Cleaning Your Candle Vessel For Re-Purposing or Recycling
You love candles, and your empties don't sit right with your sustainable lifestyle - we agree! So, it's time to give all your candles jars a second life with these quick and simple tips to clean them out so you can re-use them.
We've made it nice and easy for you, making mistakes so you don't have to, and only using things you will have laying around your home (with photos for my visual learners).
Pro Tips:
- The less wax left inside the jar makes this process easier so try get out most of your candle before you start cleaning!
- Keep in mind you are working with glass so please BE CAREFUL, especially with delicate vessels (such as our Crushes beaker candles)
- DO NOT pour the water from the vessel straight down the sink - trust me you do not want to clog up the drains with candle wax (remember I tried and tested multiple methods so you didn't have to) Instead, wait until the wax is set and cooled down before cleaning!
- Orange Essential Oil is a great natural product that helps to remove sticky labels, I recommend using this along with dish soap for a very thorough clean.
You'll Need:
- A butter knife
- A good steelo scrub or some heavy duty dish sponge you don't mind ruining with wax
- An old tea towel
- A kettle
- A sieve or some kind of strainer ( I made my own by pricking holes in a paper cup)
- Dish soap (and orange essential oil)
Steps:
- Start by boiling your kettle
- While the water is boiling, use your butter knife to scrape out as much of the candle wax as possible. Do this over a rubbish bag and NOT over the sink!
- Pry off the wick with your butter knife, but if this is too hard, leave it for now! (once you soak the candle in water it should come off easy peasy)
- Empty all the wax you managed to get off in your rubbish bag
- Fill the candle with hot water, leaving just a little room at the top. Let this sit for around 15- 20 minutes or until you see the wax begin to collect at the surface
- Strain the water either through a sieve (or a makeshift strainer like this lil' punctured paper cup) so it catches any wax from going down your drains
- Now do that all again with some soapy water! Extra for experts: Orange Essential Oil works like a dream!
- If your candle vessel had a lid, put it on and give the vessel a good ol' fashion shake to loosen up any remaining wax
- And lastly, get your Steelo to get the last of the wax out. Make sure you get into all the grooves of the jar and give both the inside and outside a thorough scrub!
- For any sticky hard to budge labels add a little more soap or orange oil and a whole lotta elbow grease.
- Dry the jar off either with a tea towel or leave in the sun, and there you have it, a nifty little jar all ready to be reused!
Because Crushes is devoted to sustainability, we recognize that re-using and re-purposing is the best way to care for our earth and her resources! So now that you have the skills to clean out your candle vessel, we encourage you to find a new purpose for her in your home, or bring her back clean to Crushes and we will re-purpose them back in to a candle.
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