Have Empty Toilet Paper Rolls? Recycle Them Into Fire Starters

I may not have mentioned this, but honey and I are not super crafty... but we do like to take on projects, save money, and find creative ways to recycle.

Since moving from the apartment lifestyle to home ownership, we lost the "luxury" of the dumpster and the numerous recycle bins at the dumpster area.  What we really miss is "dumpster diving" after folks moved out so we could find great stuff we needed like lamps, grilling sets, vacuum cleaners, etc... but THAT'S another story.

Moving on... we have once a week garbage pick up that is limited to what fits in their trash can (no extra bags or yard trash allowed) and they do not offer recycling.  Recycling in our small town means loading up the car, driving to a recycling center where they weigh your car while it's loaded and then after it's unloaded (by you) your car is weighed again.  Then you pay them based on the weight of your recycling.  So... we burn lots of stuff.

We get loads of junk mail now and we pick up travel magazines to help us explore our area but after a while, I'm ready to get rid of them.  So, on to the burn pile they go.  Our burn pile is plastic bin, in our stairwell leading to the basement.  Every weekend honey goes through and tears down boxes from mail we received and double checks the junk mail to verify that it is junk mail and not something important by accident.  He then asks which boxes I want to save for Ebay shipments and then he stuffs our collected empty toilet paper rolls (and paper towel rolls) with sale papers, junk mail, tissue paper from packaging, gift wrapping, dryer lint, etc.

I bet you were wondering when I was finally going to get the the empty toilet paper rolls... In case you missed it, we collect our empty toilet paper rolls and put them in the "burn pile" box and then every weekend, honey stuffs them with dryer lint, junk mail, and scrap paper.

What happens next?  We use them as fire starters for the fireplace and the chiminea.   He puts these stuffed rolls on the bottom of the grate, then he uses small twigs and/or soft wood, then tops them with the hard wood logs.  He lights the stuffed toilet paper rolls, gets us some wine and then we have a fire that burns for a few good hours!  These would also be handy to take camping as they are lightweight and small to pack.

Do you have a neat recycling idea?  Please share!