Easiest way to remove last bits of paper from empty toilet paper rolls (and sterilize them)?

[msbecaroo]

I live in a senior community, and we have been brainstorming for ideas to generate cash to purchase prizes for some of our community games. Among many other ideas, I discovered,  much to my surprise, selling that empty toilet paper rolls seems to be a thing. That should be a very easy thing to amass in great volumes in a senior community of nearly 200 residents!

I have been saving my own for the last several months so that I could do a test-sell of a few batches before adding it to the list of suggested items to collect. Although I never gave it much thought before this experiment, I now notice that darn near every other roll (or more) seems to have little bits of paper stuck on it that is tedious to remove. 

In exploring the eBay listings for empty toilet paper rolls, I observed that they are all clean (and wisely so!). I would venture a guess that if I asked the residents to clean their rolls beforehand, I'd be lucky if half would do so, which would still leave me with quite a lot of cleaning to do to prep them for selling. 

Does anyone have any tips for quickly and easily removing these last bits of paper short of hand-picking them off with your fingers (which is tedious, time-consuming, and not always successful)? 

Also, I did some research into sanitizing them as well, and I saw several blogs which suggested that the most non-toxic way to do this is to let them sit in the sun for a few hours. I'm guessing that will not be a good solution in the winter or during long rainy periods. If anyone knows other methods (that don't involve Lysol or bleach), I'd be grateful for that as well. 

Thanks in advance!

~Karen 🙂

[wolf*song]

I don't have a solution for you, sorry, but just wanted to say... Ew.  🙂

[copper.boom]

Have you considered paper towel rolls? Easier to clean & more sanitary.

[fuzzface50]

I've sold them in the past when the prices were alot higher but i still have been saving them too and noticed the same thing, they don't come totally clean anymore.

anyways you will get the ones that will complain on the board here about it, they do everytime when tp gets brought up. but i remember when i was younger we always saved them for the school and had a drop bin in front of the art room for them.  When you went to someones else's house you always saw some art deco made out of them by their kids.

there was even a little craft book that came out monthly that had all kinds of things made from tp rolls  ,egg cartons, milk cartons, etc. back then.

Sorry can't help you with the leftover tp problem. i still save them but before i get to totally cleaning them, i bag them and for some reason that bag gets smashed and then i just toss it and start over again. at least the smashed bags help get my fire going .  🙂

[tunicaslot]

It seems like you might get more for paper towel rolls rather than toilet paper ones.

Other suggestions might be to save the Coca Cola points that many people collect and redeem for gifts.

Campbell's Labels for education. The Box Tops for education - all are items that many of your residents purchase on a reg basis and the labels, caps, ect are sold here on ebay

[mistwomandancing]

As to the TP rolls... see if you can get a small package of several different brands, because while some will be better than others as to the toilet PAPER ( ) you'll find some brands do end with paper still sticking to the inner cardboard roll, while another brand simply has the end unattached, and nothing sticking to the roll.

Also, even though boxes of TP rolls will be cheap to mail, all of this work and effort will bring you very, very little money in the end. 

I think you will make more money for your project by selling empty prescription pill bottles.  A bit more work, because you have to get those sticky labels off, but more demand for them as they have so many uses by both men and women:  men use them in fishing tackle boxes to hold lead sinkers and hooks of various sizes, etc. or in their workshops to hold various little bits of hardware, screws, brads, nuts & bolts, etc. and women use them in sewing boxes, to hold beads and findings in their craftwork, homemade spice mixtures in the kitchen, even seeds being saved in the garden shed, etc.

Look at what collections of these pill bottles bring on eBay, and see what you think.  Good luck in financing your project!

[ersatz_sobriquet]

Or sewing, kind of a lost art. A lot of older women know how to do needlework. Not bulky easy crochet which is not a successful seller much, but the fine needlework. 

Quilts. No polyester/rayon fabrics though, those went out a long time ago. 

[tiramisu41 · Accepted solution]

@msbecaroo

Congrats to you and your group for coming up with such an innovative fundraising idea!

Here's a link that may be helpful regarding sanitizing the rolls: http://www.natashalh.com/how-to-sanitize-paper-rolls-for-crafts-2/

As far as removing any paper remnants from the rolls, don some disposable rubber gloves and mix up a light solution of vinegar and water and put it in a spray bottle.    Lightly mist the rolls just enough to get the paper wet but not to saturate the roll.    Then rub off the paper remnants by using your hands.

Once you've removed any paper/glue from the rolls, put them in the oven not only to sanitize but to dry out from the paper/glue treatment.  Stand the rolls on end, touching each other, but not too tightly packed so that as they dry they don't become misshapen.

As you clean the tubes, the paper should dissolve/come off fairly easily, however, the amount of residual glue will vary by brand.  Most crafters prefer to use clean rolls with no glue residue. Gardeners using the tubes as a bio-degradable seedling pots aren't concerned about aesthetics so if you can't get the glue off, don't despair.  

