Things you always find in the bush/woods/wild

I have been thinking about uses for the junk you always find left behind by people in the wild. For example, glass drink bottles, cans, shoes, plastic bags - don't know why but you can always count on finding an odd shoe out there. There would hardly be a place on this earth that is not covered in rubbish. Also roadsides, there are always planks of wood from packaging, pieces of truck tyre, metal rings, nuts and bolts, etc on roadsides. Survivor Man always uses at least one thing from these in his shows.

Any good or unusual tips on how to use these things in a survival situation?

reply to post by Cinrad


I live up north in Quebec. All I can count to find in the woods is wood... It's rare for me to find even a paper wrap in the woods. Sure, you can find paper warps, glass and cans where people has already camped before, but the untouched deep wood will rarely have these.

The bottom of bottles usually are made of a thick glass. This can be knapped into a serviceable knife or point for arrows or spears. Check youtube for how to vids.

Survivalist Les Stroud is a master of using any and all kinds of junk. He ripped out the back seat of a stranded car and made some fine snowboots. I would have never thought of that. He made a survival whistle from a plastic soda bottle and on and on. When I was a boy we would find old fence and weave dried broomsage(mature fescue stalks) through it to make a shelter. If you spend enough time it can be made waterproof. So, if you ever see some old fence you can use it.

Ever since he was almost killed by a jaguar the show is more scripted now and it is what it is. Having a safety crew follow you around is not really survival however it's also not worth dying for.

There better not be any refuse on my land-I have a thing about that and can go somewhat overboard about it. It is illegal here to release helium filled balloons, not only can they clog aircraft engines, they always land on other spaces than the space they are lifted from. I can understand a soda can or some paper being blown but when I have to risk my neck to dislodge a plastic balloon from a cedar tree it really toast my ass.

Those 'Happy Birthday" balloons just make me want to grab the old shooting iron.

The list is endless as are the uses.
A couple off the top of my head:

Balloons and plastic bottles - canteen
Junk Cars - Strip wire for snares and wrapping tool heads, sandals from tires, outer clothing from upholstery, plastic and fiberglass panels or hoods and trunk lids for shelter roofing. Small metal parts can be shaped in to projectile points, knife blades and weapons. Seat cushion filling and battery for fire starting. oil for lubrication of firearms (not the best but better than nothing). Headlight lenses for starting fire with sunlight.
Fishing line, hooks and lures often found tangled in trees near water can be used for original purposes or snares, line for hafting tools.
several mylar balloons could be made in to a solar reflector for heating, cooking, signaling, water purification by boiling.

A fish trap...ok, just a minnow trap but food just the same..

Take a Plastic Bottle...2L...cut the top off abour 4" from the top and invert the top part you just cut off so that the top part is now inside the rest of the bottle....find something to make it stick...if you dont have glue or tape you could stitch it using a hand made needle and tree roots as thread...place some bread or any left over food you have into the bottle....submerge for a good few hours in a River.....Minnows get in but they cant get out as they always follow the edges.

A trash bag or plastic liner can be draped over a tree limb creating a pocket at the bottom and left over a period of time to collect the dew from the trees leaves. This alone can help solve your daily water intake problem.

Dark colored glass bottles can be use to help purify water if you have a magnifying glass (bottom of another bottle or an old pair of thick eyeglasses). The dark glass, unlike clear glass, doesn't allow all the UV to pass through the glass bottle. You can get the water to a boil inside the bottle by magnifying the light which in return makes the water vaporize and come out of the top. Figure out a way to collect the vapor, let it cool, and you have drinkable water.

Tire treads can be cut into new treading for shoes . Motorcycle tires work best due to less cutting and you can add a little string and make a pair of sandals type shoes.

Old tires can also be used as raised planters for gardening. Stacked and filled with dirt they can make a strong retaining wall when making a permanent shelter.

Most of you may know about the rocket stove that can be assembled out of a bigger size coffee type can or cooking pot. If you don't then watch the video.

The tyres in to shoes is a good idea, after a few years in that kind of lifestyle I imagine you could probably make a good job of crafting a pair of sturdy shoes, so really only need a couple of spare pairs of boots in your store.

Driving through the city in traffic yesterday I had a look at the side of the road again. You can usually find pieces of tail light on the road, these can be used as once or twice use blades. There are numerous nuts, a weight for fishing line? There was even a strap for tying down loads that had come off a truck. A single shoe (again). There are lots of tiny shattered glass fragments from safety glass, any use for these?

Noticed some rubber strips from the inner tube of car or truck tyres today. I think I would be able to turn these in to a sling shot to take down small game.

Yep, actually there is a lot on the net about these.

well, i'm sure it's obvious shoe laces can come in handy. i heard that plastic bags can catch morning dew in dire situations..
you might be able to make a decent fishing hook out of the top lip of soda can(whatever that thing is called i forget, the piece you can break off)..glass is also good for attracting dew i think.. people throw so much stuff out you'd probably have a decent selection of things to choose from. no telling what you could make with all the possibilities of various trash.

Small shards of glass, glued into the spear shaft as barbs, using pine pitch as glue.
Its called a ring pull?

Around here (Denton, Texas) you could turn beer cans into arrowheads until forever...finding straight shafts for those arrows? Not so easy.

Glass bottles are pretty good for a perimeter alarm system. Do it right and they'll tink together.

I see busted up buckets left from fishermen. They're good as the skeleton for a fish trap.

Find any creek around here and look at the overhanging trees. A lifetime supply of fishing gear lives in those trees from folks who screwed up their cast. Some of that is mine. You're welcome to it.

I knew this when I posted but the context at the time was wrong...
Plastic bags. They are, almost literally, everywhere.

Sometimes the job you need to do is so gross that you don't want to waste your nice sterile gloves that live in your medkit.

Put your hands in those bags and use them like one time use gloves that will probably need to be buried when you're done. This goes for almost all bag-like litter.
Wear one when you wipe yourself and save your wet wipes for cooking and doctoring. Just be careful of where you found it. Poison Ivy, I've heard, can last up to a year on plastic surfaces.