Reuse Plastic Bags

My parents always get plastic when they grocery shop, so my pantry is full of wads of these plastic bags. I've found lots of good ways to reuse them, so I thought I'd share some with you.

1. Pack your lunch in them. Instead of buying and using those little brown paper bags, it's better to use something you already have. I find that plastic grocery bags work fine when packing a sandwich and a few sides. It doesn't keep the food from being squashed and its not a great insulator, but it works. Of course, an even better container to pack a lunch in is a reusable bag that I blogged about it this post.

2. Use them to line trash cans. Of course, they won't really work in your kitchen (I know my trash can needs those 30 gallon sturdy black bags to work), but they are really handy for those little trash bins in my bedroom and bathroom.

3. Bring them back to the store. Plastic bags take up no space at all and are pretty convenient to stuff in your purse and use again. Of course, too many uses may result in tearing, so you might be better of with one of these reusable bags.

4. Recycle them! Supermarkets in my town now have containers that let you recycle plastic bags, so there might be some where you live as well (Richmond isn't exactly known for being environmentally progressive).

5. Use them as "packing peanuts." I've actually never tried this, but I'm sure it could work! Stuff them in a package to cushion the item.

Anyone else have some great ideas for using plastic blags?
This image is from Captain Pao. Sorry if the "idiots" part offends anyone - I would substitute "silly" in if I could photoshop well.

Use a Real Lunch Bag/Box

Remember that unpopular kid in middle school who always lugged around a big, bulky lunchbox? Well, reusable lunchboxes and bags have since made a comeback!

Bringing lunches in small brown paper sacks and plastic bags may seem convenient and appealing, but those flimsy things can really do some damage to the environment! Think of all the trees and oil needed to create the materials in the first place, and then the fossil fuels used to manufacture the raw goods into the picture perfect squares. Then there's the fact that rarely do school cafeterias or workplace lunchrooms have recycling bins. Sadness.

Say you bring in a bag each day for lunch. That's obviously 365 bags a year, and 3650 bags for each decade. Over the course of your lifetime, you may discard over 300,000! Quite literally, a ton. Even paper, usually biodegradable, will probably not be able to decompose in a landfill environment, where it is compressed tightly and buried under all sorts of garbage.

Luckily, there are many new and fashionable alternatives to the boring and destructive brown paper bag. Seriously, look at this adorable one from Green Home.
It's made out of certified organic cotton. Here's the Savvy Snack Bag from Etsy.

This Next also has a bunch of stylish designs, for adults and children alike.

Unbearably cute! I want one of those!

There are so many options to chose from. If you don't really fancy any of these examples, I am sure there will be one to your liking somewhere on the internet.