We're in the middle of repainting our kitchen and bathroom (pics tomorrow) and while removing an old mirror from the wall, it broke in half. After we calmed down (it scared the bejesus out of us) we thought to ourselves, is there a way to recycle mirror shards? We found numerous ways to recycle your broken mirror (but sorry, no solutions for curing bad luck) after the jump!
How To: Recycle A Broken Mirror
While you can't toss the broken pieces of mirror into the recycling bin, there are plenty of ways to reuse the bits in your home. You'll first want to make sure the edges are safe by covering them with hot glue from a glue gun or with masking tape. A Dremel will also help out with smoothing down the edges so the pieces of mirror are safe to work with.
- Growing up, we had an entire Christmas village during holiday season on display. Our mom would use small mirrors to act as the ice skating pond for the village.
- Make a hand mirror for yourself or give one as a gift. You'll first want to find the perfect size suitable for a purse or glove box. If you have tools for cutting a mirror you can make the hand mirror a custom size. Be sure the edges are rounded off and then take some decorative paper and glue to the backside of your mirror.
- Art supply stores that specialize in stained glass sell broken bits of glass mirror by the pound. They'll be happy to take the pieces of your broken mirror off your hands.
- The most popular reuse of a broken mirror is for beautiful mosaics. You can mix the mirror pieces with ceramic bits and marbles for decorating tables and stepping stones.
What do you do with a mirror once it breaks? Have you found an alternative creative use for the broken bits of a mirror at home?
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(Image: Flickr member Paul J Everett licensed for use under Creative Commons)
Comments (9)
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I'm curious - Why can't you toss broken mirror into the recycling?
It's glass after all...
view bepsf's profile
make the edges safe, then put tea lights on top. creates a very pretty glow
view rvalexa's profile
bepsf, I'm not sure about the specifics but it has to do with the reflective coating.
view whytephoenix's profile
Yeah, Mr Faux, that sounds pretty much exactly the same. Give credit where credit is due, AT.
view jellybean's profile
As a folklorist/mythologist, I can tell you that recycling/reusing the broken mirror shards does indeed break the curse.
view rapunzel's profile
oooh plagiarism.
view jac7890's profile
What's happened with this post is not just a failure to give credit where due, it's potentially legally actionable. It's okay for a less experienced blogger to make a mistake, but now that you've been alerted by a few folks that this is not kosher, time to take the piece of the site. And perhaps, reiterate for your bloggers what the policy is on "copying" content.
view LiliZ's profile
whoops--typo. "take the piece off" not "of." May cooler heads prevail ;-).
view LiliZ's profile
Hi all--Bethz here. I just wanted to clarify that it was not my intention to pass these great tips off as my own. On the first page in the post, I initially had (and still do) a direct link to the Associated Content article. I have since included an additional link at the end of the post to direct folks to the original content as well. So sorry for not being clear from the get-go.
view bneato's profile