I’ve been a big defender of plastic grocery bags for a long time. In fact, last year I challenged readers to tell me why the humble plastic bag is still maligned by so many people.
Now I may be just a wee bit biased, but I think I made a very compelling case when I explained why plastic bags are good.
Yes, I mentioned that they are arguably environmentally friendlier than paper bags.
Yes, I mentioned how they minimize the number of trips I have to make when I get home and need to tote my groceries from the car to the house.
I even remembered to note that they are durable, lightweight, moisture resistant, and reusable.
However, as my readers reminded me the last time, what I failed to mention was that the poor, pilloried plastic bag is also extremely versatile.
Just how versatile are they? Well … let me count the ways:
1. Place plastic grocery bags in bathroom trash cans for use as a bag liner. (Just don’t forget to keep extras in the bottom for rapid replacements.)
2. When you ball them up they can be used as mattress or pillow stuffing.
3. If you have a broken arm or leg, you can use plastic bags to help keep the cast dry while taking a bath or shower.
4. Plastic bags are also great for holding dirty diapers.
5. Line your cat’s litter box with them.
6. Speaking of pets, plastic bags are perfect for picking up dog and cat poo.
7. Use them in your luggage to keep your wet clothes separate from your dry clothes, and your clean clothes from dirty ones.
8. When traveling with a suitcase, plastic bags can also be used to protect your shoes from scuffs — or keep stinky shoes from affecting your other clothes.
9. Most everyone knows you can use them as a simple lunch sack. Or do they?
10. Got a leaky bottle or jar? Use a section of plastic bag as a seal prior to screwing a cap onto the container.
11. If the forecast calls for frost, you can protect delicate plants by placing a plastic bag over them the night before.
12. Plastic grocery bags can be used as packing material for fragile items.
13. To prevent messy leaks when defrosting meat, place the meat in a plastic bag, along with a paper towel.
14. For cars that are parked in the open, you can place plastic bags over the side mirrors and wiper blades to keep them free from snow or freezing rain.
15. Painting a large room and need to take a break? Wrap your paint brushes and rollers in plastic bags to keep them from drying out so fast.
16. Plastic bags can be used as cheap disposable gloves for handling unpleasant things.
17. They’re also great for storing old rags.
18. Use them as a non-stick surface for rolling out dough.
19. When I’m tasked to watch a neighbor’s home for an extended period of time, I use plastic bags to hold their mail until they return.
20. And nothing is better for tossing out moldy fruit or stinky refrigerator leftovers that, um, need a shave.
21. Use plastic bags to make kitchen spills easier to clean up by placing all your wet paper towels in them.
22. In a pinch? When traveling on the road and you’re miles away from the nearest facilities, you can use them as emergency toilet paper.
23. You can also use them as a makeshift shoe horn.
24. Plastic bags can be used to coat chicken or beef with flour prior to cooking.
25. While you’re in the kitchen, keep in mind that you can wrap your homemade bread in a plastic grocery bag. Those who know say the bag will help keep the bread fresh while still allowing it to breathe.
26. By the way, if you find yourself out of bread crumbs, you can also use them to crush crackers without making a mess.
27. When you’re working the garden, try wrapping some plastic bags around your knees to not only keep them dry and clean, but also provide a little extra cushiony comfort.
28. Oh, and while your busy tending to the yard, don’t forget you can also use plastic shopping bags to collect those smaller yard clippings.
29. Plastic bags are often used as emergency rain gear.
30. You can also use them to bring home your wet clothes.
31. Hopefully, you’ve also kept a few extra plastic bags in the car and near your home’s front door for storing those muddy shoes.
32. And, hey, even if it isn’t raining you can still use them to waterproof all kinds of stuff.
33. You can use plastic bags to store Christmas wreaths and decorations.
34. When traveling, store perfumes and other toiletries in a plastic bag to prevent leaks from making a mess.
35. Got a son or nephew who owns a G.I. Joe? Plastic grocery bags make great parachutes for them!
36. And you can loop multiple plastic bags together to make a plastic rope too. (For you, not the G.I. Joe.)
So there you have it! That’s 36 amazing uses for plastic grocery bags, and I know you folks probably have a bunch more that I failed to mention.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a little shopping to do. And when it comes time to choose between paper or plastic, I think you all know what I’ll be asking for.
