What do you use your plastic grocery bags for once you have your groceries home

1. 93

   Helena Rickettsposted 11 years ago

   What do you use your plastic grocery bags for once you have your groceries home from the store?
   
   I try to recycle mine into crocheted rugs or "pooper scooper" bags.  I'm curious, what do you do with yours?

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2. 80

   joanwzposted 11 years ago

   i don't get plastic bags. I either take my reusable cloth bags with me, or I ask for papger bags, which I use for things like emptying ashes fro mthe grill, ashes from the fireplace, or litter from the cat's litter box.

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      Larry Wallposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      After you fill the paper bag with ashes or kitty litter--what do you do with it? I imagine you throw it away and it ends up in the landfill. I need to check--knew this years ago, but I think it takes more energy to make a paper bag than plastic bags.

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3. 79

   Uninvited Writerposted 11 years ago

   I usually use reusable bags but if I do have a plastic bag I usually use it for garbage.

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4. 61

   duffsmomposted 11 years ago

   We usually get paper, but we get plastic maybe once a week and I use them to line the bathroom trash cans.

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5. 93

   FatFreddysCatposted 11 years ago

   I use'em to line the wastebaskets in the bathrooms and bedrooms, and also to pick up Doggie Deposits in the yard.

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6. 80

   Attikosposted 11 years ago

   The secondary uses of the plastic grocery bag are legion: disposable container for yard litter, liner for waste baskets, trash bag for kitchen waste, ad hoc carrier to sling over a bicycle handle, overflow luggage for a car trip, organizer for small parts on a job, portable waste container when house cleaning, temporary planting pot when working the garden, disposable galoshes when stepping just out the door in the snow when you don't want to go dig out your boots, emergency rain bonnet, disposable mittens when you have to put your hands into something you'd rather not ... there is no end to the ways in which the plastic grocery bag serves us in our times of need. It's one of the greatest inventions of the age.

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7. 63

   maryhoneybeeposted 11 years ago

   I use mine for the garbage and to empty my cat litter into. I feel bad for discarding so much plastic, but I wouldn't know what to do with my kitties' business otherwise!

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      Larry Wallposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Plastic bags require a very small amount of oil to produce and they create jobs. Paper bags are made from a renewable resource, but a lot of it still ends up in the landfill.

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8. 0

   Larry Wallposted 11 years ago

   This could almost be a Hub, but I will be brief. The primary use is for using in small trash cans. They are useful for cleaning up after the dog--need to double them. I keep a few in the car for whatever emergency that might pop up.
   
   Now here is where I irritate some people. I can carry five or six plastic bags from the trunk of the car to the kitchen. I can only carry two full paper bags. Once a paper bag gets wet, it is of little use and it ends up in the landfill next to the plastic bags. Neither will decay over time, because in landfills we cover everything with dirt, thus protecting it from the elements.
   
   The reusable cloth bags are not a good choice, if you buy a lot of groceries. We fill up about 12 to 15 plastic bags each week at the grocery story. It would take more cloth bags which would then have to be washed frequently and dry. Thus you are using water, adding chemicals from the cleaning agent to the water and probably using fossil fuel to create the electricity to run the dryer. If you hang your bags on a clothes line, you get a couple points of credit, but you have to make sure that the weather and flying creatures do not damage your bags.

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   1. 73

      breathe2travelposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I buy a lot of groceries (I have five kids!).  I seldom wash my re-usable bags - only if something soils them.

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      Larry Wallposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      My wife would insist on washing them frequently. I have a sister-in-law who washes her reusable bags each week.

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   3. 81

      Catherine Kaneposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I rarely must wash the reusable cloth bags. If nothing spills on them, annual wash seems to deal w/ natural wear and tear
      
      When I wash one, it's often in w/ items of clothing, that would have to be washed anyway, so you don't use extra energy

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9. 73

   breathe2travelposted 11 years ago

   I had recently considered writing a hub about the use for plastic grocery bags.  I use mine for many of the things listed in other answers.  I mainly use them for trash liners in our bathrooms, trash receptacle for the vehicles.  When kids had a stomach bug, I double bagged and lined a large pot, placed newspapers at bottom of bag -- voilah -- easy clean-up for beside the bed.  Gross, I know, but better than having to pour into sink, toilet, etc.  I spray the newspaper with Lysol before and after.

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10. 60

    LacretiaHardyposted 11 years ago

    I use them in the small trashcans in my laundry room, bathroom, etc.

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11. 81

    Catherine Kaneposted 11 years ago

    Note- even if you cover a paper bag w/ dirt, it will still decay. There's not as much protection as you might think

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    1. 80

       Attikosposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Organic material in landfills should decay in time, but it takes a lot of that. The typical one lacks the microbes and oxygen to break it down.

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12. 64

    Sheepsquatchposted 11 years ago

    Plastic bags are becoming increasingly cheaper, and it is hard to find them without holes in the bottom. If you get good quality bags though, they make free water balloons. The handles give them a sling-shot effect.

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    1. 81

       Catherine Kaneposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Interesting. Hadn't heard that idea before...

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    2. 93

       Helena Rickettsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Now that's an idea I didn't see coming at all.  Very creative and sounds like a lot of fun!

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