How to Upcycle your Reed Diffuser

Making a house a home isn’t just about the look, but it’s about how your home feels. Reed diffusers not only give your home a welcoming scent, but the essential oils can also help to boost your mood, for a relaxed and happy atmosphere at home. Plus, with reed diffusers lasting for up to 6 months depending on where they are stored (they will last longer if kept in a darker place, rather than in the sun), every home really does need a reed diffuser - or several! But, after you have had 6 months of mood boosting benefits from your reed diffuser, what do you do with your empty vessel?

• What is upcycling? 
• Why do you need to upcycle your reed diffuser?
• Inspiration for Upcycling your Reed Diffuser Vessel 
• 4 Creative Ideas for Upcycling your Reed Diffuser Sticks

What is Upcycling and Why do you Need to Upcycle your Reed Diffuser?

A huge 44% of people do not know what upcycling is and 12% of people do not know the difference between recycling and upcycling. So if you have no idea what I mean when I talk about upcycling your reed diffuser - you are not alone!

What is Upcycling?

Whilst recycling involves turning a waste item into something which can be reused. Upcycling is a specific type of recycling, whereby a waste product is transformed into something of higher quality. Instead of sending a waste item to be broken down and recycled, you repurpose the waste item into something new, giving it a new lease of life. 

Upcycling is considered one of the most sustainable forms of recycling. When paper or plastic are recycled, the recycling process reduces their purity and they are recycled to lesser grades meaning they cannot be recycled indefinitely. Plus, upcycling usually does not require the energy used in the recycling process. 

Why do you Need to Upcycle your Reed Diffuser?

In the UK, in 2018 a massive 222.2 million tonnes of waste was generated. With climate change becoming a growing concern, we all need to do our bit to reduce the waste we are producing. Recycling isn’t the solution, with most items not being recycled indefinitely, we need to find ways of repurposing and reusing items that would otherwise be considered waste. 

Sustainability is close to our heart at Amaura London and our reed diffusers are made in the UK using a sustainable base with a low carbon footprint and we are continually accessing our product packaging to ensure we are offering the most sustainable options available. We do everything we can to make our reed diffusers as sustainable as possible, but once your luxury reed diffuser arrives on your doorstep, it’s over to you! I really hope that you will choose to continue your reed diffuser sustainability journey, by upcycling the empty vessel…

Inspiration for Upcycling your Reed Diffuser Vessel

After your home has been filled with mood boosting aromatherapy benefits for up to 6 months, it is time to upcycle your reed diffuser. When it comes to upcycling your empty vessel, you have a couple of options.

The first option is to fill your empty vessel with trendy pampas to create a stylish decor item that you can display around your home. 

Instead of rushing out to buy a replacement reed diffuser, the second option is to refill your empty vessel. Amaura London offers reed diffuser refills, so that you can refill your diffuser with the same scent, or try something new! You can therefore buy one reed diffuser (or one for every room) and refill your vessel over and over again, so that you can continue to enjoy the relaxing scent whilst reducing waste in the process.

4 Creative Ideas for Upcycling your Diffuser Reeds

Upcycling your reed diffuser vessel is the easy part, to upcycle your diffuser reeds we need to get more creative.

Here are 4 creative ideas for upcycling your diffuser reeds:

1. Put the diffuser reeds in the car, pantry, wardrobe or drawer as a subtle scent enhancer.
2. Get the kids involved and use your diffuser reeds for arts and crafts. The reeds can be made into wall hangings or decorations such as a star or a frame.
3. Use in your garden to mark where you have planted seeds or attach two or three reeds together and allow climbing plants such as sweet pea to grow up - this can work outside in your garden or in a plant pot inside.
4. Use your reeds as a takeaway or activity chooser. Dip the ends of your reeds in different colour paints or mark with coloured pens then place back in the diffuser vessel, or in a different jar. Create a key for what each colour equates to for example, red = pizza, blue = curry etc, then if you can’t decide what to have for tea just pick out a stick! This can also work for activities, such as choosing a date night or as a way of allocating chores to the kids

Upcycling your Reed Diffuser

With climate change becoming a growing concern, we all need to do our bit and one of the steps we can take is to start reducing the waste we produce by upcycling items that may otherwise be considered rubbish. Although upcycling your reed diffuser is admittedly more of a challenge than upcycling your candle vessel, with a little bit of creativity there are lots of options for repurposing your reed diffuser. 

Shop our range of eco-luxury reed diffusers.