Authored by Jaipi Sixbear in Environment
Published on 10-20-2009

There are plastic bags galore stuffed under your kitchen sink. You want to know how to recycle plastic bags. There are endless ways to recycle plastic bags. Retailers can help you to recycle plastic bags. You can recycle them by making useful items. You can also use less plastic bags to begin with, so recycling won’t be necessary. Here are some ways to recycle plastic bags.

Reduce

The next time you go shopping think of all those plastic bags under your sink. Do you really need to bring home more? Recycle plastic bags by reusing them on your next shopping trip. Plastic bags stow easily inside a purse or back pack. Repack new purchases into old bags. All out of plastic bags to recycle? Buy reusable cloth bags or carry purchases in a bag you already own.

Recycle Twice

What do you use to collect all your items to recycle? Is it yet another plastic bag? Why not recycle old plastic grocery and shopping bags by using them to collect other recyclables? Use one for cans, one for paper and one for glass. When dropping off recyclables, you can drop the bags off too. Or bring them home and recycle them by filling them up again and again.

Collect and Drop

The majority of retail and grocery stores recycle plastic bags. You will find a collection drop box at the front of most stores. Some even give credit for reusing old bags to carry purchases home. Keep reusing and recycling plastic bags until they are no longer useful. Then take them to the store and put them in the recycle box.

Stuffing

Recycle plastic bags as stuffing for handmade items. Plastic bags condense and ball nicely as stuffing for pillows and stuffed animals. Recycle old fabric. Turn it into new decorative pillows stuffed with recycled plastic bags. Recycle an old stuffed animal that has gone flat. Fill it full of recycled plastic bags you would have thrown away.

Planters

Recycle plastic bags as planter liners. Poke a couple holes for drainage in old plastic bags. Use them to line baskets for potted plants. The plastic will hold in the soil but allow for drainage out the bottom. Recycle plastic bags as planters in other imaginative ways too. Pop one over four stakes in the ground to make a quick instant planter.

Painting

Recycle plastic bags as painters helpers. Slip one over the paint tray before use for easy cleanup. Working on a long term painting project? Freeze paint filled brushes in plastic bags until ready for the next use. Recycle plastic bags to make pretty painted wall texture patterns too. Just ball them up, dip in paint, and tap on the wall.

Trash

Recycle plastic bags as trash can liners. Of course these will be thrown away, but at least they get a second use. Larger shopping bags can be recycled as tall kitchen can liners. Plastic grocery bags are the perfect size for small bathroom or office wastebaskets. Recycle plastic bags as trash can liners and save on purchasing liners too.

Recycling plastic bags takes three simple steps. One is reducing plastic bag use by reusing old bags or bagging new purchases in cloth bags. Two is using existing plastic bags to their fullest potential. Three is dropping fully used plastic bags at the store or recycling center to be recycled into useful items. These three steps for recycling plastic bags will help save the earth, one bag at a time.