Recycle your old Soap

Have small insignificant pieces of soap in your bathrooms, kitchens, or workplaces? Follow this instructable and you can recycle your soap!

Step 1: Choppy Choppy!

What you'll need:

1. The ugly soap.
2. A styrofoam cup, or other microwave safe container you'd like.
3. A microwave.
4. Knife or the likes.
5. Disposable cutting surface, Paperplate!

Collect all of your little pieces of soap. These are usually the ones that have become small, balled up, dirty, or disfugured from too much use. Don't get me wrong, hand washing is a good thing. :)

Gather all of the mutant soaps and put them on a paperplate. Get your knife (I just used a butterknife) and cut all of the soap into tiny pieces. The smaller the better usually.

Comments

[tonygoffe]

...NOW...if someone could just do an Instructable on "How to make a Soap Mold/Press" ..we'd be in Heaven !!!!!!!

[danB_TO]

I have tonnes of these little scraps in the corners of the shower. Brilliant! I did what you've suggested here, but to make the bits smaller, I added the chunks to my old blender with about an equal volume of water and blended/pulsed for less than a minute. I then heated the resultant creamy paste in a double pot system (soap pot inside larger pot with boiling water). Then scooped the gunk into a 1liter cut-off milk carton. We shall see.

[Sparsely]

I like this instructable. But if you're doing the add quarters thing, bear in mind that coins are absolutely filthy (unless, I guess, it's brand spanking new out of a roll). Putting something filthy in the middle of my bar of soap grosses me out.

[sismart]

As for the money issue in the microwave, don't add it till AFTER it's cooked. I just did this (no money) and the soap bubbles up and is very soft. You have to push it down with a spoon to shape it. At THAT point, add whatever you'd want to the pending bar ...

[rfeickert]

With regard to quarters causing sparks, this would not be a problem as quarters dont have jagged edges to spark from. See the Mythbusters episode regarding metal in microwaves.

[Dark_Merlin]

Just a comment on the money in the soap, this is a reaaaallllyyy bad idea if youre gunna be using a microwave. I predict sparking, exploding, boiling microwave soap flying everywhere if you attempt this.

[peacenique]

Thanks, I love the idea and easy peasey instructions!

[Darcy777]

I like your detailed instructions and that you added suggests, as to what you did - like the vitamin bottle. Thanks for the Instructable!

[ladygold]

I used a food processor to chop up the soap pieces; they packed more closely that way. The whol process worked perfectly. Thanks!!

[Derin]

Weird.The thumbnail of the result looks like ice cream!

[Julibopper]

I seem to recall soap with toys in it from when I was little. Plastic in the microwave isn't quite so explosive. And bright toys are just as good as shiny money :)

[dchall8]

I tried something a little different. I put the crude soap into a little dish that "instant" macaroni comes in to heat it. Without chopping it up or adding any water I nuked it for 15 seconds. At that point I took it out and it was very soft. I pushed the soft soap down with the back of a spoon. As soon as it cooled it was ready to use.

[cantth1nk0fnam3]

if little kids know money is inside they'll probably cut the bar of soap open to get the money -_- if they're not lucky they'll cut their fingrs

[Czyne]

Maybe that'll teach them not to be so greedy. Clean hands and a lesson in virtue all in one.

[cantth1nk0fnam3]

cool lol

[JellyWoo]

i microvaved it for a full minute and nothing rose out of the cup!

[JellyWoo]

finally, after 1 1/2 minutes stuff finally comes out!

[farfugliare]

Great instructable. I'd be careful about adding the quarters to the soap and then microwaving it, though.

[Transquesta]

I just put my scrap soap in an old sock. When the foot portion of the sock is full, I tie it off, boil it for a couple of minutes, take it out to cool, squeeze out all the extra juices, and hang it on my shower rod to dry. In about a week, I untie the sock and have a monster "soap egg." (Note: the sock, too, is recyclable. :-))

[rerat]

Couldn't a double boiler complete this process without the waiting period?

[Gunk on Floor]

I guess so, that'd be a good thing to look into. ^-