Photo Credit: Dano
I’m not so sure about #22. And as for #6, yes they can pick up poo, but there are also completely compostable and degradable poo-bags now. They’re called bio bags and completely break down (meaning there are no small plastic bits left over) within 30-60 days. I use this for cleaning out my cat litter box (using only biodegradable litter!) I’m not a huge proponent of plastic bags; I’d like to see them phased out slowly.
We always keep some extra ones in each car in case any of our kids get car sick. Just make sure they don’t have any holes in them.
And we also use them to quickly clean out any trash in our vehicles, as 3 kids & 2 adults on a road trip (even a short one) generate a good bit of trash.
I try to remember to use my fabric bags when I can but if I do bring home plastic ones we always have a use for them!
I counted 21 of these ideas that I have already done.
PLUS: wrapped partially used bags of flour in grocery bags – I live in a very humid area so it helps keep flour and sugar dry; wrapped books in bags both for storage and for carrying from car to library on rainy days; used one bag to stuff all the others I’m saving in, keeps them organized in a small space; wrapped stuff I’m mailing in bags before wrapping in paper; wrapped x-mas deco items before putting in large storage boxes; as you mentioned for raingear = grocery bag for rainhat and leaf bag for raincoat; wrapped sweaters before storing away to help keep moth-free; balled up several bags and taped over outdoor faucets to winterize them; use one bag on each foot in a layer between two socks when hiking to prevent soggy feet on muddy trails; put tools in bag when climbing tall ladder rather than try to hold several things and ladder rungs at same time; store cast iron wrapped in paper towels in plastic bag in cabinet to help prevent rust; used balled up as filler when patching largish holes in drywall; used to organize dirty items in back of SUV – like towrope, tire chains, spare cans of oil; when packing use bags to wrap items you don’t want to rub directly against each other like pots and lids or plates and cups.
That’s easily a dozen more for your list!!
When I was a kid, we didn’t get snow very often, so we never had snow boots so my Mom would put plastic bags over our shoes and put a rubber band around our ankles to keep them on so we could play in the snow without ruining our shoes.
I love them too and have used them for a lot of your tips.
The shoehorn idea is novel and I see how it would work.
Although I use ziplocs for rolling out pie dough. I don’t like the idea of sticky food I’m going to eat touching something that a grocery bagger touched.
We have a septic system, which can’t handle greasy waste, and use a plastic grocery bag with junk mail or an old magazine placed in it as a used cooking oil disposal bag. The waste paper soaks up the oil so the bag is less likely to leak in the trash.
I also cut the bags into good-sized strips and use them for wrapping empty ink cartridges sent off for recycling.
@Norm
Your mom wasn’t the only one to use that trick. LOL
Boy, did that just bring back a flood of memories!
I always keep a few extra plastic bags stashed in my car. They have come in very handy more than once.
I used them as trash bag liners in my house. To keep the contained, I made a storage container for them out of a (washed) plastic gallon milk carton. I just cut out a smallish hole at the top (removing the spout in the process) and stuff the bags inside.
“And when it comes time to choose between paper or plastic, I think you all know what Ill be asking for.”
Good to see someone is concerned about the environment. /sarcasm
I find it very hard to believe that this was written this year. Just, wow.
Do you mean to tell me you’ve never encountered anybody today who actually prefers plastic to paper – and that, until you read my post, you actually believed everybody thought the same way you do? Really?
You know, there are lots of people on the planet not as enlightened as you are. /sarcasm
Take a newspaper or magazine to an outdoor sporting event in a plastic bag. It is a sit-upon for a cold or wet seat, something to read while you wait for your kid to go on, a rain hat if needed and you can discard it at the event or take it home to recycle.
This past Sunday, a visiting missionary from Tanzania showed us a soccer ball made from plastic bags, a common local toy in her village. Since the children there can not afford a regulation leather soccer ball, they crunch up a handful of plastic bags and sew them into a ball using a mesh of plastic string.
I dunno about #22. There was a saying in the paper industry that if you don’t support forestry then try using plastidc toilet paper!
I don’t know about you but in an emergency plastic beats the obvious alternative!
Saw a series of youtubes on planting potatoes in plastic bags that sat in plastic container. It worked.
I hope you are going to follow up this blog post with 36 ways to re-use paper bags for your readers who are more eco-friendly 😉
I agree. I try to avoid accumulating any plastic bags and limiting my use of them.
I am going to start stacking them together under a rock, and see how long it will take to turn them into a barrel of oil.
