These days we don't use tea lights candles much - we have ultrasonic diffusers for aromatherapy, I do most of my candles on line, and we have electronic candles .
However, occasionally we use a tea light candle. When we do, there is often wax left over after the wick burns out. That needs to be removed to minimise the blocks to reusing the aluminium, but then you're left with a stack of wax. I've been saving that, with a view to making new candles once I'd found a suitable source for wicks.
Since then, though, I've found that I can break up the leftover wax when it has cooled, and feed it into the next candle when it has reached the stage of having melted all the wax - in small amounts, so I don't raise the flame back into the burnt out wick area, or swamp the flame.
In some cases, I've noticed a slight odour with this, but a single drop of aromatherapy oil is enough to deal with that.
