I'm declaring war on plastic bags

[Ellen Forradalom]

They terrorize my home by spilling out of my cabinets. They reproduce while I am not looking. Long after I am gone, I will leave signs of my existence in the form of plastic bags.

What the hell can you do with plastic bags? My local grocery isn't accepting them for recycling. I found that if I slice them into thin stripes, they crochet up nicely. Maybe I'll make a plastic bag out of plastic bags--a meta plastic bag, if you will.

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. We hate plastic bags

Envibronmental waste.

I almost always take my backpack and canvas bags to the grocery store to get stuff, and often use my backpack at other stores when I buy stuff. And yet, it's still amazing how they manage pile up even though I hardly get them - in comparison with the humber of times I buy something.

Dan wasteful oil-made things.

I love the idea of a meta-plastic bag! I never would have thought that strips of plastic could be crocheted. Good thinking!

[Ellen Forradalom]

3. I've been on a shopping-bag making tear

Knitting and crocheting bags from nylon and cotton twine. I'm giving them as Christmas gifts to fellow plastic-bag haters.

Can't take credit for the idea; I read about it at http://www.getcrafty.com/interact/advice/letters/shopping_bags.html.

[Rabrrrrrr]

4. Excellent!

Uses up 75 bags to make one bag it said - very impressive!

Continued good luck on reusing all those plastic bags into something more useful.

Cheers!

[Ellen Forradalom]

12. So far I've crocheted a little circle

Looks a bit like crocheted grasses, only with that plasticky sheen.

[Ellen Forradalom]

25. That little circle is now a hat.

A small brimless hat that strangely looks pretty good, considering it's made out of plastic bags. The next must-have fashion accessory.

[cally]

2. Ask for paper or find a place that does recycle

Then again, one of my sisters gave my Mom this throw rug made out of paper bags. Very strange and ugly.

[KCDem]

5. They're great for disposing cat poop.

[alwynsw]

8. Or for putting over an annoying person's head

they'll quiet down in a few minutes...

[Ellen Forradalom]

14. Too bad we can't use 'em in GD

[Padraig18]

6. Buy some canvas bags with handles.

We have 4, and use our own. :)

[ScreamingMeemie]

7. They attack my poor kitty.

Last Christmas Eve, I was up late wrapping presents and chatting with MrGrumpy. Merlin was rolling around in some wrapping paper and bags having the time of his life. Somehow, he ended up getting one of the handles of a bag around his neck. He freaked out, and came tearing around the corner with the rest of the bag billowing out behind him in some crazy "SuperKitty" sort of way. His eyes were HUGE. He ran downstairs and it took my husband a good five minutes to corner him and remove the bag. It took another half hour to calm his poor pounding heart. Now, ask me if I keep plastic bags around still. ;)

[Liberal Christian]

9. Recycle?

Most of the time I use these fabulous canvas bags that a friend's church makes and sells. They designed them to be about the same size as a paper grocery bag, but they hold so much more and are very strong.

Sometimes, I forget to take them (shame on me!), so I get plastic bags. I faithfully store them up, take a bagful back to the store and put them in the plastic bag recycling bin. I hope they actually get recycled.

[Liberal Christian]

10. Recycle?

Most of the time I use these fabulous canvas bags that a friend's church makes and sells. They designed them to be about the same size as a paper grocery bag, but they hold so much more and are very strong.

Sometimes, I forget to take them (shame on me!), so I get plastic bags. I faithfully store them up, take a bagful back to the store and put them in the plastic bag recycling bin. I hope they actually get recycled.

(edit: Ooooooooooops .. didn't mean to post twice. Sorry :( )

[Ellen Forradalom]

16. I made two denim tote bags

to fit my bicycle's folding baskets. That was about 12 years ago and they're still going strong.

[DrBB]

11. We have a collection of about 30 canvas tote bags

My wife is on the board of an advanceed computing association and goes to lots of conferences, so we have dozens of canvas tote bags. Just keep 'em in the back of the MiniCooper and bring 'em into the store when we shop. First couple of times I was kind of embarrassed, but not any more.

T'other day I saw the perfect symbol of Amerian corporate pseudo-patriotism: a dirty, ratty, tattered plastic grocery bag snagged in a tree just like so many millions of others blighting the urban landscape. With a ratty, tattered, grungy little American flag printed on it.

