We made a huge amount of eco firelighters at Kevranna Social club out of egg boxes, old wax and sawdust, making something useful while saving things from going to waste.
We put out a call for donations of wax, any old candles that no longer burn because they have reached the end of the wick, and received a huge bag of old candles from the local Parish Church and St Johns church.
A local carpenter provided the sawdust. It’s also possible to use lint that is collected in tumble dryers instead of compost.
We made hundreds of firelighters which we shared out with people at the social club. The firelighters work so well, they burn for up to 10 minutes, have less smoke than most shop bought firelighters and smells much better.
Instructions on how to make them.
- Fill up a pot with an inch of water.
- Fill tin cans with wax. Chop up larger candles if they don’t fit in the cans.
- Place cans in water and bring water to the boil.
- Fill egg boxes with lint or sawdust. Shredded paper should work too.
- Pour wax into the egg boxes. Make sure they are on top of newspaper as the wax seeps through.
- Leave to dry and break the egg box up into blocks to use
NB: We melted the wax directly in an old pot but it’s much better to use the water and can method if you want to re-use the pot as it’s extremely difficult to clean.
Thank you to National Grid Electricity Distribution, the Community Matters Fund and Localgiving for assisting with funding of Kevranna Social club which not only provides fun activities but also cooks up meals using waste food.
