Recycle Soap Slivers

I've seen numerous articles on recycling soap slivers. I have to admit that there are a lot of ideas out there that would never have occurred to me, but I believe that many of them are too time-consuming or are just inadvisable.

The idea of making soap-on-a-rope or placing slivers into a fabric pouch in order to continue using them may see like an economical way to get the most of your old slivers. But, the pouch itself could turn into a breeding ground for bacteria which manage to survive long enough to develop immunity to the anti-baterials in the soaps. It's better to just use them up as quickly as possible.

Another idea is to meltdown old slivers and make a new bar out of them. While this may attract people in the Do It Yourself crowd, I doubt if most people have this kind of patience or want to stockpile slivers until they have enough to make a whole bar.

Two ways that I have found to get the most of my slivers are quick, easy and really don't require much effort.

First, you can use them to help keep your toilet bowl clean:

1. put the sliver in a place where it can dry-out completely;
2. take your sliver of soap and break it into very small pieces, about the size of a fingernail clipping;
3. place the pieces in your toilet tank shortly before you go to bed that night or just as you are about the leave the house for the day, this will allow the time for the pieces to begin to dissolve in the water;
4. when you get home, flush the toilet and the incoming water will be cloudy with dissolved soap and you simply take your toilet brush and scrub the inside of your bowl.

The beauty of this idea is that you're not using caustic chemicals to clean and disinfect your toilet bowl. If your soap already is anti-bacterial, that part is taken care of for you. Plus, you're not spending the extra money to buy toilet cleaners.

A second idea is to use your old slivers to make an extra bottle of cleaner:

1. put the sliver in a place where it can dry-out completely;
2. once dry, break it into very small pieces or you can use a mortar and pestle (or some other tool, like a spoon) to powderize it;
3. place the pieces into an old soap bottle or any other type of bottle that has a spout;
4. add water, shake the bottle to mix the pieces so they will dissolve and not clump-together;
5. set the bottle aside for the soap to dissolve

I like this way better, since I can use it for all sorts of things, from cleaning my toilet bowl to trash cans.

Duane Browning