What to Do With Empty Candle Jars
A well-made candle jar is a decent piece of glassware that happens to have had wax in it. Once the candle is finished, cleaning it out takes about ten minutes and gives you something genuinely useful rather than something for the recycling bin. Here is how to do it properly, and what to do with it afterwards.
First, stop burning at the right point
Stop when around 10mm of wax remains. Burning right down to the base overheats the glass and is the most common cause of a jar cracking, which rather defeats the object of saving it.
Removing the last of the wax
The freezer method is the least messy. Put the jar in the freezer for a few hours. The wax contracts as it cools and usually releases from the glass in one piece, which you can lift out with a blunt knife. Coconut and soy waxes respond particularly well to this because they are softer than paraffin.
If the wax is stubborn, pour boiling water into the jar and leave it. The wax melts, floats to the top and sets there as the water cools, and you can lift the disc straight off. Never pour the melted wax down a sink — it sets in the trap and blocks the pipe.
The wick holder at the base is usually glued. A little warm soapy water and gentle pressure with a knife will lift it.
Getting the label off
Soak in hot soapy water for half an hour, then peel from a corner. For any adhesive left behind, a little cooking oil on a cloth will lift it, or surgical spirit if you have it.
Printed glass, like our jars, is a different matter — the design is fired onto the surface rather than applied as a sticker, so it stays. Given that it is the Mallow flower and it looks rather good on a shelf, we would suggest leaving it.
What to do with it
On a desk, they hold pens, scissors and the accumulated clutter of a drawer better than most things sold for the purpose.
In a bathroom, they take cotton wool, hair grips, brushes and the small things that otherwise live loose in a cupboard.
In the kitchen, they work as spice jars, or for the odd bits of dried pasta and pulses that come in awkward part-used bags.
They also make good propagation vessels for cuttings, small planters for herbs on a windowsill, and holders for tea lights, which brings them full circle.
Reusing the leftover wax
The wax you remove still holds fragrance. The simplest thing to do with it is break it into pieces and use it in a wax melt burner, exactly as you would a snap bar. You will get several more hours of scent from what would otherwise have been thrown away.
If you are minded to make a new candle from the offcuts, it can be done with a wick and a little patience, though the result is unpredictable — the wick size will not be matched to the container and the fragrance will be weaker than the original.
If you are recycling instead
Candle glass can usually go in household glass recycling, but only once it is genuinely clean — wax residue contaminates the batch. Remove the metal wick holder separately. If your local authority is particular about coloured or coated glass, it is worth checking their guidance before putting it out.
