Weekly Re-purposing Project

For my re-purposing project I decided to turn an old 3 ring binder into a key holder.

First you need a hot glue gun, an old binder, and a pair of scissors.

The Supplies

Now start to cut the binder so that you have the metal rings by themselves and two flaps.

The metal part that will hold your keys

Now take one of the flaps and the metal rings. Make sure that the flap is clean. If you are using a binder that has pockets on the inside use the front side (as pictured below) so that you can use the back to hold notes or mail.

One of the binder flaps and the rings

Next take the metal rings and flip it over so that the piece of plastic it is connected to is face up. Take the hot glue gun and start applying the glue quickly and smoothly. Be generous with the glue if needed.

Now quickly stick it to the flap where ever you want and press down. Make sure the glue cools before trying to move the piece. After the glue has cooled test to see if it has securely been adhered. If not you should apply more glue.

After securing the metal rings to the flap you should have a finished key holder that you can use!

Finished product

For extra fun add a handle to the back, using the hot glue gun, so you can hang it up on the wall. You can try using the metal wire from old notebooks or old ribbons and cloth. I used an old gift bag handle made of paper.

Key holder with a handle

This is an idea that I thought of on my own. I chose to re purpose old binders because they are really hard to recycle. Most people don't think twice when they throw them away or don't know that it can be recycled. Also, I know that these binders are not very durable to the everyday wear and tear. If we re purpose and recycle these binders there will be less in our landfill. It will reduce the amount of potential pollution that comes from landfills and reduce the amount of raw materials to make another binder. Also, we can reduce the amount of oil and fossil fuel use by re purposing this item. The reason is that factories use fossil fuels and crude oils to produce the materials that make the binders. If we recycle our old binders then we can effectively reduce air pollution and fossil fuel consumption. 

I hope that this get you to think about the impact one simple, everyday item has on our environment and that it gets you to reduce, reuse and recycle!