When I empty my recycling bin at the end of the week, there are always one or two (or three) wine bottles clinking around in there. Yes, I like my wine, but that’s nothing surprising; I’m a writer. What’s also not surprising in the least is the fact that I’m always looking for new ways to reuse those bottles. I have plans for some of them come fall—be on the lookout for those ideas in a few months—but most of the time my wine bottles just end up going to the recycling center.
While this is a great thing—they’re not hitting the landfill—I got really excited about the Kinkajou Bottle Cutter as another option for recycling (or up-cycling in this case) my bottles. This little device allows you to create something beautiful from your discarded wine and liquor bottles. Bottle Cutting, Inc. has launched its third Kickstarter campaign to fund the most recent incarnation of their product.
Named for the small-in-size but large-toothed South American mammal of the same name, the Kinkajou is small and easy to operate. You can store it right under the sink if you want. This time around, the Kinkajou—which comes with a Firefly LED Pendant Light that can be used to create glasses, vases and votive holders with your other would-be recycled bottles.
The process behind the cutter is simple, eco-friendly and can be done right in your kitchen. The Kinkajou Bottle Cutter doesn’t actually cut the glass on your wine, liquor, or beer bottles. Instead, it scores the glass in one revolution around the bottle. Then, using an application of alternating hot and cold water that you pour over the bottle itself (the company recommends working over the sink), the bottle will separate at the scored line. Sanding the edges with silicon carbide or aluminum oxide sandpaper finishes the sharp edges of the cut bottles. They’re ready for crafting within minutes, without the mess and hassle of so many ideas floating around the Internet that tell you to use alcohol, string or even a flame to cut bottles.
I can just imagine a few pendant lights hanging over the bar in a funky kitchen or dangling over the patio table out back. The best part is that you can use the cutter multiple times. After you make your lights, use your Kinkajou to cut down beer and soda bottles for eco-friendly votive holders that give you some extra lighting on temperate spring evenings. Create a fresh flower vase made from an up-cycled wine bottle it’s just the right touch to the vanity in your powder room. Craft a set of six glasses as a gift for a guy or girl who has everything. Because it adjusts to fit any size, the resulting uses for your up-cycled bottles are only limited by your imagination.