Hey if it was good enough for the dinosaur age….
(Sorry, my wife won’t let me, she wants to USE them, can you believe it???)
We would not be able to own pets without these things, lol. Well, how much do bio bags cost? 😉
Hey, if you can’t be a responsible human being by supporting the use of plastic bags that NEVER decompose, that’s your issue.
However if you can’t afford decompostable bags for your pet, you probably shouldn’t be owning one in the first place.
I don’t know how to break this to you, but you might want to rethink anything involving food or your orifices for that matter (ahem, when out of TP…). A study just reported by USA Today found that those plastic bags are a “bacterial swamp” if not washed out (and who does that)?!
Those aren’t plastic bags. I’ve seen studies that show “reusable” bags made of canvas and other materials are full of bacteria, but not plastic bags. Sure, if you carried leaky meat in a plastic bag and then didn’t rinse it out a plastic bag could have bacteria, but I don’t see how plastic bags that carry dry goods would have any more bacteria on it than your own hand – which goes everywhere.
LOL! I already do this with many of my plastic bags. I does lead me to feel less guilty over having so many and I feel it’s insurance for the environment to keep them a little longer before heading them to the landfill.
While making the plastic bag sound like the greatest thing since (depends on your generation what you think is the greatest invention/discovery) you did fail to include any warnings; such as how a person or animal can be sufficated easily by plastic bags and how wildlife can and do get choked, have stomach and other problems, etc. Believe it or not, there are people (even internet users) who take to heart everything they read.
You’re right. Readers, please do not ever try to suffocate yourself with a plastic bag. 😉
Using plastic bags for all your shopping and grocery needs is really bad for the environment. Why don’t you try switching to canvas shopping bags or sturdy cardboard boxes for heavier grocery items that can tear the plastic bag, rendering it useless for re-usage purposes?
And when you buy small items, they place it into tiny useless plastic bags that are too small to function as bin liners – they’re also a waste. By carring a reusable shopping bag with you at all times can really contribute a lot less to landfill. Cheers.
Thanks for the tips. I think my wife and I have used almost every idea on this list. Some of the uses for the lowly plastic shopping bag are simply common sense, as are the warnings to not use them if they are not clean. We like to take long road trips (probably has something to do with living in Texas), and we always carry a supply of these bags (they make great trash bags in the car) and different sizes of Ziplocks. I do not use the so-called environmentally friendly grocery bags. They are sumps for bacteria unless you launder them with each use — which uses more energy, water and whatever one uses for detergent; it’s counterproductive.
My sister used the plastic bags to crochet a rug for her outside porch. It has been years and is still doing the job. My mom cuts them in strips and uses them to tie back her roses and plants to the fence and trelleses. Love your site Len…
Thank you for the additional tips and nice words, Peony! It’s amazing; just when I think I’ve heard every possible use for plastic bags, someone shares yet another clever idea!
I also cut my bags into strips, loop them together to form “plarn” (plastic yarn) and crochet everything from grocery bags to welcome mats to placemats to baskets. It’s free, it’s easy, and it gives new life to old bags. There are lots of free crochet patterns on the internet using plarn. Start plarning!
Regarding Peony – there are several craft companies that publish patterns that use plastic bags to be crocheted into useful items such as rugs and baskets. Also Walmart offers large recycling boxes so you can recycle their bags. I recycle my Walmart bags and use my local grocery store bags for a good many of the uses on the list, i.e.: trash bags, lunch bags, laundry bags, etc.
GREAT ARTICLE!
All good ideas and working in the local grocery store I’ve seen and heard these uses put to work. But my most favorite is to use a plastic bag to put your fish in after you have caught it. It keeps your cooler clean and smell free.
I use these bags for so many things. One novel use is that they have saved my car from being a mess many times. My daughters are very prone to carsickness and the bags were our “airline motion sickness bags” on many a car trip. Always kept some in the glove box and under the seats.
I do the same thing – I keep several in the pocket of the drivers seat so my kids (who travel in the back seat) have quick & easy access. I just make sure that the bags I put in there don’t already have holes in them. Or you’ll still have a mess to clean up. (A smaller one – but still a mess.)
Ive never used #22 however while traveling with three young sons, we’ve used them as barf bags! they worked great! and we also used them to hang over the back of the seat so the boys could keep toys, books and other small stuff handy in the car!
