How To Recycle Your Candles

There’s nothing we hate more than waste, and candle waste really gets our goat. That bit left in the bottom and on the sides of the candle jar, it’s soooo annoying when you see how much wax there actually is left in there! Well, what if there was a simple way to recycle your candles?

What You Need

Take all your old candles that have wax left in them. The tea lights may also have a bit of residue that you can easily pour out by heating from underneath and pour into any of the candles you are recycling. For a rainbow effect it works best with orange, yellow and red. You need candle wicks, which can be bought for a couple of pounds online and a microwave.

How To Recycle Your Candles

It’s very important that you check the sticky labels at the bottom of the jars, as many of them have metal security strands in them ( yes we found out the hard way, almost blowing up the microwave).

Remove the sticker and don’t forget to remove the metal base of the candle wick. Loosen the wax from around the sides and cut through the base wax so it’s easier to melt.

Place the metal free jar into the microwave for about 2 mins, depending on the size and amount of wax. For our tri-colour candle, we placed the orange wax on the bottom layer, followed by the red,

followed by the yellow.

Try and let each layer cool slightly before adding the next layer. We added the candle wick into the gooey wax as the second level was just about hardening, (and before we added the last yellow layer), so it would stand properly.

Your Finished Recycled Candle

Add the final layer and let it set for a while. Trim down the wick and enjoy.

Of course there are tons of combinations of colours you could try and you don’t even need to match colours- here’s a delightful swamp colour one we made from old bits of candles- yes it’s not very pretty, but it does the job!!

We all love candles, but unfortunately they aren’t cheap. The one’s we recycled were still full of delicious scent as well as vibrant colours ( if you ignore the swamp one!!). So stop putting your used candles in the bin, and recycle your candles. It’s fun and saves you money- what’s not to like?