Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Fire Starters
Finally, spring!! Cool spring evenings are great for us to use our fire pit. Even when we are low on dry kindling, we have a way to get our fire going.
I have seen a few posts with great suggestions for making homemade fire starters. Here is another idea, also using items that otherwise would be headed for the garbage or recycling bin.
Just as great is the fact that this idea costs zero dollars and takes almost zero time!
Best eco friendly firestarters!
Begin by collecting cardboard tubes from wrapping paper, paper towels, and toilet paper.
These will be the base for this fire starter.
I cut them down to 6”-8” if they are too long and keep them in an empty laundry pod container in my laundry room.
I keep the empty tubes in my laundry room because every time I empty the lint trap in the dryer, I put the lint into one of the cardboard tubes.
I just loosely fill one, then move on to the next.
Be sure to store them in a safe, dry location. As everyone knows, dryer lint is very flammable.
When it’s time for a fire, we use a few of the lint-filled cardboard tubes as part of our kindling to help get our fire started. Both the lint and the tubes burn quite easily and cleanly. We have used this many times in our fire pit, and it has always worked very well.
In addition to filling the cardboard tubes with dryer lint for use in our fire, we also have filled them with:
-shredded paper from our office shredder
-old receipts
-newspaper
The tubes keep everything nice and neat, and they are very easy to use, store, and transport (like for a camping trip).
It's a nice feeling to reduce our garbage/recycling, even if it is just a little bit.
S’mores, anyone?
Resources for this project:
Comments
Join the conversation
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You started by putting drier lint in a paper towel, then you never said a word about it.
I would like to read what you did with that first "invitation to your idea."
Lucetta38@outlook.com
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Lint goes in the paper towel (or toilet paper or wrapping paper) tubes, as described. That’s all there is to this hack.
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
Why not use toilet tissue tubes? No cutting down to size with those.
Can you use this lint in toilet paper rolls to start a fire in the fireplace in your house?
I’m curious about the burning of synthetics in the lint. Wouldn’t that be potentially harmful?