Zero Waste Origami Bone/Scrap Boxes

When we were little, my grandparents taught my sister and I how to make these origami boxes from the stacks of magazines they would get in the mail. We would sit at their country style dining table (which is now the kotatsu table in my tatami room), carefully folding each one. I couldn’t have been more than 6 or 7 when I started and the directions to fold this box are deeply ingrained into my muscle memory—I can probably do them in my sleep. The boxes, when unopened, folded up neatly in a stack.

Aside from being just a fun thing for kids to do, it had another use—as something to throw fish/beef/pork/chicken bones in while we ate dinner. It was also used to toss pistachio and peanut shells in, watermelon seed and pumpkin seed shells, egg shells, orange peels, etc. while we sat around the table playing games or talking or playing Mah Jong. Once we were done, each person would just throw the entire box in the garbage.

Eating the menhaden with all of its tiny bones reminded me that I was out of these, so I pulled up a stack of magazines and got to work. My cute little daughters of course got very interested and learned to make them as well and I marveled at how each generation passes these small traditions down to the next.

What I like about this is that I can use the previous year’s seed catalogues to make this, and it can easily go in the compost when it’s been used (make sure your paper type is compostable.) It’s a fun DIY project that is also zero waste. The boxes are simple, and I can make one every thirty seconds or so. Below are the photo instructions.

Directions