Some interesting suggestions at this website.

I use a few in the garage for storing things.

One is used under the sink to hold cleaning brushes of all types.

For climates that get a lot of snow, I like the idea of pouring a 20 pound bag of kitty litter into several of the plastic coffee containers and keeping them in the trunk.

Here is a link that might be useful: Uses for Plastic Coffee Cans

I have reused some as scoops for dog food or ice melt pellets in the winter. I spray painted a few for plants. Some are being used in the shed and basement to hold small items on the workbench. When we both smoked one was filled with sand and used as an ash urn outside. They really are great for storing small items. If you spray paint them they look pretty good!

Thunderboltlee, your link won't work.

"Address Not Found

Firefox can't find the server at foo.example.com."

I was just at Lee's link.
Its thriftyfun.com type in
Uses for Plastic Coffee Containers

When I tent camped, I used them for middle of the night porta pottys.

Its so strange that this post is here. I swear not 10 minutes before I came here, my DH asked me what he could do with an empty can. LOL We already have 1 with change, 2 in the dog food barrel and now 1 on top of the pantry.
I am glad to see some more suggestions..

Great ideas! There are obviously some very creative minds on KT - but we knew that!

I use coffee containers to store things in the workroom, as canisters, to organize crafts, as a camping TP holder, and as planters.

In my trunk are several containers...

(1) emergency wipes and first aid

(2)survival kit

(3)craft/activity kit

(4)hidden healthy snacks

(5)Camper's potty: Add kitty litter to ziplock bags. place numerous bags in another in a coffee container. top with Tp (remove core). oila...emergency potty... use one opened bag per need. zip and discard appropriately.

What I have ended up doing with them. I have about 18 of them now filled with dry pantry goods.

They ar,e food safe. I sometimes buy flour, sugar, dried beans, etc. in the big 10 or 25 lb bags. I redistribute to to the plastic coffee cans. We put Saran wrap over the top before we put the lid on.

I also keep craft stuff in them. I have quite a few half marbles, beads, etc. It keeps them together.

I had a bunch a few years back. The school asked for coffee cans so I donated them. They were using them to store some of the classroom supplies.

(Before Keurig) I gave them to our local painter to use for storage of excess paint from cans. They are perfect for that!

I know this is an old thread but I'm just seeing it...or I'd forgotten about it. I have a bunch of these too and am trying to rid of things in the basement so I was just wondering what to do with these. We do have recycling here but I'd rather they be used.

My uses for them so far is; for snow melt granules I have one container in the garage and one on the porch, I use them for bird seeds, I have a few in the basement with powdered laundry stuff in them(borax, washing powder, baking soda and washing soda etc) So far that's about it though. They seem so useful but yet I'm not using them. I also have a bunch of those canisters that nuts come in from Sam's Club.

I buy my roasted coffee beans in a bag, put the beans in an airtight ceramic container and toss the bag in the trash.
No plastic coffee cans

Well we don't buy coffee in a bag, we buy Maxwell House at Sam's Club, so we DO have the plastic containers.

How interesting to see this rise to the top again! Was it really 2009 that I posted it? It CAN'T be!

And...I'm just about to finish another container of coffee, so great timing.

I buy Maxwell House, in the blue plastic canister. The molded handles make these perfect for many things! I use them for berry picking, bird seed storage, ice melt and worms (for fishing). Much easier to hold onto than a "handleless" canister.

I am glad that I looked at this thread because I thought everyone did what I do...grease. I keep one under my sink and fill it will grease that I don't want down the drain. I was worried when they changed to plastic, but they hold up strong.

I use them to store anything, ....plastic bags, dog treats, tea bags you name it. If it fits it goes there. I don't drink much coffee so I don't have many.

Look on the bottom of the container. If it has a triangle with a number from 1 to 7 inside the triangle, it is recyclable. If your community has a recycle program with its trash pickup, toss it in the recycle bin. But then, if you do have a recycle program, you already knew this.

My husband uses them in the garage to hold nails, screws, small tools, all kinds of things, also uses them to scoop up water in the rain barrel in the garden.

I label them and put my syringe needles in one, once it's full I take it to a disposal location and turn it in.

I store craft items in them and jewelry making stuff.

We store garage stuff in them, screws and nails and various other things.

I have some in the storage bin in the atrium with planting supplies in them.

I use them for starting new plants from cuttings or seed.

Tons of great ideas on pinterest. Great for birdhouses, I will do those.

Pinterest ideas

For those that use them for food storage, how do you get rid of the coffee smell before putting flour, sugar, oatmeal, ec into them?

can decorator labels

I wash with vinegar and dawn.
Also there are many free templates for the labels and the folgers site and others have lots of options for labels and uses. link included

I use one of the coffee creamers that comes in a nice plastic bottle with the flip top lid. Those are also very nice to use to store small items like beads and craft stuff. Saw lots of those on pinterest also.


My neighbor started saving her bird seed sacks and dog food sacks that are the plastic coated kind so water proof. She made the prettiest little totes with them and gave some as gifts. They work very well to carry light weight items from the grocery store. And they are so pretty because so many of them have beautiful pictures on them. Her birdseed one is really nice and the bags from taste of the wild dog food are like artwork. I always hated to throw them away now I don't I give them to her. I have since seen some very similar to hers at garden centers for sale.

seed and feed bag totes

there are tutorials

I just run them through the dishwasher.

I bet they would make a great bath tub water scooper to rinse the grandsons after shampoos.

I'm sure they're very recyclable; in this day and age, are there any towns/cities that don't have some sort of recycling program?

