how to recycle a plastic bottle usefully
Perhaps like me you like the taste of Volvic, Mon Roucous, Auvergne, Vichy and the various bottled waters of France - but feel guilty about the carbon footprint involved. And perhaps you'd like to put that empty bottle to some good use beyond sticking it in the recycling bin....where (shall we say) you're not convinced about the environmental friendliness of how outside agencies might dispose of it.
In which case, don't think of it as a plastic bottle: change your perception radically to that of a three-in-one product - part water-hose, part propagator and part pest-killer. All you need to achieve this is one sharp, serrated kitchen knife.
With this weapon, cut through the bottle-section at the point where the neck bulges out to become the main stem of the bottle; and where the stem ribs stop to form the base.
The top can then be inverted and pushed into the ground by small seedlings where you don't want to drown young leaves and rot them. Water into the upturned top and voila - roots watered, seedling nice and dry.
The middle can be used to house newly transplanted things like peppers, lettuces and tiny tomato plants to give them protection against cold Spring nights, slugs and rabbits. It is a combined propagator and pest-repellent.
The bottom can be pressed base-down into the soil, with about a centimetre of plastic above the surface near to slightly older plants, herbs and soft flowering plants. Into this receptacle you can pour anything sweet - in our house, what with a stream of thirsty piss-heads, this tends to be beer-dregs - such that every slug in the neighbourhood will be attracted to it, and drown while nevertheless remaining happy.
Just one tip: you can use sugared water or cheap squashes instead of beer - but not if you have dogs. Dogs don't like beer, but they love soft drinks and will slurp up the lot. They're especially partial to Grenadine aux framboises.