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Organizing the Home

About all of those plastic bags.

18 years ago

One trip to the store and I end up with at least 20. They don't hold much weight. Kept forgetting to take them back to recycle. They aren't large enough for me to use for trash except in just a couple of small bathroom cans and we only need to keep very few.

Now, I give them to a friend who runs a small business. I didn't realize that she would take them, so now I fold them up and drop her off a load every week or two. She says it really helps.

Gloria

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Comments (9)

steve_o
18 years ago
Thrift stores also will be happy to see them ... That's where mine go.
Maura63
18 years ago
Often I remember to put the bags in the car, but forget to take them in the store to recycle --

But, when I open the hatch to put the groceries in the car, I then see the bags I forgot. Sometimes I just put the bags in the shopping cart before returning to coral. I keep my fingers crossed that the next person to use the cart (or the store attendant) will bring them to their proper place.

Here is a link that might be useful: Creative Ways to Use Plastic Grocery Bags
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gratefulgardener, I do now recall that last year you used the bags from inside cereal boxes. And I recall feeling then, as I do now, that kudos should go to you for such a great recycling idea. I hope you have better results this year. The one thing that gets me about using ziplocs is the non-recycling part of it. We are paying for more plastic to be made into something, and for the most part it is not being re-used again but going into the landfill. But then again, I'm getting to be a nut about environmental issues in my old age, I'm finding. Bonnie, I had the same experience with squirrels last year. I detest the critters to begin with because they are always digging up new plantings. Last year I went out to a bed full of knocked over sunflowers. I stood there wondering what the heck had happened, and I noticed that my neighbor's were in the same condition. When I saw him next he told me he saw the squirrels at work. Grr. :) Dee
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If you use those Debbie Meyer bags or Feezer bags...
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For the newbies - so there's no confusion on what's best to do with your new cutting. It is ABSOLUTELY a better thing to grow a nice big rootball/plant over winter for most kinds of brug cuttings, like 95% if not more. A small few are really fast growers. If only just to do your best to produce flowers in their first year. You want to provide the best possible conditions for them to be at their best and that includes having a good headstart before spring. -Sandy
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Comments (2)
Mike, One of my hobbies is breeding zinnias, and I use "hairnets" that I make from mesh fabric that I bought in the fabric department of Wal-Mart. The material is inexpensive and has an open mesh that allows easy air circulation and sun exposure, while keeping bees from getting at the flower. The nets don't harm the flowers or plants at all. Interestingly, I have seen butterflies sipping nectar from the zinnias through the mesh, but they don't go after the zinnia pollen, so I am glad that the butterflies can feed through the mesh. The nets are basically approximately square "sacks". I fold over a rectangular piece of the mesh and secure the top seam and side seem by weaving a piece of black yarn through the mesh. I alternate sides with the yarn about every Â½" to Â¾". The seam doesn't need to be really closely stitched. Obviously I leave the bottom open to allow the "hairnet" to fit down over the flower. I use black mesh and yarn because the black nets are less conspicuous in the garden. I just started using these nets last year and they have revolutionized my zinnia breeding. I used to have to race the bees to get at the pollen on my selected breeder zinnias, but now I can relax and get the pollen over a period of half a day, and have an abundant supply of good pollen. The bees are amazingly aggressive at grabbing any available zinnia pollen. The nets also keep the bees from randomly pollinating my selected breeder flowers. Here is a picture of one of the nets on a zinnia. This zinnia was in rather poor shape because it is one that I grew from a cutting this fall and I just used it as a "model" to wear a net for this picture which I just now made. My breeder zinnias typically look much better than this one, as you can see for yourself by looking at their pictures in the It can be fun to breed your own zinnias message thread in the Annuals forum. I make the nets in several sizes to accommodate different sized flowers. You shouldn't have any trouble making these nets to your own specifications from needles, yarn, and mesh fabric from a local fabric store. MM
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What size plastic bags?
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Comments (7)
I do not use T-shirt bags for my produce, I use those to put all the items people have bought from me. I used to use the largest sized 5-a-day bags but than found websturant.com some better produce bags that are 12' x 20' and I use them for everything from 4 oz bags of arugula to 1.5 pound bags of lettuce. I just got a case yesterday for $36 and change (includes shipping). I believe I get 3000 bags in a case. The bags have no writing on them like the 5-A-day bags do and they open far more easily. They are easy for me to put my labels on, load with produce and they look nice on display BTW I far prefer my tomatoes in pulp pint and quart boxes to bags-you get far less damage and people like them in boxes much more than bags so you sell sell more and take home fewer damaged maters. Here is a link that might be useful: plastic bags
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adellabedella_usa
18 years ago
The thrift stores here love them too.

I also find they are a good size to keep in the pop-up camper.
wantoretire_did
18 years ago
Our library is only too happy to get all they can. Between the loaners and the book sales store, they use a lot of them.

Carol
kayakingkris
18 years ago
Our elementary school saves them for a fundraiser. They collect a huge bag (supplied by the fundraiser) and when it is full, someone picks it up and they are paid for the bags. Can't remember the amount. It's like $25 or about. Don't know the details but I take a handful of bags in every week.
sue102
18 years ago
I have 4 small waste baskets so a lot get used there but we still have excess. We have a local food pantry/clothing sleter so I take my extras over there every month and drop them off. They are very grateful for them.
Sue102
sheriz6
18 years ago
I use mine to line trash cans and pick up after our dog on walks and to clean up his mess in the back yard. Works great and I rarely have an excess of bags.

One way I've cut down on the number of bags coming into the house is to reuse them at the grocery store. The paper-in-plastic ones last a long time and since I bring them with me when I shop, I'm not bringing home many new plastic ones. My grocery store also has a recycle bin for plastic bags.
knitmarie
18 years ago
I use two (double-bag) every day for litter box clean up: threee cats, 4 boxes.
Julie_MI_Z5
18 years ago
My mom uses hers as packing material when she ships packages.

We also use them to line waste paper baskets. We're doing more and more shopping at Sam's Club, Costco, Aldi and Save-A-Lot, so we never have an excess of bags.

We recycle our paper in brown grocery bags, so when we're at a "real" grocery store we always have to remember to ask for a couple bags of groceries to be put in paper bags.

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