We Recycled your Empty Candle Jars + Our Thoughts About the Process

Last week in honor of Earth Day, we hosted our first ever Candle Recycling event at Station 7. We collected over 20 empty candle jars, from completely empty to the ones that have become the tunnel of doom, and do we feel so excited about making this step in the right direction to properly recycle the candles that we sell!

Now listen, if you’re anything like me, once you get to the bottom of the candle, it’s like an instantaneous feeling 😵‍💫. The thought of carving wax, freezing, ovens, wick… bleh.. The process of recycling a candle feels overwhelming and honestly, you just don’t want to. When it comes down to it, it becomes either one of two options: 

1. A shelf that now serves as a graveyard for your empty candles, somewhere in your home (hidden, not hidden? Who knows). Or,
2. It’s too overwhelming, andddd the trash just seems too simple. 👀🫣 

Trust. We have all been there. I am a guilty party, I cannot lie. And so, this is why it felt very important to us at Station 7 to take this very important step, especially on Earth Day, to do our part, but also to report back on if candle recycling is truly as easy as the internet makes it out to be, heh. 

So, according to the internet, when you have multiple candles to recycle, the easiest method is to freeze all your ready-to-be-recycled candles (given the amount of space needed, this saves time), and this is the method I followed. Let's go for it.

STEP 1: COLLECT + FREEZE

Collect all ready-to-be-recycled candles. Per the internet method, we loosened the wax of the majority of our candles by poking a few holes in the wax (leaving a few for comparison) - we used a tool from the shop. Pop the candles in the freezer for a minimum of 24 hours.


THOUGHTS + NOTES:

• Pre-loosened wax: I didn’t find a difference between those candles that I loosened vs. those I didn’t touch. I had multiple candles with pre-loosened wax give me a hard time, while untouched candles popped out perfectly.
• Amount of freeze time: I left the candles in the freezer for 24 hours, maybe a little less than this. While some articles / pages state “a few hours” - don't let them fool you. Leave in there for at least 24 hours min!
• Other: note that your freezer will smell like the candle(s). My partner, Drew, was not pleased with me 🤡

STEP 2: POP THE WAX OUT!

Prepare a space for a post-clean: lay down a towel / wax paper, etc. and a butter knife. Take your candles out of the freezer and set them next to your space. Go through one by one, using your butter knife. Taking the wax out might require some force. Get out as much of the wax as you can with every candle.

THOUGHTS / NOTES: 

• Time Sacrifice: While I *thought* the freeze would easily pop *all* the wax out of their vessels, lol BOY, was I very wrong - depending on # of candles you have, this step could take anywhere from 2-10 minutes per candle. We also had to have a second post-clean here, coming up in step three..
• "Popping:" - this, my friends, is a lie. Most of these candles will need help getting their wax out of their vessels. This might mean more hole poking, carving, scraping, or the most horrible, wax flying everywhere as you apply max force, digging your way down. Who knows, but you're in it for the long haul now.
• Gloves: during this step, I also learned it would be super helpful to wear gloves! You’ll avoid all candle scents / wax seeping into your hands and staying there for the day.
  

STEP 3: SOAK*

After the majority of  wax is out of your vessels, you’ll note that there might still be a good amount of wax around the edges, bottom, etc. The best way to get rid of that, as well as their labels at the same time? It’s time for their soak!

With a waterproof bin (or your sink!), fill with hot water and a squeeze of dish soap. Let them sit for a minimum of 1 hour.  After the hour, wear gloves that reach your elbows and work within the soak, using a rag or older sponge to wipe the insides of the candles of their wax (the heat loosens their wax). The candle labels should also easily come right off.

After this, the candles are ready for recycling or reuse!

*this step was added by me, based on my personal experience.

THOUGHTS / NOTES: 

• This step was added by me, based on my personal experience. It felt overwhelming, and the wax was excessive and everywhere. If you don't wear gloves, you'll be covered in the silky smoothness that only wax comes with.
• Soak - don’t want to soak? You can also pour boiling water into the glass, and wipe the remaining wax off the glass after an hour.
  
• Bin vs. Sink - I chose the bin because I didn’t want to pour the soaked water down my drain - honestly, there was quite a bit of leftover wax still on each candles edges/bottom, and the wax coating isn't great for your pipes. This added additional care and time to the process.
  
  

OK, so overall, that was an extremely overwhelming and time-consuming process that required a lot of dedication and work to get the candles to a point of being able to be ready to be recycled. 

TBH, I would not recommend the freezing process, and most likely would not do it that way again.

I’ll be experimenting with different methods, as we move forward, but I feel like (first thoughts), pouring the wax out when it is fully melted into a container that will already be tossed out with the trash would be ideal, easiest. 

What do you think? Do you have a different method you think might work better? Let us know 💥