Recycling Around the House: Uses for Plastic Grocery Bags

If you're like most people, you have a stash of plastic grocery bags underneath your kitchen sink. It feels wasteful to throw them away, but what can you do with the growing heap of plastic? Actually, there are a lot of uses for plastic grocery bags. I stash them everywhere. I keep plastic grocery bags in the cabinet underneath each sink of the house, inside my car and inside my travel bags. It's a good idea to keep some extra plastic grocery bags in your office as well. Plastic grocery bags come in handy for a number of things.

1. Trash Bags

Most people use plastic grocery bags as trashcan liners inside their home. However, go a step further and place plastic grocery bags in the side pockets of car doors and seat backs. There will be no excuse for empty McDonalds wrappers or empty coffee cups on the floor of your vehicle again. Keep some plastic grocery bags in your luggage. Use them as extra trashcan liners during your stay at a hotel. The small wastebaskets inside hotel rooms fill up quickly.

2. Sink Liner

When peeling vegetables, husking corn or cutting fruit like pineapple or watermelon, place a plastic grocery bag in the sink. After you are through prepping your fruits and vegetables, lift the plastic grocery bag by its corners, and deposit the peels, husks and rinds with no mess into your trashcan or compost pile.

3. Paint Tray Liner

Instead of buying a plastic liner for your paint tray, insert the paint tray into a plastic grocery bag. Use an oversized plastic grocery bag and tie a knot with its handles, or cover the paint tray with a plastic grocery bag on each end of the tray. Once you're through painting, pull the plastic grocery bag inside out by its handles, and throw it away with little or no mess.

4. Shoe Covers

When packing for a trip, place shoes inside plastic grocery bags to prevent your dirty shoes from soiling your clothes.

5. Dirty Laundry Bag

Keep plastic grocery bags inside your suitcase and travel bags. You can store dirty laundry in the plastic grocery bags during your stay at a hotel.

6. Gloves