What will the garbage man think?

Simply put, we’re fanatical recyclers.  Everything from the usual milk jugs and aluminum cans to shampoo bottles, deli containers, styrofoam cups and buttery spread tubs…  If it’s got that triangle on it, it’s going in the recycle bin to be put out by the curb on trash day.  For some reason – maybe too many episodes of CSI? – I find myself wondering what someone would think if they went through our recyclables.  BoJangle’s cup, deli salad container from Piggly Wiggly, 20-ounce Mountain Dew bottle, beer bottle, Everclear bottle, Suave For Kids conditioning shampoo…  Hold it!  Everclear bottle???  I mean, a beer bottle isn’t that big a deal; many people drink beer (I just don’t happen to be one of them).  But Everclear?  We’re talking 190-proof, pure grain alcohol that’s illegal in many states.  And yet, my husband doesn’t drink more than the occasional glass of wine or rare beer, and I haven’t drunk (drank?) any alcohol in at least a year.  So what in the world am I doing with a Corona bottle and an Everclear bottle in my recycle bin?

Why, to make soap, of course!  Yeah, I’m sure that’s the FIRST thing people would think if they happened to catch me tossing an empty beer bottle into the recycle bin early this morning.  Uh huh… Riiiiiiight!  I’ll be telling you more about these amazing soaps in more detail – complete with pictures, of course – in the coming days.  I can’t say a whole lot about what I’m planning to do with that Corona that’s currently going flat in the garage; it’s too close to Christmas for that. 

I can tell you a bit about the Everclear, though.  I originally purchased this last year with the intent of making hand sanitizer and sinus relief stuff.  Hand sanitizer’s a drug, so I had to stop production of that, and the sinus relief stuff was getting expensive with the amount of menthol crystals I was having to use, making it nearly cost-prohibitive.  So, for the better part of a year, this bottle has been sitting in my soap cabinet.  This morning I woke up, fed my baby, started my coffee, and while I was putting my breakfast together, I decided I wanted to try making transparent soap.  Yeah, just like that.  I grabbed my book and reviewed the directions and got started soon after breakfast.  Making transparent soap starts as a basic hot process method, but the addition of PGA helps the gelled soap become liquid once more.  I used all that I had left, which is why the bottle’s now in my recycle bin.