Dont use plastic shopping bags!!!!

[gill didsbury]

I dont use plastic shopping bags. I take my own calico ones. Its easy, and you dont have cupboards full of plastic, dont get sent to land fill to lie there for ever and not rot down.

PLEASE dont use plastic bags!!!!!

Gill (Australia)

[Andy Hamilton]

have you seen our campain on this Gill??

One of the first pages we ever put up was to with exactly what you are saying have a look

http://www.selfsufficientish.com/Carrier%20Bags.htm

Also if you get paper bags then they can go straight into your compost.

[angelbabe]

here here!! or is that hear hear??

[Bec and Julian]

Does anyone know how plastic bags can be recycled? (besides just using them again?)

I need some planters and was hoping that by magic my old bags would just turn into nice ceramic pots, but they haven't.

[Andy Hamilton]

Chartiy shops will gladly take them to be used again . We have to use some when we recycle, each item has to be wrapped up in a different bag, so one bag for tins, one for newspapers ect. It is very annoying as we generally don't have enough bags. Anyway thats not what you meant is it,

(besides just using them again?)

You can crochet them into doormats (aparently). I also read somewhere that they can be used to weave with, hopefully someone will add to this post and tell you how, really not sure about that one.

If you have a dog use them from poop scooping and use them as bin liners.

For planter pots have you tried old plastic milk containers? have a look at http://www.selfsufficientish.com/jrp.htm for some more details.

[Bec and Julian]

http://www.kittycreekstudios.com/Crafts.html

http://www.abc.net.au/science/features/bags/

Here are some amazing resources I have found. The first is a craft manual for recycling plastic bags to make weather proof table cloths etc, and the second one shows some amazing baskets from Ethiopia.

Ok, happy now. And if anyone is wondering why we spend so much time on the internet, it is because we refuse to pay 100 quid for a tell licence.

[Dave]

I found this link which has a load more links to making things from plastic bags. I might have a go at making something, may have to leave how to crochet first.
http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf517076.tip.html

Has anyone noticed that the CO-OP (UK) are now doing bio-degradable plastic bags? They seemed to just come in over night, I don't remember reading about it anywhere

[Elderflower]

By cutting plastic bags into strips about an inch wide you can knit them into really strong shopping bags. If you feel artistic you can even use the different colours to make patterns. If you start cutting in a sort of spiral you get long lengths.
By the way, has anybody got any brilliant ideas about dog poop bags? If I didn`t have to clean up after the pooch I would be able to avoid plastic bags entirely.

[Andy Hamilton]

By the way, has anybody got any brilliant ideas about dog poop bags? If I didn`t have to clean up after the pooch I would be able to avoid plastic bags entirely.

On this site http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/loc ... s/poop.htm they suggest using newspaper to scoop the poop. I suppose you could use old bits of cardboard in the same fashion.

Has anyone noticed that the CO-OP (UK) are now doing bio-degradable plastic bags?

- There are a few places that do bio-degradable and degradable bags now I know that somerfield have done for a while and was quite surprised to find that dixons do too.

[Rajiv]

Hi - I just saw this site and joined this forum. I've been running an anti-plastic-bag campaign for a while now and glad to meet up with some folks who agree!

I write a weblog on the subject at http://www.badlani.com/blog where you will find some frightening facts about what plastic bags are doing to us, and you will also find some great stories about communities that have rid themselves of this menace.

Most folks in the more affluent countries aren't aware of how affordable re-usable cloth bags can be. I have more than 200 styles on my website and mention prices on my site. http://www.badlani.com/bags You'll be pleasantly surprised to see how economical they are when we ship them direct from India.

If you like what you see perhaps you could share that information with your local retailers and your local councils. You'll note that we don't insist on minimums either. Every cloth bag we sell saves the world from 500 plastic bags...

Please get in touch. I will value your help, advice, guidance or even just your good wishes.

Thanks all. It's nice to be able to meet up with concerned folks!

[Haddock]

Just found this article that shows that an Aussie town has actually banned plastic bags.......Excellant

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/06 ... n_city.php

[Wombat]

Yep, we're pretty good!

Nev

[Millymollymandy]

We can't get plastic bags in any of the French supermarkets in our vicinity. So what do I do - I have to go out and BUY bl**dy plastic bags to put the cat poo in. Grrrrrr :tongue2:

[shiney]

I am going to have to try and be good here on the plastic bag front! I use bags for life for my recycling collecting, but I do use plakky bags when going to the supermarket. (Yes, you may slap the back of my hands)

BUT...I am going to make a concerted effort to take the bags that I have shopping with me this week.

[Andy Hamilton]

We can't get plastic bags in any of the French supermarkets in our vicinity. So what do I do - I have to go out and BUY bl**dy plastic bags to put the cat poo in. Grrrrrr :tongue2:

Maybe we could send you ours from here? Anyone got any spare bags?

BUT...I am going to make a concerted effort to take the bags that I have shopping with me this week.

Good to hear, I am working on getting some jute bags made shall end up with about 500 of them so if you need an alternative...