If you have been tuning in to Because Action, you have known that I absolutely despise plastic bags. Truthfully, I want to be rid of them almost entirely, as paper or even better, reusable bags, can easily take the place of a plastic bag with no sweat. And although plastic bags are nearly 100 percent recyclable, it is estimated that about 97 percent of all plastic bags are simply thrown away and pollute our landfills. That equates to a horrible three percent recycling rate, at best.
That was the bad news. The good news is I know a way to reuse those used plastic bags and get plenty of life out of them, turning them into heavy duty shopping bags. This is something I have been doing for years that has worked very well for me. They are easy to store, easy to carry around, and you can throw a couple in your car for those spur-of-the-moment shopping adventures.
The first thing you want to do is gather up several plastic bags (I have gotten ten together at one time), and stuff them inside of each other, one after another, fluffing out the bottoms and keeping the handles together.
The next step involves a little tape, and realistically, it can be any kind of tape from a clear adhesive type to a duct tape. In the photo you see, I used duct tape to give you a better view of how I did this, but you can pick and choose a tape that’s right for you.
The handles on these bags need to be taped together. That’s the weak point right there, because if they are not joined together, a handle or two might get caught and tear on an item, or you may inadvertently just grab one or two during a heavy load, and then they would rip right off. So, to strengthen the handles all you need to do is twist them together along with the tape. This makes them very sturdy and are easy to grab.
Next, take a strip of tape and secure both of the sides. Merely line up the edge on each side of the bag and fold a piece of tape over it. That completely secures the sides together, giving the bag extra strength as well as making it so much easier to open up when putting items inside.
I have tried both sewing and stapling the edges together, and while they both work fairly well, when the bag becomes so tattered that it is no longer useful and needs to be recycled, you have to pull out all the staples and all the stitches before they can be thrown in the recycling bin. Tape, on the other hand, just pulls right off in a zip, and is just easier to work with.
There you have it, Because Action speaks louder than words, you can now make your own reusable shopping bag and keep those plastic bags out of the trash.
