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Plastic bag wonderland. What to do with them
all?
Plastic bags, the kind you get from the grocery
store and the department store and the drug store,
have only been around a few years. They have
pretty much replaced brown paper bags (which were
quite useful, too).
Cheerfully colorful and abundant everywhere you
go, the plastic bag is a raw resource for modern
society - at least for those who are creative
enough to see the possibilities in them. Look past
the form to the material and past the material to
the form and you'll see why they are so useful.
According to Society of Plastics Industry, 80% of
consumers recycle plastic bags for "household
wastebaskets, shoe totes and laundry or garment
bags."
If you're one of the 80%, it's time to expand your
horizons! There are lots more ways to use those
bags.
And if you're one of the 20% who don't recycle
them for personal use, take a look at all the ways
to use them before you toss them in the garbage or
recycling bin next time!
It started out with a few simple ideas on how to
reuse those plastic grocery bags instead of
allowing them to fill the closet or, worse, throw
them out. The "few simple ideas" grew into several
pages worth!
From there, it went to ways to store and avoid
getting so many of them in the first place.
Then The Plastic Bag Lady showed up with her
awesome displays of hand crocheted goodies,
courtesy of throwaway plastic bags.
And then... a reader wrote this: "Cut bags into
strips and crochet, knit, weave, or needlepoint a
door mat for wet days, or a tub or shower mat. I
do this and make "shag wipe your feet mats" for
outside! I loop plastic through the loosely
crocheted rug and it works as well as an expensive
boot scrubber to clean shoes!
"Then one day, I warped my loom with acrylic rug
yarn and made a couple of woven rugs using the
bags. My friends who do a lot more weaving than I
do had never thought to try that! I figured them
for use on porches and decks, but you could use
them anywhere. Then a lady asked me to weave her
some grocery bag placemats for her kitchen!"
So use those plastic bags. Make things, carry
things, store things, do things, clean things... |
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