Reuse/Recycle Plastic Bags

Benefits
Environmental Benefit: ★★★★☆
Reusing your sandwich and freezer bags means less plastic in the landfill.

Money Saved: ★★★☆☆
You'll hardly ever need to purchase bags, especially if you make your own lunches and use them regularly! We haven't bought trash bags in 10 years, as we use the ubiquitous plastic shopping bags for our trash bin liners.

Lifestyle Benefit: ★☆☆☆☆
It is a minor nuisance to have to rinse out a baggie that has a little sticky jelly inside to use again for lunch. There really wasn't a lifestyle benefit I could think of other than knowing you're helping the cause and reducing waste!

What We’re Doing
Shannon's grandmother gave us the "bag dryer" you see in the photograph here that she made. Very handy for holding Ziploc type bags upside down and open while they dry after you've rinsed it out. I usually take a sandwich to work for lunch, and my bags get reused probably 50 times each before I toss them - usually I don't even need to rinse them out as they just have a few breadcrumbs in them. This is an easy one to do! We use some of the shopping bags that you inevitably end up with as trash can liners, and the extras we keep bagged up on top of the refrigerator, to take when we go shopping. Our local supermarket has a recycling bin just for those bags - check to see if yours does too!


A Little Humor
GOOD RECYCLER: You fill up the recycle bin every week with cans, bottles, and jars.

NOT SO GOOD: You give the recycle bin to the kids to use as a toboggan.