Thanks for all of the other uses. I hadnt heard of some of them.
Although I use my own bags for purchases somehow I manage to accumulate plastic bags. (I guess they are cousins to the wire hangers that seem to propagate in the closet.) When I get a bagful of bags that I don’t need I give them to a local non-profit thrift store for them to re-use.
I searched for articles like this for an article I’m planning on writing on plastic bags after the Austin, Texas city council decided to outlaw them (I live in Lockhart about an hour south of Austin).
Anyway, if I may, I want to make a slight suggestion about #11. Be sure, if you use plastic bags to cover plants to place them in such a position that they do not touch the plants. According to most the gardening shows, if plastic touches the plant, it could burn your plants thereby ruining them, and that you do not want.
I’m not against plastic, except that they’re made with petroleum, which theoretically, contributes to the high price of gas.
Plastic bags are a wonderful tool, my sister and I both use them for trash.
Another article I researched had #13 (not this article one from another website) as putting them over a parking meter to avoid paying the meter. Don’t do this, it is both unethical and illegal.
Great suggestions. Thank You
My pleasure, Butch. Glad I could help! 🙂
Len, you are right about “reusable” bags in that study being made of canvas, rather than plastic.
Who knew grocery bags could get people so riled up?? 🙂
Shoe savers when you find yourself in a muddy mess (you thought the pumpkin patch would be dry since it hasn’t rained for days but surprise! or hey, I’ve got to go change a tire now in my cute shoes, or whatnot), I keep a stash in the car. Like previous commenters– great for clearing out car trash, or sparing your hands from having to touch something gross!
As for the paper vs plastic perennial argument– you can find just as many “scientific facts” that support why each is better than the other. Yawn. Sure, carry your tote bag around, but gasp! there will be times you won’t have enough, you’ll forget, etc. Chill.
Sometimes we use them to put the wallet in plastic bag if it starts raining suddenly, at last moment keep the food pouches and water bottle,, if can not find any good bag handy.
My daughter makes balloon out of empty plastic bag of bread (or grocery bag)by blowing them with the the air-when she runs and my son bang on it, its fun for free.When maintenace guy or cable guy comes inside the house and if they don’t want to remove their shoes everytime they entre to prevent the carpet from outside dirt(we don’t usually wear shoes on carpet-in the snow)I give them plastic grocerry bag to wear.
I use recycled plastic bags from my local supermarket as art smocks for my preschoolers. Of course when they are done I immediately put them away on a high shelf (can’t trust those little buggers). just make a hole on the bottom and sides and slip it over them like a t-shirt.
I am not so sure about #22. I don’t think I would use a plastic bag for TP. I would rather stop on the side of the road and pick up a leaf.
Just make sure that leaf isn’t poison ivy.
Lots of good ideas!
I wrap beautiful fabric around cordage made of plastic bags to make rag baskets and bowls. To date, I have taken over 1000 plastic bags out of the environment! Plus, my baskets, bowls and wine bottle carriers are pretty cool themselves.
appalachiangap.etsy.com
While the reusable bag is touted as friendly to the environment, the bag is not friendly to the environment based upon the fact the Life Cycle Assessments are incomplete with respect to the reusable bag. Life Cycle Assessments fail to address the use of water, energy, and generation of greenhouse gases as a result of the consumer washing the reusable bag on a recurring basis in order to maintain them in a sanitary condition.
The reusable bag presents health issues related to cross contamination of food items, and the reusable bag can serve as a carrier for contagious viruses and make other people sick. To mitigate these health issues, the bag must be washed on a regular basis. Some people dismiss these concerns and say common sense tells you to wash the bag when it is visibly dirty. However, bacteria and viruses are invisible to the naked eye. Therefore, adopting a regular schedule to wash the bags as a precaution is warranted. Hand washing or machine washing the reusable bag with soap and bleach will kill 99.9% of all bacteria and viruses. Some people say to wash the bag between uses; others, weekly or monthly.
Every time you wash your bags you consume water, electricity, natural gas, and generate greenhouse gases. Since washing bags is done on a recurring basis over the lifetime of the bag, the cumulative consumption of water and energy and generation of greenhouse gases is so large, that on a per use basis the reusable bag no longer has the lowest impact to the environment. In other words, using a reusable bag has a larger negative environmental impact than using plastic or paper bags.
