13 replies to this topic

[rbaker_59]

I was wondering, besides taking them to the store with you to reuse as you carry groceries home, how could a plasitc grocery bag be reused.  I have seen where they can be crotcheted together to make door mats.  I know that we have a recycle place to recycle them.  Since, I'm on the creative side, I was just wondering how they can be remade into other useful products to use around the home.

[Hayden]

Thanks for your question... yes plastics should really be recycled.

However, we take our own non-plastic recycled grocery bags to the store and avoid taking home plastic bags all together. Any approach that eliminates use of plastics is usually best.

[tri-n-b-helpful]

They used to make great bin liners, but plastic shopping bags are banned here now. The sales of bin liners shortly after the ban increased noticeably, so I guess I wasn't alone in this!

I'm not sure if this is classed as a "useful product", but my mother used to make Christmas wreaths out of shredded plastic shopping bags. They looked really nice. I'm thinking there are probably many uses that "crafty" types can do with plastic bags. Have you tried running a search on it?

[dconklin]

I re-use the shopping bags in various ways.  I don't often actually recycle them but I re-use them.  I use them to bring things somewhere with me and I also use them for my litter pan when I scoop.  I do not get a lot of plastic bags when I am at the store as I do have a few of the big re-usable shopping bags you purchase at the store.

[Pat]

Several of our larger stores collect the plastic bags to recycle.  I take my own bags to the store so that I do not have to get more.  We line the trash cans with the bags also.

[zararina]

Whenever I would have a plastic grocery bag, I will reuse it as a garbage bag. So, I do not purchase garbage bags anymore. I also use those bags for segregation of items that can still be recycled or items I could sell in the junk shop like cans and bottles.

[FamilyTreeClimber]

I reuse them in various ways.  I use them on my doggie pooper scooper.  I use them for garbage bags.  I used them as protective packaging when I am mailing something.

We have valances over one of our windows.  They have to be stuffed so that they will look puffy.  We've used newspaper and plastic shopping bags for this purpose.

Tri, those wreaths your mother made sound pretty creative!  I would have never thought of something like that.

I bet there are many uses for plastic shopping bags in craft projects.  If you were making a pillow or stuffed animal that need stuffing, you could use plastic garbage bags for that purpose.

[MyDigitalpoint]

Since I usually carry too much groceries, shopping for one or two weeks in advance, I don't use plastic grocery bags because they are not resistant enough, but better one of those eco-bags for sale at Walmart.

Now, thing of plastic bags with creativity in mind, the are useful as filler material for pillows and cushions for the living room.

[FlanneryCam]

I reuse them more practically than creatively. Mostly I reuse them for grocery shopping but finally have enough fabric grocery bags that I can go full on fabric.

A plastic bag doormat would be cool! Does anyone have a DIY link?

[FlanneryCam]

I reuse them more practically than creatively. Mostly I reuse them for grocery shopping but finally have enough fabric grocery bags that I can go full on fabric.

A plastic bag doormat would be cool! Does anyone have a DIY link?

[ACSAPA]

Here is a link to a site with several plastic bag crafts including plastic bag sandals , plastic bag doormats and plastic bags fused together with a clothes iron to make big waterproof tote bags. There are some ideas here that are actually cool enough to sell at a craft fair. Enjoy.

http://scraphacker.c...tic-bag-crafty/

[kalasin]

We use them in enough ways that I still haven't made the switch to cloth bags.

We use them in our bathroom trash cans.  We have 3.5 bathrooms, so that's quite a few bags weekly.

We also use them when we clean out the litter box.  Of course, we have to make sure we don't accidentally use a bag with a hole!

If we are bringing something to somebody, or sending somebody home with something, we usually pop it in a bag for carrying ease.

[dissn_it]

I would have never thought of using them in craft projects before. That's a pretty neat idea and the link ASCAPA posted has some good projects. We use the fabric bags for groceries so we don't get as many of them as we used to. We have been just putting them into the recycle bin.

[Sandra Piddock]

I use them for garbage bags, and I also hang them on the back of the bathroom door for dirty laundry. Our bathrooms are quite small, and there isn't room for a laundry hamper, so I just hang a bag on the door to collect up the laundry. I'm collecting coloured bags, and then I'm going to try to crochet a tote bag when I have enough  bags.