Storage Basket With Partition Out of Tetra-Paks

Tetra pak cartons come in many forms: juices and grape juices. And if you like juices and tetra paks are your prefered way to obtain them you must know those are not as recyclable as other packages (plastic). But you can save the world and make yourself a quite functional storage basket, that actually even doesn't look so bad. So if you like juice and experience a need for a basket lets roll our sleeves up and do the thing.

Step 1: Collecting Materials

First of all you would need to collect quite a plenty tetra pak cartons.

Notice that different designs would have slightly different dimensions so you'd want to sort them by type.

Open the top and rince the insides to remove the remains of juice.

Step 2: Preparing for Cutting

Some carton designs can be opened at the bottom the same way as on the top, but in other cases a sharp knife does the deal of cutting the bottom off.

I do collect the cut-off bottoms it hopes i'll find a use for them later but haven't had much of an idea so far.

Step 3: Cutting Loops

Now we have to cut loops out of the carton. The width of of the loop should be equal to a quarter of the width of the folded carton, but shaving a couple more millimeters to compensate for the thickness of the material would make weaving much easier.

To cut the loops a metal ruler and a knife can be used. I used to glue a strip of cardboard to the bottom of the ruler to widen it to the required width of the loop, and it makes cutting quite quicker.

Step 4: Cutting Loops More Efficiently

While you can cut your loops with a knife, since I have already made myself a saber cutter I use it and it saves a ton of time and afford in dismantling the cartons.

As you can see you can get 5 full-sized loops out one packaging. Usually I discard the top, since I haven't invented a way to utilize it yet. But I keep the narrow leftovers cause you can still use them for weaving with a certain degree of success.

Step 5: Turning Loops Inside Out

The next step is to turn the loops inside out and reveal the shiny inner surface.

Notice that loops tend to torn on the creases when turned. It's better to be avoided, and although I really don't have a solid solution for that, I noticed that with practice right movements and technique are acquired.

Step 6: Washing

Depending on the application you may want to wash your loops from the juice residue. Just couple swipes with a wet sponge will do the job.

Dry the loops.

Step 7: Beginning to Weave

The basic element of the weave is this interlink of four loops I'll be calling a module. The way it formed is shown on the pictures.

Step 8: Weaving More

After making the first module you expand it by adding new loops until it looks like two modules combined.

Step 9: Weaving the Base

By continuing merging the modules eventually you can build the basis of your basket of desired dimensions.

Step 10: Forming Conners

To form the corners of the basket you should add one more module to the corner of the base and connect it with the nearest free loop the way it shown on the pictures.

Step 11: Weaving Up

When you have all the corners done connect them with the row of modules basically repeating the familiar pattern.

Step 12: Finishing the Weave

At this point I found it more convenient weave the basked by laying it on my laps first and then on the floor later.

Just keep adding rows until desired hight is achieved.

Step 13: Installing Separition

Separation is an optional feature but since i'm making a quite prolonged basket I want the sides to be held together at the middle to keep them from spreading out.

So first of all I weave a flat sheet the size of the basket's side. To secure it inside the basket I pull the free loops or tabs through the existing loopholes in the bottom and sides of the basket. Needle nose pliers may get handy.

Step 14: Finishing the Edge

The finishing touch would be addressing the edges of the basket by folding the free tabs/loops inside.

One way to achieve it is to fold and tuck them back into the weave. But I found the process way too tedious and frustrating so I just used a stapler. If you're going to follow my path on this one be warned that you would need to obtain a larger stapler (staples No:24/6) because casual office stapler won't do anything. Depending on the result you may want to go around flatten the protruding staple stems on the other side, cause it was an issue with me.

Step 15: Admiring the Result

And this is how you saved the world and made yourself a useful basket. It may be as inside so outdoors, but be warned that under direct sunlight and weather it will disintegrate within couple of years.

Step 16: Utilizing Scraps

And as a little bonus I'll show you what weaving results with the narrow leftovers look like. Kind of rough-looking but it's functional and also has an interesting property of being stretchy. And you can store new juice cartons in it.

Anyways, this is it for now. Thank you for your attention. And have a nice juice.