Recycling and Upcycling at home
All Brethren candle vessels and packaging are recyclable and reusable.
Brethren glass vessels and cardboard packaging can be recycled with your local household recycling - please refer to your local council's guidelines and take care to remove any residual wax from your spent vessels before recycling (see methods for this below)
Better still, once cleaned, our vessels make useful storage for kick-nacks or elegant planters. Both ceramic and glass vessels can be repurposed by removing any spent wax and peeling away the wick holder.
There are two ways of doing this:
The freezer method:
Put your used candle in the freezer overnight. This will cause the wax to shrink away slightly from the sides of the vessel. Then you can carefully prize away the wax. The back of a spoon is effective for this and for removing the wick sustainer if it still sticks to the bottom. Soy wax is quite soft, so you may find the wax doesn't come cleanly away in one solid chunk.
The hot water method:
Pour hot water into your used candle vessel. The wax will melt and float to the top. Once it's cooled, you can siphon off the water and scoop out the remaining wax. Again, the back of a spoon can be used to peel away the sticker on the bottom of the wick sustainer.
It goes without saying, but Please do not pour molten wax down the sink! Fragrance oils are toxic to aquatic life (plus the last thing you want after a nice relaxing candle is a blocked sink full of congealed wax).
The freezer method is our preferred method as it tends to be cleaner and there's minimised risk of residual fragrance oil ending up going down the sink, but we suggest trying both and see which method suits you best.
After wax removal:
Whichever method you use, once the wax and the sustainer are removed, wipe your clean vessel down with alcohol wipes or rinse in hot soapy water to remove any remaining grease or soot. We do not recommend cleaning empty candle vessels in the dishwasher, as this can cause fragrance oil to coat the inside elements (you don't want perfumed dishes, trust us!).
Our biodegradable labels can be removed by soaking the clean vessels in hot soapy water for a few hours or overnight. Acetone-free nail varnish remover or alcohol wipes are effective at removing any remaining glue.
Please note: Fragrance oils are toxic to wildlife and aquatic life! To protect our environment, please use up as much wax as possible (so you get your money's worth!) and dispose of any leftover wax in your general waste (this will help to keep anything hazardous locked away in its solid form and prevent leeching into the water table)
Some summary Do's and Don'ts:
Maximise your candle's burn time by using as much wax as safely possible (leaving 1cm of unmelted wax in the bottom of the vessel on your final burn)
Always try to Reuse or Recycle your vessels - it's much more fun and better for the environment then just bunging them in the bin!
Take care when removing wax from the base of a vessel (e.g. don't be tempted to hack away at it with a sharp knife if it doesn't come cleanly out first time)
Never, never, never pour melted wax down the drain
If you do repurpose your vessels, please share a picture with us on social media - we'd love to see what creative ideas you come up with!
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Brethren Candle Co. is an imprint of Alice Schular Art.