Can't they be recycled?

Off the bat, turned upside down, spray painted, they might make cool legs for an outside (or inside) table; just need to find some kind of top that would look good.

I would think to recycle them, too, or give them out for people to store water in. My husband is a homebrewer, and he would love a bunch of empty water jugs. :)

Have you tried posting on FreeCycle or Craigslist? Other than that, try recycling at the local city yard, or put them curbside for pick up.

Free-cycle or Craigslist them. Someone will want them.

I'd love one to take clean water camping. You could try putting them on Craigslist, if they were free I'm sure they'd go quickly. I don't suppose you're in Michigan? :P

Learn the facts about municipal water supply and don't buy them in the first place?

Aren't they usually returned to the company? There may be some way to return them.

My dad always used one as a bank for his change.

This is a good example of when things just need to be given to other people, rather than reused to decorate. I second other people's suggestions to give them away on freeecycle or craigslist.

repurpose to make it a sub-irrigation planter and grow food.

http://www.insideurbangreen.org/2010/05/bucolic-bushwick-diy-self-watering-container-2-electric-boogaloo-a-brooklyn-rooftop-container-vegetable-garden.html

re-use as dust bins - cut the top part, cover them with fabrics or paint them!

Piggy Banks! When I was little, my grandmother gave all her grandchildren 'piggy banks' made out of Clorox bleach containers - handle up, little cork (recycle from wine bottles) for the legs - she put a slit for coins on the top (under handle) - eyes and a happy little mouth. The spout was the piggy nose. Robbing the piggy bank was easy, just unscrew the nose and shake - ice cream truck money! Haven't thought about THIS in years. Thanks for jogging the old memory this morning!

I lived for a short time where the tap water was not potable and we had to get the 5 gallon jugs of water. We exchanged the empty jugs for full ones. Take them back to whichever supplier you got them from in the first place.

That is heavy duty polycarbonate, not one-time-use polyethylene (#1 & #2 plastics). Too valuable to trash, recycle, or downcycle (piggy banks or chair legs).

And, I agree Borage, drink tap water and save yourself the trouble of having to come up with something to do with the empty jugs

@MAY thank you for the link! I just spent an hour learning about SIPs and can't wait to try it out!

When I was a kid our music teacher had a set of them and taught us African drumming on them - much cheaper/more durable than giving every kid an authentic drum!

When my father used to work for a company that used the glass ones, we kept a few for piggy bank reasons.

I went to a party once where the host had cut one (a plastic symmetrical version, not one with a handle like is pictured) in half lengthwise, then attached it to a large plank, sealed, to use as a floating table in their pool.

If you're gardening in the ground, not in containers, and you have deep rooted plants like melons that need a good soaking, the old water containers can be a great tool. Drill tiny holes all around the container, and then dig a hole big enough to bury the container except with the neck sticking out of the ground. Position it near your planted vegetables. Put the holey container in the ground, and fill in the area around the container really well with dirt. When you water your plants, just fill up the underground container with water. It will seep through the holes and really saturate your plant's deep roots very efficiently. Wait 90 days, and eat melons.

We get these from a water company at work. I think there is a charge if we don't return them. I would imagine the company that provided them at your job also wants them back, unless maybe they came from a box store or something -- in which case, I'll bet they still take them back.

Returning them to a water company that would use them as intended is the most environmental option.

@ Joel S- THAT'S what I've been doing, but I've been using the smaller 1 gallon jugs and I have them scattered throughout the garden/compost area! What a great suggestion for use of the 5 gallon bottle.

And, to also agree with other posters, find out the company that delivered the water in the first place & return them for the deposit money! When I had a business we had the water delivery and had to pay a $5 deposit on each bottle. It the end we got the deposit back (we were having 15 to 20 bottles delivered every 2 weeks so that was a LOT of deposit money!)

Don't we worry that the plastic will leach into the soil or water if we use them for that? I agree, I think returning them to the company is the best idea. And avoid plastic, that industry should be obsolete by now.

