How do you recycle your plastic shopping bags?
Reuse, reduce, recycle. For my family it’s become *the* mantra. This certainly applies to plastic shopping bags. Purchasing pre-made reusable shopping bags is super, but why throw away money when you can make your own with materials you’ve probably already got on hand? Yup, those plastic shopping bags!
The URL below gives just one example of how these can be recycled.
http://www.marloscrochetcorner.com/round%20plastic%20bag%20tote.html
A friend turned me onto that page a few months ago. It was just the inspiration needed to get me exploring other possibilities for turning this type of landfill fodder into practical items. Since then I’ve made huge storage bags for my kids’ Legos, pouches for plastic lid storage (tacked inside cabinet doors- no more lid-palooza!), and other neat items. Maybe a laundry bag next? Who knows?
There are many ways to recycle plastic shopping bags besides crocheting. Tell us yours, thanks!
OO! I just wrote an answer concerning plastic bags in Conservation, look it up, I think most will find it very informative.
I use what few plastic bags I do get around the house, they make great liners for small waste baskets that I keep behind the couch, beside the toilet, under the desk, and I hang one from the headrest behind the front passenger seat in my car. Those that I don’t use get stored in another plastic bag for future use or when it gets big enough to be in the way, I take it to the store and recycle the whole thing.
I reuse them at my house for a lot of things, but mainly I take them back to the store and put them in the recycling bin. I have canvas grocery bags, so don’t get that many plastic ones. The stores here deduct a nickle from your bill for every bag that you provide at the checkout.
I live in Oregon and there is very little that can’t be recycled here. I compost, have a worm bin, and recycle. I only go to the dump once a year. I usually have four garbage bags, at most, of things I couldn’t recycle. Some years, it’s only one bag.
focus more on reduce! don’t use plastic bags! take boxes with you, or take your own bags.
I reuse it most as I can, and I also use it for garbages and for cleaning my cat’s litter and my rabbit’s house.
I use the plastic bags as trash bags although that’s probably not the greenest use of them. Thanks for the link, crocheting them into containers is a good idea.
At my house, they are called poo bags. We use them when we take the dog for a walk. I wish more people would.
In addition to recycling, reducing, and reusing, don’t forget you can REFUSE. Refuse the bag at the store. Put those pears in your cart instead of an extra bag. Store a pile of paper/plastic bags in your car and remember to take them with you before you go in the store. Do it enough and it will become a habit!
If we get these and we do, Mr. uses them to pick up dog poop without getting it on his hands.
When shipping something they make great filler!
I put his lunches for work in them
We put papers i can not seam to throw away in them, cant get wet this way.
I hate throwing them away in the garbage!
Wow! All I could think of was to pack moving boxes and to pick up dog poop! Thanks for sharing!
your local grocery store should have a collection place to put your plastic bags. but if they don’t, request one.
my grocery store does, and we use it alot. but just a few weeks ago i bought canvas bags. and they work great, saving trees and oil. you can find some at trader joes. (thats where i got mine) and they are fantastic!
I am based in Japan at the moment and the supermarket collects MILK CARTONS, PET BOTTLES etc. I usually take my own shopping bag so it is one less problem about me recycling.Some of the supermarkets charge for the plastic shopping bags.
I try not to accumulate them in the first place. There is nothing more depressing to me than to see a bag up tangled up in tree branches. They are just a waste.
The best thing you can do is to refuse them and take your own. A lot of engery goes into creating that flimsly bag. On Wikipedia I found: "Plastic bags are made of petrochemicals which are not a renewable resouce."
A big, BIG reason not to use them.
There is quite a bit of information available there. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_shopping_bag)
Most people have more plastic shopping bags than they will ever use or find a use for. It’s great that many people find at least one more use for them, but it’s still a waste.
Whoa! That’s a nice looking bag you made.
I like to crochet rugs. Another Yahoo!Answer user gave me instructions on how to cut the plastic store bags into strips and then crochet a round rug. The finished rug is virtually indestructible and washes up real quick.
i use them to hold everything but sometimes if i have too much I just recycle it. like put it in the blue bin ta da!!
I dont use plastic bags, try Hemp
http://www.stores.ebay.com/eco-wear
I acually don’t recycle my plastic shopping bags I reuse them I use them as litter bags or use them to collect bottles and cans to recycle so I am reusing and recycling YAY !
Wow I’ve got to say how cute!!! I’ve been making things out of the plastic grocery bags for a while, but I’ve never seen anything that cute.
I make rugs you crotchet them like the bag is in a round until you get a rug that is the size you want. I put them at my front and back doors. When they start looking bad I put them in the bag recycling box at the store.
I’m going to try to make a rug by weaving one next.
The most efficient way to recycle these bags is to take them to a local collection box, where they are used to make other plastic products.
But, before you just throw them away, please burn them, that is much more efficient.
I have 11 cats so I use plastic shopping bags for the cat litter.
I reuse them. Buying plastic bags that are the right size for the trashcan in my bathroom is a pain in the butt. It’s easier to reuse the ones I get from the grocery store. I also use them in place of the bigger 13 gallon bags because I don’t create that much trash in my room normally. If the contents aren’t biodegradable, I toss it in the recycling bin so plastic can continue its journey.
We use them for small garbage bags, lunch bags, etc. They are also great to send w/ the kiddes when they go to camp or something to use for dirty/wet clothes, and to place shoes in before putting them in the suitcase.
We put them in every wastbasket and garbage can. No more buying trash bags!
I simply return them to the bin at the grocery store, which then sends them to recycle.
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