• Use Coke bottles in your craft projects.BOTTLE CAPS image by SKYDIVECOP from Fotolia.com
  
  If you love to drink Coca-Cola, you probably feel a responsibility to recycle the beverage's bottles and cans. Recycling plastic Coke bottles helps reduce the amount of trash being sent to landfills. While placing the bottles in a recycling bin is good for the environment, you also can use those empty bottles to make crafts. Things made from plastic Coke bottles can work well as useful gifts or household items.
  
  

Paperweight

• Use a plastic Coke bottle to build an apple paperweight. This craft works well as an inexpensive, thoughtful teacher's gift. Cut the bottom off a 20-oz. Coke bottle. Use the bottom 2 to 3 inches of the bottle. Place a plastic sandwich bag inside the bottle. Fill it with sand so the sand is even with the top of the bottle. Roll up a sheet of 1-inch-by-3-inch craft paper so it forms a tube. Glue the ends together so the paper holds its tube shape--this is your apple's stem. Use green tissue paper to make a leaf. Glue the leaf to the stem. Place the stem in the middle of the sand. It should stand straight up. Fold the ends of the plastic bag so they close around the stem. Glue the ends of the bag to the stem. Use glue to cover the bottle section with red tissue paper.
  
  

Holder

• Make a holder for your digital media player, or MP3 device. Clean the Coke bottles before starting this project. For a small MP3 player, cut two Coke bottles in half. Recycle the top halves of both bottles. Use scissors or a screwdriver to poke holes around the rims of the bottle bottoms. Sew a zipper to the bottle bottoms (use the pre-punched holes). Leave enough of the zipper to form a "flap" or "hinge" so the bottles don't come apart. Place the MP3 player in the holder. Zip it closed. Store the holder in your backpack or in your car's cup holder. For larger MP3 players, cut one Coke bottle in half. Keep both pieces. Use the same steps to add a zipper to the pieces.
  
  

Bird Feeder

• Drill holes near the top of the Coke bottle. Slide two pencils through the bottle in an "X" pattern. This provides places for the birds to perch. Use a screwdriver to poke a few holes in the bottle to give the birds access to the birdseed. Poke two holes through the bottom of the bottle. Run a length of wire through one hole and out the other hole. Tie the wire ends together to form a hanger. Fill the bottle with birdseed and replace the bottle's cap. Hang the bottle on a tree.