the seed starter trays, but they work really well and the nice part is that you can make them whatever size you need. The one thing I did notice is that after a while, the plastic becomes brittle, but you could probably get a few seasons out of the markers before that happens.
I haven’t heard anything about lead poisoning, but I’ll have to look into that now.
Just make sure the blinds are lead-free. not all are from the past.
Good question–vinyl blinds imported for US sale around 1996 or earlier have lead as a finishing agent, and these can decompose with direct sunlight. Around that time the CPSC changed the law, promoted new packaging labeling, and encouraged families with young children to dispose of imported vinyl miniblinds.
Our vinyl miniblinds that we used for these plant markers are only a couple of years old, and don’t contain lead. In my experience, miniblinds don’t last terribly long, anyway–they’re always breaking or getting bent or something, so fortunately it’s getting less likely that those older imported miniblinds would be around, but I know it is possible. 1996 or earlier imported blinds shouldn’t be recycled into craft projects–those should be discarded as hazardous waste.
Absolutely brilliant!
[...] a Green World has a great quickie tutorial on using vinyl blinds as markers for plants. [Read this article] [Comment on this [...]
I have been using pieces of vinyl blinds as plant markers for a few years. I have noticed that after a while in the sun even the sharpies fade so I place a strip of clear packing tape over the writing. This helps the writing last longer. They work great as temporary plant markers.
The packing tape idea is terrific! If you REALLY wanted to keep your vinyl markers for a long time, I imagine that a spray clear coat or top coat of paint designed specifically for vinyl would work. Then, though, you’d have to use spray paint, of course.
[...] getting rid of all the crappy vinyl blinds we’ve got. And since I want to grow some veggies, this tutorial on recycling vinyl blinds into plant markers seems perfect for [...]
[...] Crafting a Green World has a great way to make plant markers from recycled blinds. [...]