First of all let me start off by stating that I am currently working toward going green. Or at least greener. Since moving to Houston I’ve been recycling all of my paper products. And I mean everything. Cereal boxes, frozen dinner boxes, cardboard boxes, junk mail, and even toilet paper tubes. When I look at the bins that are currently holding my recycling I can’t help but think about how much more often I’d have to empty the trash if I was putting all my paper products into the regular trash. And yes, I did just win the award for longest run on sentence ever in the history of the universe. 
Where we live we don’t have city recycling. I take my paper to work at put it in this dumpster that is specifically for paper recycling. The company is called Abitibi and the dumpster is called the Paper Retriever. It has a doggy on it. My work is paid for the the amount of paper that we collect. It’s not a lot, but it’s better then nothing. You can see these green and yellow containers all over the place down here. Most of them are at schools and libraries and places like that. I didn’t know that privately owned businesses could have them until one showed up at work. Encourage your business/school/etc. to get one of these! It’s free and you’ll look totally smart for coming up with the idea on your own: www.abitibi.com
But this post isn’t about paper recycling. It’s about plastic recycling. Specifically, recycling those pesky plastic bags from the grocery store. For the past 6 months I’ve been trying to force myself to remember to take my reusable cloth bags to the store, but I keep forgetting. I guess I’ll just have to put them on the front seat of my car so I don’t forget anymore.
Like most of you, I’ve got a stash of plastic bags. They really do come in handy for a lot of different things. Like discarding unwanted prom babies. That was uncalled for.
I was so happy to see this lovely little message on the bottom of my Target bag. Have I mentioned that Target is one of my fave places in the entire world. IKEA is my fave, but Target is pretty close.
Target Bag!
Ten uses for the plastic bag that is about to go to the landfill.
I apologize for the crappy phone pic.
Here the list for those of you who haven’t had Lasik:
- Tiny Trash Can Liner. (I hate how messy this looks, but it works)
- Doggy Duty (I do this if I’m out of the little poopy baggies)
- Water Balloon (I don’t think this would actually work)
- Road Trip Rubbish (I keep a bag in my car. It’s hanging from a vent on an air conditioner. My car stays a lot cleaner when I have a bag in there. Give it a try.)
- Soggy Laundry (Great for transporting your pool gear or sweaty gym gear.)
- Ice Pack (I’m clumsy and will use this the next time I bump my chin on the coffee table)
- Toiletry Tote (I’d prefer something a little more stylish but it would get the job done.)
- Kitty Litter Liner (I don’t use litter box liners, but I do use a plastic bag everyday when I scoop the kitty litter. Just be sure to double check that it doesn’t have a hole in it)
- Tomorrow’s Lunch Bag (Works great for toting food! Duh.)
- Care Package Padding (Use the bags for shipping material. I’ve done this lately as I’m still in charge of running T’s online store. I’ve also used crumpled up magazine pages.)
There are also tons of crafty people out there who are using plastic bags to create new things! I totally love this stuff! Here’s a cool bag that was made out of plastic bags. Target also sued the company ( I think it’s Timbuktu) because they were using their logo. Idiots.
Here’s another plastic bag-bag that is made by crocheting (or knitting?) strips of plastic bags. So awesome!
If that’s not cool I don’t know what is.
ALthough to bring the happy rainbow ideas back down to Earth you have to wonder if making such awesome things out of plastic bags is that some people might be more inclined to continue to collect the bags instead of switching to the reusable cloth bags. But then again not many of us are smart enough to figure out how to create such craftiness.
Here’s a nice how-to if you want to give it a go:
http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/cr_needle_arts/article/0,,DIY_13768_3059465,00.html
***Remember not to hoard the plastic bags. They do come in handy, but you don’t need to keep 389 of them in the house. But DON’T thrown the extra ones away! Take them to your local Wal-Mart or other major shopping center. They accept your plastic bags and recycle them for you!
Start making a few small changes today. Start recycling your paper or your tin cans. It may be small but it will make a BIG difference!
Do something green today! And no…smoking something green doesn’t count.
J
Filed under: household tips, Public Service Announcement Tagged: | crafts, Earth Friendly, Going Green, Plastic Bag Fashion, plastic bag uses, Recycling, recycling tips, Target
lol@for those who haven’t had lasik…
Going green…I’m a bad offender of the earth. I’m all for businesses to stop making this stuff I’m suppose to recycle.
I know, I sound old. Plus I only have 287 plastic bags, so I’m good.
Yes, the bags are cool!
I did my part and bought some bags from Kroger, they are actually really nice and Kroger pays you $.05 for each bag, every time you come in with them. Well I guess I didn’t pay for them, because the cashier and bagger were stupid and didn’t notice the price tags still on them. The bag girl, even took the tags off, but she was stupid anyways, because she put our canned stuff in the frozen bag, and our frozen stuff in the regular bag.
AND I can’t recycle here, because Oakland County and Auburn Hills are stupid and I am not going to pay $10 every time I recycle stuff.
hey, i just wanted to let you know that my friends and i made a water balloon out of a target bag. It was huge and impossible to hit anyone with and it wouldn’t break, but it did provide a good laugh.