Put it out on CL... two words... BURNING MAN! lol They will lug 'em in their trailers fo' sho

At the very least, if you're not going to use them, can you put them on the curb for someone else to pick up? IME, here anyway, if you put something on the curb, it will get picked up by someone who wants it. :)

In addition to Freecycle and CL, check with the local tropical fish stores. My son has a large saltwater tank and occasionally gets water from the fish store. He has several of these to transport and store water for his tank.

Usually, those kinds of jugs should be picked up by the company when the company delivers fresh water.

Quick note: this may be a case where the office takes the jug to the store and fills themselves (I used to do the same and mine also had the white caps), so there is no water company to return them to. I second the recycling and the gardening technique. I wouldn't recommend giving them away to someone who would be using them for drinking water again. I know that the jugs you fill yourself need to be replaced periodically for health reasons since its difficult to clean and sanitize them yourself on a regular basis.

Fill them with either Pirate ships or Terrariums and sell them on Etsy/Flea market

Learn to make beer and use it as a fermentation vessel

@May: This year, we cut the bottoms off and hung ours upside down from L Brackets attached to our window frames outdoors. To grow our tomato plants!

You feed the baby tomato plant shoots through the bottle neck, cover in soil and wow - they are growing really nicely!

Oh, too bad you're not in Nova Scotia (I assume you're not in NS?)! I've been re-purposing these into make shift separatory funnels for a research project, and we've had to purchase several. I'd love to get my paws on some discarded ones rather than ruining ones still meant for water.

Stores here, both specialty and bigbox grocery, that sell/fill these generally take them back and refund your money as they charge something around $5 in the first place - much like stores charge a fee when you buy regular bottles and cans.

@Borage - Not everyone in the United States lives in an area of clean, drinkable tap water. I know several people who do not live where municiple water is a thing. They instead use a well and pump. Incidentally that water tastes awful and is sometimes filled with nasty things you do not want to be drinking.

To poster - Recycle them, give them away, return to a store.

Recycling is always good.
BUT I say brew beer and cider in them!
They are food grade, and the are plastic fermenters, but those bottles are #7 plastic (not BPA free).
What I would do with one of those is take 12 frozen apple juices, 2 pounds of table sugar, 2 gallons of water boil it for 30 min, and let it cool to 80F and throw in the 2 packets of wine yeast, pour into the bottle and place a large balloon on top. Place in a dark closet.

Then watch the balloon fill with CO2, and in about 2 months, you will have a strong cider ;) you have lots of options after that. Just google, "bottle conditioning"

Oh my gosh, you can get money for those things. People buy them all the time. They sell them at my local grocer for folks to fill at the processed drinking water machine. Advertise them on craigslist or local classified ads and you might just have some extra pocket change for the vending machines at work. :)

Give them to me, we make fiery wooshing experiments in those at work! :)

I like the pig bank idea

yep I collected small change for years in it!

1. vacation fund
2. college fund
3. new couch fund
4. emergency roof repair fund
5. change-I-found-in-the-wash fund

I live in Denver where the tap water is supposed to be good, however it is heavily chlorinated and tastes like it. Fluoride is also added and I am allergic. Neither one of those chemicals is good for anyone, so I will drink tap water when it becomes drinkable. For repurposing ideas, here is an interesting link.

http://lifehackery.com/2008/10/06/art-design-7/

If you're located in Toronto, contact Habitat for Humanity Toronto and we'll pick them up! I am searching for these so that we can hold Penny Drives at some of our locations. If you're not in Toronto, contact a few of your local charities and see if they're in the process of holding a Penny Drive and if they'd like them for collection containers.

We buy water in those jugs as we don't like all the chlorine & fluoride in our tap water.. We had to pay $10 each for our jugs. If ever you don't want to continue swapping out for full jugs, just take them back where they originate from and get your money back.
We found 3 empty ones once and got some cash.. one bottle was from a different company though, so they wouldn't accept it.

Paint them an off white and use Graphics Fairy graphics, pop a bow or some ribbon and turn them into enormous flower vases.

Wrap some jute rope around it and you have outdoor vases.

Turn them into end tables, since the bottoms are concave you can use it as a base for reclaimed wood to be a reclaimed wood end table.

Use them as a fish tank.

Just a few ideas!