There are hundreds of things you can do with those empty capsules after you’ve made your coffee with them, if you only get a little creative you can start to recycle your Nespresso® capsules (or other compatible capsules). Here are 15 ideas of things you can easily create at home, even with your kids or friends. Use your imagination and I’m sure you’ll have many more ideas of your own!

Lamp Shade – Flattened pods can be threaded together along a few ribbons, and attached to the top of an old lamp shade – for a perfect colorful homemade lamp shade.

Popsicles – As the days get warmer outside, try filling empty capsules with your favorite juice and a popsicle stick, freeze overnight and enjoy cool summer ice popsicles.

Frozen Cooking Herbs – chop herbs and freeze with some water to use in your favorite dishes and soups.

Decorative Curtain – Add some color to a doorway with this neat trick, just thread a few flattened empty pods along a string, and tie the strings over the doorway.

Seeding Pots – Why not fill empty pods with seed raising mix or good quality compost mixture, and use them as seeding pots.

Colorful Christmas Lights – Used pods could make a great addition to Christmas or fairy lights, just cut a hole in the base and insert each light.

Jewelry – Just let out your creative side with the endless jewelry pieces that can be created with used pods. Here are just a few.

Christmas Bells – A couple of colorful empty pods can be used as a great Christmas decoration, with the help of some wire.

Miniature Plant Pots – Using clay or FIMO you could make great little flowering plants and place them in used pods. These make great wall decoration or something fun for your kids to play with.

Toy Caterpillar – Another great kid’s toy is a caterpillar made of empty capsules threaded together.

Tin Figures – Make figures of all shapes and sizes by gluing a number of pods together, coloring and then decorating them. These make great toys or holiday decorations.

Ingredients Cups – Cook with ease and a mess free environment by using a number of empty pods for herbs, spices and chopped ingredients to use while in the kitchen.

Sauce Cups – When planning a dinner party or barbecue, always keep a few empty pods for your favorite sauces, each guest can have his own sauce cup.

Capsule Mosaic – No need to spend money on a picture for the house, just outline a simple photo and glue used pods onto a large canvas, just like a modern day mosaic.

Colorful Flowers – Use colorful used capsules to create flowers as great decorations for the holidays.

If you’re interested in more recycling ideas, we also have an interesting post about recycling the used coffee in the pods to create the Coffee Scrub. And if you’re not really interested in homemade recycling, our capsules are still 100% recyclable.