[Ellen Forradalom]

13. Sierra club facts on grocery bags:

Did You Know:

• Reusing a bag meant for just one use has a big impact. A sturdy, reusable bag needs only be used 11 times to have a lower environmental impact than using 11 disposable plastic bags.
  
  
• In New York City alone, one less grocery bag per person per year would reduce waste by 5 million lbs. and save $250,000 in disposal costs.
  
  
• Plastic bags carry 80% of the nation's groceries, up from 5% in 1982.
  
  
• When 1 ton of paper bags is reused or recycled, 3 cubic meters of landfill space is saved and 13 - 17 trees are spared! In 1997, 955,000 tons of paper bags were used in the United States.
  
  
• When 1 ton of plastic bags is reused or recycled, the energy equivalent of 11 barrels of oil are saved.
  

http://www.sierraclub.org/bags/

[radwriter0555]

15. take them back to the store with you and re-use them..

;)

[NicoleM]

17. Crochet them into throw rugs.

I keep saying I'm going to do that, but I haven't yet. They'd be good for on the front porch, because you could hose them off when they're dirty. Plus the materials are cheap. :)

[Ellen Forradalom]

30. There are some truly frightening things you can crochet from plastic bags

like these:


http://frugalliving.about.com/library/blpcrochet.htm

[NicoleM]

31. That is frightening.

[Blue-Jay]

18. Plastic Bag

hee hee.

[Flaxbee]

19. One of our local thrift stores LOOOVES those plastic bags...

not Goodwill or Salvation Army, but our community thrift uses them; I store them until the drawers and cabinets are bursting with bags and then take them to the thrift store...

I need to buy canvas and sturdy plastic/woven bags to re-use...

[Ellen Forradalom]

20. Huh, that's a good idea

I'll see if a thrift can use them, or a church about to have a rummage sale.

My son's preschool also likes them for diapers.

[LizW]

21. My mom, the Queen of Recycling

takes them to the Salvation Army Thrift Store and they re-use them. She also uses them instead of trash can liners in small trash cans in the bathrooms. I like to keep a few around for the kids to take their gym clothes to school in, and to use as a trash bag in the car. I keep them stuffed in an empty paper towel roll (it holds about 5 or 6 bags. If it's full, I force myself to recycle the excess bags.

My store has a recycling bin for them, but sometimes I wonder if they really recycle them, or just throw them away.

The best solution is to never bring them in your house in the first place, but use canvas bags to carry your groceries in. Of course, you have to train yourself to put them back in the car after every use, something I have never mastered.

[kayleybeth]

22. I use them as garbage bag liners

They are just the right size for the smaller garbage cans we keep around the house (office, bedrooms, bathrooms, etc.). They also make great packing materials for cushioning fragile items to mail. I've used them to cover smaller plants to protect them from freezing weather. And they make great shoe covers if you ever have to walk in the mud. I also used them to stuff the balloon valances over the curtains in my bedroom and bathrooms to puff them up. And I STILL have about a million of the damned things in my kitchen cabinet, LOL!

[Ellen Forradalom]

23. They are terrific for covering rising bread dough

Helps retain heat and moisture and protects the dough from drafts. I just made some bread last night and used a plastic bag for that.

[HEyHEY]

24. Go get em tiger

[Tinoire]

26. Please don't... I LOVE Plastic! Here's one suggested use for all DUers

;)

[OldSoldier]

27. All Home Depot stores accept them for recycling

There's a barrel right behind the returns desk, which is inside the front entranceway.

I don't use it because, as a previous poster stated, they're the best thing going for cleaning cat boxes. But we turn in 110 gallons worth of those bags every week (our barrel is a 55-gallon oil drum, which is full to the brim twice per week), so apparently not everyone has cats.

[Bridget Burke]

28. Good for pet poo-poo!

I'm the 3rd cat-owner here who uses them for cleaning the catbox. The GOOD dog-owners in my neighborhood bring a few along when walking their pets--to avoid polluting everybody else's lawns.

Still, I try to use canvas bags when possible--the plastic WILL take over. We artsy-fartsy, bleeding-heart types can collect bags as souvineers of museum shows & tokens for charitable giving.

My prize: "Sandoz Pharmaceutical"--a bag from a friendly drug-rep.

[scarlet_owl]

29. That's what we use them for.

I can't seem to ever have enough bags for all the ferret crap! They are pooping machines!