Suzieque, I was going to answer this but as I was scrolling down, I saw MaryannTX and she has been dead for several years...so looked back and saw it was a very old post. Oh well, I keep a couple of them that I use to dip feed for the horses. I don't drink coffee but my husband brought home a couple from the convenience store where he goes on the mornings he is home to drink coffee.

We recycle. So it would go into our recycling bin.

Good for storing rice, sugar, flour that came in 22 lb. bags.

Coffee grounds, that I heard the other day helps with plant nutrition, egg shells, other kitchen waste to add to compost to help the garden.

Cookies - easier to open than some cookie boxes. And drop a banana skin into a tub of too-dry cookies.

ole joyful

Use them to pick berries. Then much easier to debug. Put lid on stick fridge. Then next day wash off.

I look at the bottom of the container and if it is coded with a recycle emblem 1 up to 7, I put it in the recycle bin. (My little town contracts a trash/garbage service that also recycles.)

I wish the community coffee we use came in them but they are still in sacks. I had a wonderful coffee keeper that was my mother's I lost in the flood I sure hate that.

I see this is an old thread, but if anyone is still looking for ideas, I use coffee cans that I get from friends and family, whether plastic or metal, as litter scoop holders. I use them for a while then throw away and replace with a fresh one. Other people I know use them to store craft supplies and fabric scraps. One friend uses them to store her secret stash of good chocolate in the cupboard - the kids never think to look there when they scavenge for snacks. (Okay, that last friend may be me, but I can attest that it works!)

bluebell, that is brilliant! now I need to think, what type of can would my husband never look in ...

(One more way to outwit a frazzled husband/kids, looks like).

o j

We drink Maxwell House, and they're cardboard containers (no handle). I have seen the Folgers jugs in the recycling bins though.

For those who store dry goods in, how do you rid the smell of coffee. Does simple washing and airing do it? Now I want some!

Jasdip I have tried everything I can think of to get the coffee odor out of Folger containers without success so I'm interested in the answer to this also.

Nickel_kg.....I have also used the large tubs of Greek yogurt containers to hide my stash. DH never thinks to look in those, either, because he hates yogurt. ;)

I don't think it is possible to remove an odor that has permeated plastic.

It is very possible to remove the odor from the plastic containers. It just takes a little time, and CHARCOAL. I have yet to find anything charcoal won't remove the odor from. Plain old charcoal. Or if you want the expensive stuff, the activated charcoal used in fish tank filters. Just don't use the MatchLight charcoal. You don't want the built in lighter fluid stuff. Put some in the plastic can, put the lid on it and forget it for a week or two. It removes sour milk smell from carpet in cars, rotten food smell from refrigerators that someone unplugged the RV forgetting that it still had food in it when he cut grass and didn't plug it back in, cigarette smoke from yarn or clothing......... If it's fabric or yarn or something like that, put it in a garbage bag and seal it with charcoal in it. It just takes time. Never use Fabreeze or fabric softener sheets.

I use the plastic Folgers tub (about 2 lb. size) with the easy-grab handle for scrap food - banana, potato peels, eggshells and the like.

My Max Hse coffee comes in aluminum-coated cardboard sides, with metal bottom and plastic lid with edge that snaps down over the side.

I just wash both kinds with dish soap in warm water and rinse with hot water, and haven't noticed any residual smell ... but my nose is somewhat disadvantaged.

It's the M H one that I use for flour, rice, sugar, etc. in the pantry ... but many people have the squarish cans that are labelled for flour, sugar, coffee, tea, etc. which use limited space in the kitchen, on the counter, in the cupboard, etc. more efficiently.

I store nails, screws and odds and ends of hardware in about 3" x 6" or so heavy plastic bags that milk comes in, but putting a half dozen bags or so into a round can is somewhat inconvenient.

When I open a can of coffee, I fill about three or four jam jars immediately, packing the grounds down and filling right full, to reduce the amount of trapped air, thus reducing the deterioration prior to use.

I've read that the man who invented the coffee pods is filled with regret, as they don't rot and aren't recyclable, so just sit there long-term in landfills, taking up valuable space.

Says he ... who lives within a couple of miles of the dump acquired a few years ago by Canada's largest city ... for a reported 220 million (Canadian) dollars.

ole joyful

OMG! I just checked out Raven’s link to Pinterest and am now wishing I drank coffee! Some of those ideas are so clever!! The bag holder, the bird houses, the popcorn holder!

I had a similar thought when I emptied out the clear plastic bin the dishwasher tablets come in. I buy it from Costco so the container is sizeable. One day I came up with the idea of keeping it in the sink so we can toss the dirty silverware and knives in it. Works like a charm!

Awhile back, I read a post (can't even remember what site it was though) of someone requesting these empty Folger's containers. Does anyone know of anyone who is asking for them? I have a huge box of them and would gladly give some away. I would also be willing to mail them providing the person pays for postage. I chuckle when I see how much some are asking for these on e-bay!!!

Didn't these start out with hollow handles? I'd swear I remember poking a spoon handle in there to loosen and get it out. But there don't seem to be any such thing, even on ebay, so maybe I'm misremembering?

I've been looking for one just that size i can really grasp to keep coffee on a higher shelf.

I scooped one out of the neighbour's recycling bin. I have it on the counter with my wooden spoons, whisks etc. It's bigger than the container that I currently use, so I'm going to grab a can of spray paint and spray it. No idea what colour, maybe a greyish.

breenthumb, you are correct. I have some that have actual handles and some that have a small side to grasp on to.

Thank you, arkansas girl. Began to wonder if it was a different product I remembered.