Simply put, sanitary plastic and paper bags are available off-the-shelf and are more efficient to use than for every household to wash reusable bags and consume scarce water and energy resources. Water and energy resources that are estimated to cost households between $37 and $76 per year (Machine wash and dry) not counting the cost of bags.
If you crochet, you can make them into PLARN!:
http://www.myrecycledbags.com/2007/02/17/instructions-for-cutting-plastic-bags-creating-recycled-plastic-yarn/
I’m planning on making more plarn, making more tote bags out of it, then visiting a place that has outlawed plastic bags to use them. I love irony! 🙂
We give them to goodwill and other places like that when we get an excess amount.
I have used them as a garbage bowl in the kitchen, for instance when i am peeling potatoes or carrots or peeling an onion, i do that right over the bag, then i put the foam plate that held meat from the market in there along with any cans i have opened.mso all the mess from cooking goes right in the bag and then bag into trash. I have also used it to empty any leftovers from food that cannot go in disposal. I hate throwing stew leftovers right into trash as it may leak, so i throw it into a grocery bag and tie it up then place in trash. So much cleaner and less smell.
Great post, good ideas!
Love this list! I posted this on my company’s facebook page.
Thanks for all the great ideas.
This is a disgusting post. Plastic bags are an environmental plaque and a significant part of the threat to our nature coming from plastic products. Small plastic parts can be found even in bottled mineral water, in fish, meat and other products. If we do not stop using plastic (bags) carelessly for everything, we slowly poison ourselves and our children. That won’t happen with a paper bag. Every possible reason to claim plastic bags as environmental friendly is just a lie.
I myself do not use paper or plastic – I bring my own fabric bags for shopping. Avoid trash!
I guess that means you won’t be clicking on the follow-up article I’ll soon be posting that highlights another 64 uses for plastic bags?
Sure, everyone adores plastic grocery bags. Birds, fish, seaturtles, dolphins, people breaking their heads trying to solve the plastic soup disaster happening to the oceans due to the ridiculous adoration for plastic grocery bags. I read your ‘useful’ tips and kept thinking: ‘really’? Are these considered good reason to spoil ocean wildlife?
All great ideas. Nonetheless, just remember that these things make up some huge percentage of items in landfills. I was on an archaeology dig at a landfill in Wyoming (site happened to be there) in 1992. Everyone was stunned at the amount of plastic garbage bags present. Not only in the landfill itself, but also blowing in the wind for miles away. We need to get rid of them; disposable baby diapers too, unless they can come up with something biodegradable.
Wow amazing blog and great tips!!! Thanks for sharing this.
I use the bags for many of the things listed and learned a lot of new uses. There is one very important one that I use them for that I didn’t see mentioned though that I think everyone should know about. Wintering! Every crook and cranny in my old house where I can feel a cold draft gets a bag stuffed in it. I take a butter knife and start shoving the bag in. Floor boards, windows and around doorways, you name it – there is no cold air getting in my house…
Good one, Tammy! Thanks for sharing that.
You mentioned that plastic bags are good for Christmas decorations. Here’s what I do to eliminate a lot of frustration. I like icicle lights but they are a bear to untangle especially if you leave them connected together. I put one strand of icicle lights in one plastic bag and tie. Saves me so much time the next year.
Along the same lines as using plastic bags for boots, if your small kids wear galoshes over their shoes or sneakers in wet weather, a plastic bag around the shoe will make it easier to slide the shoe into the boot. You can cut off the excess so there isn’t a lot of plastic bunching up around their ankles.
I have also used bags to pick up and bag poison ivy for the trash.
Ha! I have never understood why people turn their noses up about plastic grocery bags, and then turn around and BUY plastic garbage bags!!! I haven’t bought any plastic garbage bags in over 20 years. We use small wastebaskets throughout our home including under the sink in our kitchen ( our kitchen trash is removed daily, thus eliminating nasty odors from building up in our home).
“I have never understood why people turn their noses up about plastic grocery bags, and then turn around and BUY plastic garbage bags!!!”
Wow, Polly … great point! I never considered that — but I promise I’m going to use it to knock the next person who tries to scold me for choosing plastic instead of paper off their high horse.
Antiques, estate sale managers and flea market dealers all re use plastic bags as BAGS. Every small purchase is popped into a recycled plastic bag and then the buyer of the item can re use the plastic bag again at home. Or you can recycle them in the bin at the grocery store.
