Plastic Bags Are Reusable

A lot of people have gotten pretty good about bringing reusable shopping bags to the grocery store. Here’s the next step: keeping a few used plastic bags in your shopping bag, so that you don’t have to take new bags from the rolls in the produce department.

It’s amazing how durable and long-lasting many of the plastic bags we use for food are. The bags that loaves of bread come in are made of particularly thick plastic. Many of the rolls of bags in produce departments are high quality. Zipper bags tend to be very high quality.

I know that it’s a common habit to throw out plastic bags after one use, but to me, that’s like throwing out a pair of socks after one use. Let’s change that habit!

If your bags are dirty, just add a little water and a drop of soap, hold one end closed, and shake a bit. Rinse a couple times by shaking with cool water. Hang to dry or spread somewhere in the kitchen. Turn them inside out to dry completely.

It’s not just about reducing landfill, and plastic in the bellies of seabirds. Manufacturing uses chemicals and energy and water, and results in air and water pollution. Even if you eat only organic food and live outside of a city, pollutants end up in your lungs and food.