Silicone wristbands are all around us. Each new cause, in any range of colours, has one to hand out to bring attention to their concerns. They are easy to attain, relatively cheap and people love to throw them on their wrists as they walk around. If your company or organisation has a message to convey to the masses, chances are you've used  promotional wristbands to do this at some point.

Where to find them

You've seen them at trade shows, school events, and sporting events. They've been handed out at fundraisers, and many other places in your community. You've bought them to save the ocean and to support research for diseases and illnesses and to raise awareness for your favourite charity.

The wrist bands are grabbed off tables to give to kids and share with family and friends as you walk through the mall. Your teenager once came home from school with a handful of these colourful personalised wristbands, talking about how important "the cause" is to the school.

What do we do with the wristbands?

We collect various types of wristbands, including event and party wristbands and wear them for a short period of time. Whether they are embossed and debossed or custom printed, they then lay around the house in various piles until we don't know what to do with them. So we throw them away or give them to the local daycare so the kids can play with them.

But what if there were some really cool things we could do with these bands? What if there were ways to reuse, up-cycle or recycle silicone wristbands  and reduce the number of products that are sent to landfill? Below are some fun, creative ways to do just that.

Reuse Silicone Wristbands

There are so many ways to reuse rubber wristbands, it's impossible to list them all. If you think outside the box, you will come up with numerous original ways to use them. Here are a few ideas.

1. Rubber bands  Use the custom wristbands as a tie for your bag of chips, or to close up a bag of your kids' toys, or anything else you need to close up with a rubber band. You can even store them like a rubber band ball. Keep these handy for sealing up your baking supplies as well, like that open bag of powdered sugar that is sure to make a mess in your cupboard.

2.  Jar opener  Have trouble gripping that glass jar when trying to open it? Slip a silicone band around the jar and one around the lid to give you something to grip onto. When you twist, the bands grip the jar and the lid, and the lid pops open.

Bookbinders Ever jump on an aeroplane, grab your book out of your backpack, and find that the pages are all wrinkled from the book being stuffed into the bag? Once your book slips into the bag, it opens up, exposing the pages. Silicone wristbands can act as a bookbinder, holding the book closed so the pages don't get all wrinkled. Just slip them over a closed book to seal it shut until you are ready to read. The silicone bands also make fantastic bookmarks, so throw an extra one in your bag.

3. Tag your bottle  Next time you head to an event with a mass crowd, grab a silicone armband to take with you. With so many people drinking from plastic water bottles, it's hard to find yours when you set it down. Wrap a band around the bottle to identify yours. If you want to be extra cautious, write your name on the wristband first.

4. Cutting board holder  Take two of these bands and wrap them around each end of your cutting board. This makes the cutting board "sticky" so it will not slide around on your countertops. Now the board will stay put while you cut or chop your food.

5. Cable tie  Use the wristbands to wrap around the loose cables behind your TV. This will keep them organised so you are not constantly tripping over these cords. Use them to tie up extra cords so they do not get tangled up while in storage.

6. Smartphone shock absorber  Stretch a silicone band around the corners of your smartphone. The band acts as a shock absorber if you drop your phone. Similar to a case, it can help prevent a shattered screen on the phone. The band also doubles as a grip to keep your phone from slipping out of your hand.

7. Plant potting tag  After planting your seedlings in a small pot, slip a wristband around the pot. Turn it inside out, and use a permanent marker to write the name of your plant on the band. This keeps track of which plant is in which pot.

Upcycle Silicone Wristbands

1. Make a pen holder  Or anything holder. Grab an empty jar or soup can and wrap the bracelets around it, completely covering the jar or can. Then put your pens, paperclips, or anything else that needs to be held inside the jar or soup can.
2. Update an old clock Start by cutting open the wristbands. Find an old clock with a wood face and glue the bands to the clock face. Using a hot glue gun works well for this. Hang the new clock someplace for everyone to see, and use it as a conversation starter when you have friends over.
3. Turn old bracelets into new bracelets Cut the silicone armband open. Find some fun ribbon and use a hot glue gun to glue the ribbon to both ends of the silicone band. Use a wooden bead to clasp the two pieces of ribbon together, tightening the bracelet around your wrist.
4. Or cover the silicon band with ribbon without cutting it open. For this bracelet, the band will keep its shape, it will just have a different look and feel to the band.
5.  Make a collage Cut the bands open and lay them out in a fun pattern. Grab the hot glue gun and glue them to a piece of tagboard. Black tagboard works well, as it makes the bracelets stand out. Grab an old picture frame and put the tagboard in the frame. Hang the picture on the wall to remember all the different causes you have supported over the years.
6. Donate to your local school.  Sort the wristbands into different colours, with each colour being used to signify a different meaning - yellow for an award, red to indicate a student is a poor swimmer on an excursion, attach tags to others with the school name and contact details. Use mineral turps on some printed wristbands to remove the writing and logos so that you have a clean base to start from.

Recycle Silicone Wristbands

If you can't find another use for your custom silicone wristbands, recycling wristbands is an option. Silicone armbands have many of the properties of plastic, but they are technically part of the rubber family. This makes it harder to recycle than a simple plastic bottle. These bands are very nearly indestructible, which makes them great for reusing. Unfortunately, because of this, they will not biodegrade. There are millions of these bands floating around, and if they all end up in a landfill, this could be bad news for the environment.

There is a process for recycling silicone wristbands, but many recycling centres will not take a few silicone bands on their own. If you are going down the recycling route, make it a neighbourhood or community effort, and see how many bands you can collect from everyone in your area. Then call around in your area to find one that will take the bands from you and recycle them.

These are just a few fun ways to reuse your silicone bracelets. Reusing, upcycling or recycling these promotional items keeps them out of our landfills and stops animals and birds from trying to eat them. It also reduces your environmental footprint. Before trying to recycle these bands, see what other ideas you can come up with to reuse them and if there is anything we have missed let us know in the comments!  For example, you might have a stash of paper wristbands otherwise known as tyvek wristbands.  How do you re-use these?