I don’t mean those carrier bags you get at checkout counters or food/freezer bags bought from supermarkets. I am talking about plastic bags for food packaging.
Unless you live next to zero-waste or free-from-plastic stores, most food you buy from supermarkets comes in a plastic bag. So, what do you normally do with the plastic bag once the bag is empty? Some of you might recycle it if it is recyclable, but most of them likely end up in the bin.
I encourage you to try to reuse those plastic bags because by extending their lifetime, you can use much fewer shop-bought plastic bags hence save money on buying new ones.
Reuse plastic bags from your grocery shopping
For example, the picture shows plastic packaging from vegetables and cereal bags, which are perfectly reusable. Just make sure:
- check if the inside of them is really empty, clean and dry.
- If it’s not, wipe a bag with a dry cloth.
Sometimes I even rinse and hang them on my outdoor washing line if it’s sunny. They get dry very quickly. I often take those bags with me when I go grocery shopping. For example, when I buy loose vegetables/fruits, I can put them in my plastic bags instead of using those clear bags on a roll supplied by the supermarket. I firmly believe the fewer bags I use, the less they end up in landfills.
Some of you might argue that we can use paper bags (supplied in the store) instead of plastic bags. However, those paper ones aren’t necessary much greener than plastic!
It takes more than FOUR times as much energy to manufacture a paper bag as it does to manufacture a plastic bag.
Research conducted by the Northern Ireland assembly
Reuse frozen foods bags
Some frozen foods also come in plastic. And those bags can be reused, too, as long as we clean them properly before using them. The plastic used for frozen foods is usually quite thick and flexible, so they’re ideal for storing all kinds of things easily; you can even use them as carrying bags for picnic cutlery or plates.
Industrial pollution and the discarding of plastic waste must be tackled for the sake of all life in the ocean.
Sir David Attenbourgh
Why shouldn’t we just recycle plastic bags?
You might hear of the waste management of Three R’s: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. So as you can see, recycling is the last stage. But unfortunately, it doesn’t address the core of our waste problems either. I only came to that realisation after watching a few documentaries related to the issue, such as the one below. I encourage you to check the documentary below to cultivate your knowledge if this is unknown to you.
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