A plastic bottle makes the best recycled pencil case

The simplest sturdy recycled pencil case is a clean plastic soda bottle cut in half and joined with a zipper. No sewing, no special tools, and it costs nothing.

Here’s the trick: cut the bottle at the middle, then put a zipper around the cut edge of each half. You don’t need to be precise — even a rough cut works because you’re gluing the zipper on with hot glue or strong tape. Once the zipper is on, the two halves snap together into a case. Open it up and it’s a little cylinder;