Just "grade"  the rolls according to condition.    The clean and smooth ones, market for use in craft products and those which aren't, advertise and sell as suitable for gardening / recycling use. Regardless, pack them in clean (preferably new) cardboard boxes suitable for shipping which will help you standardize the quantity in each lot.  Research eBay to see what are the most common/popular quantities and price points.

As @copper.boom noted earlier in this thread, paper towel rolls can also be of interest especially to crafters. The larger/longer size can be better suited to some projects over others.  You might want to "diversify your product line" by giving those a go, too.

Finally, in addition to eBay you might want to think about marketing your items locally -- to gardening clubs, at farmer's markets and/or arts & crafts fairs, to crafting groups, vacation bible schools, day care centers, home schools, and even municipal recreation programs.   You could also offer local delivery which might be a great way for others in your group to get involved and lend a hand.  

Develop a combo flyer/order form that could be distributed, mailed, emailed, or downloaded online. Have fun, and come up with a catchy name/slogan for your products.  Print up a sticker utilizing you "branding" that you can slap on your boxes which serves the double purpose of providing contact info to make re-orders easy and convenient.

A local TV station or newspaper might also find your project intriguing especially given its purpose -- to raise dollars for items needed at the senior center.

Go all out and hold a kick-off for your project once you have a good quanity of rolls on hand.  Maybe one of your members is an avid crafter or a former art teacher.  See if there's a sustainable gardening expert in your community.  Talk to the education/community events department at your local arts and crafts store.

Ask them if they would be willing to come up with design ideas for using/up-cycling the rolls which could be shared as idea starters in the form of a simple instruction sheet that could be included inside every box of rolls you sell (along with an order form to make re-ordering easy), but also distributed at your kick-off event.

Ask them if they also would be willing to "demonstrate" their ideas at the kick-off.  Invite the community -- families as well as people from the types of groups I mentioned earlier (including the media) to your kick-off event which would be something that not only would generate awareness and sales, it also could be a lot of fun for all involved including members of your own group -- and great promotion for your senior center and its programs in general.

Hope these suggestions will be helpful,  Go for it, and have fun!   And, happy selling!

[fuzzface50]

save your aluminum cans and other recyclables and cash them in yourself as a group instead of using the county garbage pickup service if that is what you have. yes use the service for the refuge and garbage but retain the recyclables yourself, that is what i do.

have a bake sale.  Lots of people in senor centers that are really good at making cookies and other treats that are long forgotten about because the now generation can only make things from a box and microwave.  don't forget to sell homemade popcorn too. that was a big seller at the senor center here when they had their annual rummage sale, people couldn't resist the aroma of fresh popcorn popping. Why do you think movie theaters vent their popcorn machines outside?

[divwido]

If you continue with toilet paper or even paper towels rolls-this would be a great time of the year to advertise them as compostable protection for new plants or seedlings.

[msbecaroo]

We're going to be saving those too, cooper.boom. ~Karen 🙂

[msbecaroo]

I remember school projects too, fuzzface. 🙂 I also recall reading in a gardening blog eons ago that they are useful to use as seedling starters. So I always knew there were limited uses for them. I even recall several years back, in a previous residence, I wanted to start a garden that year and had just read about the TP/gardening tip. There was not enough time before planting season to save up enough TP rolls on my own, so I decided to put a box next to the recycle bin in our private alley (that was limited to about 8 houses), with a sign that explained I was looking for cardboard rolls of any kind to use in my garden. Much to my delight, by the end of the first day, the medium-large box was full, and by the end of the third day, I had more than enough to use for several hundred seedlings. That was so easy!

When I first saw the idea on a blog about selling them, I recall shaking my head in skepticism. But after checking the current and sold eBay listings, I realized there must be many more uses for them than I knew about for them to be selling so regularly. That's a good thing!

Thanks for your response. Even if you couldn't share tips, it's always nice to read supportive responses!

~Karen 🙂

[msbecaroo]

Thanks for the helpful tips, tunicaslot. Much appreciated! ~Karen 🙂

[msbecaroo]

Thanks for the great tips, mistwomandancing! As you stated, I too have noticed that some rolls seem to come off totally clean, while others almost always have paper stuck to them in the end. I am not brand-loyal, so I end up with different brands from month to month, and it hadn't occurred to me to note which ones come out clean and which don't. I'm going to pay attention to that from now on, and keep a running list so that I can share it with our residents, and perhaps some will consider sticking to the brands that yield the cleanest rolls. Toilet paper choices are a personal thing (including economic, among other considerations), so it will be an interesting social experiment to see which residents opt to switch "for the cause" LOL!

I love the tip about the pill bottles. Someone started a collection of pill bottles in our community room to donate them to a charity. Much to my surprise, the recycled ice cream bucket has been slow to fill up. I'll check with the person who initiated that and see if she's okay with me adding the pill bottles to the "Fun Fund" eBay items. If so, it will be interesting to see if the donations increase. Surely, with nearly 200 residents, those pill bottles must be adding up faster than what appears in that ice cream bucket.

Thanks again for your helpful tips!

~Karen 🙂

[msbecaroo]

Thanks for the helpful tip, ersatz. I appreciate it! ~Karen 🙂