Spill the beans... on uses for old plastic carrier bags

silvergirl

How I would love to be able to recycle more than I do. Everything goes to recycle when it can, fortnightly collections of paper, approved plastic bottles and cans, great. BUT the nearest glass bank is 5 and half miles away, so it has to be done when I go shopping, because a 10 mile round trip to recycle would cancel itself out. Because we are on the edge of South Hams/Torbay our nearest official transfer station is 22 miles away, so if we miss a household rubbish collection (wheelie bin containing one small rubbish bag a fortnight not out or we are away on collection day) the prospect of driving a round trip of 44 miles is risible. Who said that outsourcing refuse collection would improve things? South Hams recycle is great and responsive, household rubbish collection is, well, rubbish.
Rant over. Some good ideas here about using plastic bags. Best not to get them in the first place.

November08

I haven't bought bin liners for years. my old carriers always get used for that

GreenTed

When he was about 6, my son tied the handles of adjacent carrier bags together to make a train, which provided hours of fun both for him & the toys having brilliant imaginary journies:j. Of course you'd have to make sure that the child was old enough/able to be safe around carrier bags & wouldn't be putting siblings at risk. Nice big free toy & you can still untie & use the bags afterwards for lining bins etc (wish I could knit, that one sounds great!).

GreenTed

Just remembered, we've also grown spuds successfully in a bag for life with a few holes in the base, & the really attractive Christmas ones can be used for giving presents in rather than buying the (smaller) expensive paper ones. They tend to come out quite late towards Christmas though. I know this is not particularly environmentally friendsly; I should probably be making cotton re-useable Christmassy fabric bags but as a busy carer I don't have time/finances to do that (we'll see!).

heatproof

On the subject of recycling, and poisoning the environment.
There is a growing trend towards long life lighting bulbs, and rightly so, BUT, when one bulb expires, there are no facilities to recycle them!!!
The mecury inside the bulb is highly toxic.
Someone will say..."Oh go to your local recycling centre"
No....its too far away.!!!
So, into the general rubbish bin it goes, to poison the earth.
Imagine the growing amount!!!
One cannot recycle blue glass bottles.....I wonder why?
Lots of everyday items are not catered for, and all I hear is...use less plastic carriers!!
People....wake up and smell the coffee!!!

malkypaul

I use carrier bags for planting tomato plants in trenches in the greenhouse, also for lining milk bottle or any crates for holding soil for hardwood cuttings gooseberry/currants or graftings and lining hanging baskets (they dont dry out so quickly, and use less watering)

41_and_i_know_it

I think you deserve a medal for sharing that info with us. Especially the parking meter idea. Classic!

textileartist

With regard to the environmental impact of cotton bags, why not recycle old tshirts into bags? There's a number of tutorials online (search for 'turn tshirt into bag' - as a newbie I can't post links). Most of them are for tote bags but I also saw one which involved cutting the tshirt to make it into a sort of string bag.

lincoln_dj

fortunefortune wrote: »

I know this is a thread suggesting uses for plastic bags, but wow - doesn't anyone care about the environment here? A daily plastic bag on your door handle - minimum 365 bags going to landfill every year - and that's just in your house.

Did you know (or care) that there is a gigantic patch of floating plastic rubbish, twice the size of the continental United States, that swirls around itself in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? Tiny Fish eat the microscopic bits of plastic, bigger fish eat them, you eat the fish - you are eating it too. Endangered turtles eat plastic bags as they have poor eyesight and the bags look just like their favourite food - jelly fish.

I don't have kids but am trying to do my bit for future generations and everyone can do their bit. NOT USING plastic bags, turning off water when you brush your teeth, not using plastic containers wherever possible and that's just the start. Please stop using plastic bags.

If you've ever visited America, China or any other "emerging" economy you'd realise recycling a couple of plastic bags and saving a few litres of water per week are pretty pointless. Unfortunately, until the whole world is on the same wavelength, these environmentally friendly measures are like turning up to an earthquake zone with a dust-pan and brush...

I do re-use bags though. Aside from the obvious answers that people seem to feel the need to repeat despite appearing a dozen times in the thread already, I have used the plastic bags in place of bubble-wrap or tissue when packaging items I've sold on eBay etc...

lincoln_dj

BethP wrote: »

I think we should do the same as Wales, China and North America where plastic bags do not exist! Instead, you get strong paper bags with handles that do the same job.

Paper bags have a lot higher impact on the environment I assure you. The only reason they are so widely used in America is due to the influence the wood/paper manufacturing "cartel" have over there.