Save Money, Save your Shoes, Save the Planet

Nat4Design uploaded a pretty cool post about reusing old cardboard boxes by making a shoe organizer.  The point of the video is to reuse the boxes instead of dumping them in the landfill or even recycling.  Once your cardboard box has outlived its original intended purpose the most environmentally friendly thing that you can do is find another use for it.  Building a shoe organizer is killing three birds with one stone – helping save the environment and keeping your closet a little bit easier to manage – while costing you next to nothing.  Maybe it’s not going to be as sturdy as something you’d get from Macy’s, but it will do the job.

Criss-cross for strength

She suggests using two layers of cardboard laid one on top of the other at a ninety degree angle for the platforms for the shelves.  This orientation of the cardboard will increase the amount of weight that the shelf can hold because the waves of internal cardboard that make up the corrugation will be perpendicular.  This is the same concept that gives plywood its strength.  Changing the direction of the grain means there are fewer weak points.

Also, like plywood, the two sheets of cardboard should be glued together.  Since we are partially trying to save the environment, remember to use a non-toxic glue.  Elmer’s Glue-All ought to do the trick.  It’s strong, cheap, non-toxic, and available at most office supplies stores (and kindergarten classrooms).

Double the green

Once the 2-ply boards are dry, she shows you how to notch the boards so that they form horizontal and vertical dividers.  Now, you’ll notice that she designed her boards to fit in some sort of bookcase.  You can still do this project, though, if you don’t happen to have an extra bookcase lying around.  You can double the Earth friendliness of the project by putting your cardboard shoe organizer inside another re-purposed cardboard box.  That second box will remain intact and your new grid of 2-ply boards will go inside it.

Watch the full video: