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Plastic Bags
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Casa Verde: BioBags
We talk often about ditching plastic bags in favor of resuable shopping bags and recycling whatever you can. But, no matter how hard you work to be environmentally conscious, at the end of the day (or week), you still have to take out the trash. Someone still has to take out the trash.
Casa Verde: Ikea Ditches Plastic Bags
Good news for those of us who hate plastic bags: As of October 2008, Ikea will no longer offer plastic or paper bags. Instead, the store will only offer reusable plastic bags to its customers. Last March, Ikea set a goal of reducing its US stores’ plastic bag consumption by 50 percent, reducing plastic bag use from 70 million to 35 million plastic bags in the first year.
Casa Link: Quilted DIY
Craft shares an ambitious plastic bag-recycling project. While I've shown you a nifty fused plastic bag project in the past, this one definitely gets high marks for its innovative quilting and eye for detail. Find out how it was done here.
How To: Make Fabric Shopping Bags
Did you know that each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide?
To do your part to reduce this huge amount of waste, make your own fabric shopping bags with these easy instructions from Kristina J. Millar when you read more
Casa Verde: Plastic Bag Stand
Green designer Danny Seo always has great, simple ideas for greening your home. In
a recent post he writes that when he was thrifting at a local Goodwill, he saw a bunch of toothbrush holders, and immediately thought of using these as plastic bag dryers. All you have to do is stick wooden dowels or chopsticks in the holes where you'd normally stick your toothbrush, and then drape the bag over the stick.
Casa Verde: More Ideas For Plastic Bags
Plastic bags: It's hard to escape them. Even though I bring cloth bags almost everywhere, I still have a collection of plastic grocery and department store bags. At Casa, I've told you how to make a cool bag out of plastic bags and I've also given you tips on what can and can't be recycled.
DIY: Fusing Plastic Bags
While we're fretting about what to do with our plastic grocery bags, I thought I'd throw out another recycling option for all of the crafty types out there. Etsy Labs has a great tutorial on how to fuse plastic bags into new "fabrics" that can be fashioned into tote bags (left), purses, and anything else you dream up.
What you'll make out of your fused bags is up to you — and better left to another post.
Casa Verde: Recycling Plastic Shopping Bags
I try to always carry my groceries in cloth bags, but despite my best efforts, I still end up with plastic shopping bags from time to time. There are plenty of ways to reuse them — as trash can liners and dog-poo holders, for instance — but even then, the bags still end up in landfills, where they can take months to hundreds of years to break down.
The best option, of course, is not using plastic bags in the first place, but if you can't cut them out entirely, you should definitely recycle them.
Casa Verde: Wash and Reuse Your Plastic Bags
I used to give my dad a hard time about being a cheapskate because he washed and reused his Ziploc bags. But as I've become more eco-minded, I realize how wasteful it is to toss a baggie after just one use. Here are some tips on how to get more mileage out of your plastic sandwich and freezer bags.
Other Search Results
Casa Verde: Eco Bags Reusable Produce Bags
Though I prefer to use cloth tote bags instead of plastic grocery bags, it always feels hypocritical to then fill those fabric totes with plastic produce bags. But until recently, the free plastic baggies were the only way to protect your fruit and keep your veggies from getting battered.
Today, however, I was excited to discover these Eco Bags Reuseable Produce Bags.
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