Sorry about the double post!! Didn’t think it took yesterday when I posted! Not used to responding.
No worries, Polly. I fixed it.
I am definitely not a plastic shopping bag person, here in Australia the plug for taking your own cloth bags shopping has only been pushed for about a decade. I have been taking my own bags for over 25 years and always have plenty for rubbish bin liners. I walk around the neighbourhood most days and always pick up ones lying on the ground as I figure they will still be there in many years to come. I do not use these ones for any food related uses. People always give you ‘stuff’ in plastic shopping bags. My cloth shopping bags go back a long way and have found ‘country road’ bags the best and have been going for decades. I find shop assistants want to put everything in ‘plastic bags, I just politely say ‘no bag thanks’. One large retail asked me recently would I like to buy a reuseable bag and I just said, I have my own.
Many of the plastic bags I pick up on the streets I pick up rubbish and take it home and bin it correctly.
Another thing which would save as much usage for trash bags is to compost all plant based waste and reuse in your garden.
I could go on for a long time about plastic bags but I feel I am on the wrong side of this conversation. Just my opinion.
I love plastic bags. I’ve used them for many of the things mentioned in the article. Plus I use them as packing material in boxes with gifts. I have used them balled up in old nylon stockings to help with drafts coming from under doors. I have used them as a bonnet to cover hair while waiting for hair coloring to set. I have used them after opening the other end to cover the tip of vacuum cleaner (part inside, part outside) to clean leftover ashes out of the fireplace.
I had my foot in a cast right in the middle of gardening season. Plastic bagged my cast and waded in my dewy garden every morning!
See? There you go!
I liked all of the ideas except those that come into direct contact with food items. I remember that they always said do not use these bags like that because some of them are treated with insecticides or other dangerous things that may leach out into food that has been placed on the plastic.
More than once, I’ve used plastic bags over my shoes when caught in an unexpected snowstorm. I also keep extra thick bags handy in case my little grandson comes to visit without his boots during the winter.
To pickup dog poo use shiny cupon pages . An empty kleenex boxes holds MANY plastic bags. Warehouse stores have cardboard boxes instead of plastic bags. I use the boxes for bedding in my dog crates. Also under mulch instead of plastic sheeting. ALSO : wrap two thicknesses with a knit material, staple in back, attach to wall with washers that have a hole using a roofing nail. VOILA : A GORGEOUS French Bulletin Board of any shape & size to fit an awkward space. Use push pins to keep anything attatched to it.
our church ladies use the “plarn” to crochet sleeping mats for the
homeless!
Fantastic!
I’ve used plastic bags as an emergency shower cap when I can’t find mine. Also, the non-profit thrift stores in our areas are thrilled to get a stash of plastic bags; a great way to reuse them before they hit the recycle bin.
After coming home from the store with grocery bags, I discard any bags that have had raw meat in them. So when the other bags are used I do not have to worry as much about contamination. There might be a solution for contamination in canvas shopping bags–use a small garbage bag or larger store brand bags as a liner. I love the suggestion for storing bags in a milk carton. Thanks.
You can use plastic bag over top of baby’s diapers
Wow! So useful tips! Thank you very much. For grocery shopping, we prefer paper bags, especially after what is happening in Dominicana right now
We use them for “weep” watering our outdoor plants during hot weather.
We place a bag full of water under a plant and punch a small hole in the bottom. The plant’s roots get slowly watered without getting the leaves burned, as spraying does.
The bag also covers the water spot on the soil under it as it empties, reducing evaporation from the soil. Most of the water actually gets to the roots.
Well, in place of plastic bags we can use reusable bags for grocery and other purposes.
Suggestion: Precede this list with the following:
1. Reuse it next time at a store.
2. Reuse it next time at a store.
3. Reuse it next time at a store.
4. If there are holes, double bag it, and…
5. Reuse it next time at a store.
6. Reuse it next time at a store.
7-XX. Etc…
YY. Once non-functional as a container, even when multiple-layered, consider the other possible uses for it.
Why reuse it at a store, when I can pick up dog poop with it?
There is a company that recycles them into black garbage bags. It even has a program for school kids to use it as a fund raiser. I take all my plastic bags back to Kroger, and put them in the recycling bin.
In regards to the reusable type of bag, it is highly discouraged that those be used when COVID is rampant. COVID is on the rise again folks.
I like using a plastic bag as my carry on while flying. My wife hates it