How to Creatively Recycle Your House Keys

Over the years, our family has somehow managed to collect dozens and dozens of keys. Some of them belonged to locks we've lost or cars we've sold, and some even belong to now deceased relatives.

As a rule, most people I know hate throwing out a set of keys due to the inevitable effect of Murphy's Law. Sure as heck, the day after those keys that have been hanging on the key rack for the past 5 years have been pitched for good, someone will come around to claim them.

How to recycle your keys

Unless your keys have been identified with your home address (which is never, ever a good idea), keys can be recycled in a couple of different ways:

All recycling centers will accept metal keys for recycling with mixed metals as long as you remove the rubber edging before throwing it in the bin. Another alternative which really makes more sense, is to turn in the keys to a local locksmith. Not all keys can be recycled into new ones, but a locksmith can tell at a glance if yours can be re-keyed for another lock.

If you're ready for some different ideas, learn some of the interesting ways that old keys can be creatively reused.

Use them as weights

Sewing a set of curtains or drapes? Old house keys can be used as weights in the hem. Keys can also be used to keep those shower curtain liners from billowing out during a shower. I use Gorilla glue to attach several keys to the hem.

Make a wind chime

Tie your loose keys to varying lengths of fishing line. Pierce some holes in the bottom of an old tuna can, thread the line through the holes & tie off. These also make great customer door bells for old fashioned service shops. Hang the chime above the door, so the opening door grazes the keys.

A few summers ago, my daughter made the bell shown. She glued an collection of old keys, rings, and tags along with a County Fair souvenir sheriff badge to an old tin can. For the clapper, a "church key" was hung from the inside.

Play toy

My kids loved playing with keys when they were younger, and would often disappear with my house and car keys and hide them where they couldn't be found. To keep them away from my keys, I made a play set just for them using a personalized key chain and 10 miscellaneous house keys.