What do you do with plastic bags from retail stores?
Do you throw them away or keep them? If you keep them what do you do with them? (Photo via Joe Naylor - Flickr - CC BY 2.0)
I sort them to see if they are intact or not. The ones with holes go into the recycle bin; the whole ones, I use for scooping the cat litter boxes.
We have a bag hanging up with the other bags in it. Use them to bag up bottles. Same with clothes that go to the salvation army. In my town we use 30 gallon city bags. So use these bags to put garbage in and put them in the bigger bag. I sometimes bag up books and magazines and take them to work. If we have too many bags I just recycle them
I fold them up and save them for a friend of mine whose club has a big yard sale every year.
Officially recycling grocery store type bags is a community waste hauler policy issue. Most don't want them in the curbside single stream recycle bin picked up. They are considered soft recyclables and not hard recyclables like milk cartons, water bottles, and etc. So, best take caution and check the online websites for the waste hauler. Below is the quote for my local carrier Escondido Disposal:
"Don't Recycle:
Soiled disposable plates or cups, soiled paper towels, soiled tissue, carbon paper, plastic bags (NO plastic grocery bags, newspaper delivery bags or chip/snack bags), ceramics, drinking glasses, Styrofoam packing peanuts, mirrors, batteries, light bulbs, clothing or shoes."
Some grocery stores such as Walmart have a recycle drop off point for them. At some of the Albertson's stores local to me there are bins at the entry to drop them off at. Not sure of other chains. So, it is convenient to drop them off when I go shopping.
Otherwise I use them for my bathroom trash bins, which are small. I use them for carrying stuff like tools when I go away from home to a friends. I use them for filler when I ship an Ebay item I sold. I used them to beef up a pillow once putting the side with bags downward. I use them for long time storage for closets. Most are white so easy to use a magic marker.
I re-use them as trash bags for my wastebaskets around the house.
Our transfer station will not accept them for recycling, so we reuse some along with our reusable cloth grocery bags and take the rest to Target, which has receptacles specifically for plastic bag recycling.
They make great trash liners, and also as utility bags when you cart stuff around. Unlike paper bags, they hold liquids.
i reuse these plastic bag for trash bins, wasterpaper basket, cover up the pots and pans because my kitchen is very dusty
The only ones we get anymore are the smaller produce bags because we carry reusable grocery bags. I have stuffed scarecrows with them because they are not affected by water. The rest I use for my cat's litter or to hold ice around food in an ice chest.
Like the others, we use ours for wastebasket liners or for carrying other items. In other words, we reuse. But, our pile was out of control. I bought one of these things and they stay compact and handy (I hide it inside the door of my pantry):
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Saganizer-gro … s/48180753
I usually save them for lining waste bins. I also use them for picking up my dogs' "presents" when I run out of dog waste bags. I always use at least two when picking up "presents."
Some go as lining for wastebasket, some I use as shopping bags.
by nightwork4 13 years ago
Do you agree with paying $.05 for grocery bags?are you ok with having to pay for plastic bags when you shop or is it unfair?
by Helena Hasquin 13 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?
by megs78 16 years ago
Has it hit your town yet? Do you have to pay for your grocery bags, and do you pony up for reusable bags when you forget the ones you bought last week at home?What do you think of this phenomena and are you ok with it?
by Charm Baker 14 years ago
Should a law pass to charge consumers a fee or tax if they require a grocery bag after shopping?I was recently inspired to write a hub about a reusable tote bag in order to promote green living. Based on the above question, the ideal of saving a few thousand trees and decreasing plastic...
by Tim Mitchell 9 years ago
Does the trend of home waste disposal indicate society has learned to recycle? Is there value?Over the last year I noticed I take my recycle waste bin to the street every week. I take my trash / garbage bin about every 3 weeks now. Less work for me ;-) Have I been conditioned by a new emerging...
by kathleenkat 12 years ago
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/nov/02 … s-20101103Thoughts?
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