Do you re-use baggies or any other type of bag?

@ladym33 (10979)
United States
January 6, 2012 6:44pm CST
They were having a discussion on the radio today about re-using plastic sandwich baggies. One of the DJ's said he does it all the time and the other thought it was disgusting. I have been guilty of re-using baggies before but I follow the safety rules, if there was any type of meat in them or something messy I do not reuse them. If there was something dry in there and it can be shaken or washed out then I will use it again. I also re-use the plastic grocery bags by packing my husband's lunch in them daily, and I re-use paper bags by using them as packaging to mail things out. I just cut off the bottom and they make great shipping paper. So do you re-use any types of bags?
2 people like this
11 responses
@hmkoct5 (2065)
• United States
7 Jan 12
I re-use bags sometimes, but not very often. If they are Ziplock bags and they've had any kind of food in them, I don't use them. I use plastic bags in garbage cans. It is really easy to empty the trash that way. Mostly, I take the plastic bags back to the store and recycle them there. I've been trying to use the re-usable canvas bags more often, but I forget them a lot.
1 person likes this
@ladym33 (10979)
• United States
8 Jan 12
I bought some of those but I only remembered to bring them to the store with me one time. They say those can get a lot of bacteria because people never wash them.
1 person likes this
@hmkoct5 (2065)
• United States
8 Jan 12
Yeah, I could see that happening. I only allow them to put dry goods in mine. I don't want meat or fresh items in there.
@carmelanirel (20942)
• United States
7 Jan 12
Like you, it depends on what was in the bag and I do wash them before reusing them. Also I find if one has a hole in it, it makes a perfect baggie for some veggies like lettuce, to keep longer..
@ladym33 (10979)
• United States
7 Jan 12
True I never thought of using the ones with holes in them for lettuce, good idea though.
1 person likes this
• United States
7 Jan 12
Or for fruits like grapes, why do you suppose when you buy grapes the bags have holes in them? Before I would throw away baggies with holes, but now I use them for certain fruits and veggies..(Unless the holes are super big, then they are trash)
@lilaclady (28207)
• Australia
7 Jan 12
I don't re-use the small plastic sandwhich bags but I do keep paper bags and the plastic supermarket bage to use for other reasons, I don't see how it can be disgusting that is a bit rough, I know a neightbour of mine used to wash all her plastic bage and re-use them.
@ladym33 (10979)
• United States
7 Jan 12
If there was meat or dairy products in them there could be some harmful bacteria but most other foods are fair game as long as you clean them out well.
@beamer88 (4259)
• Philippines
7 Jan 12
It's one of the basic things our household does. We re-use plastic bags always. We use grocery plastic bags in lieu of trash bags. Those printed plastic bags we get when we buy branded products, we reuse as a carrying tote sometimes. Sandwich bags, especially those you could seal, we use twice (after washing it of course:). After that, if it's still in very good condition, we use it as storage bags for small trinkets.
1 person likes this
@ladym33 (10979)
• United States
7 Jan 12
Great uses for them.
@ardoy0731 (7308)
• Philippines
7 Jan 12
As much as possible yes to avoid adding pollution in nature.It is also depends on the plastic bag or bag to reuse and recycle cause there are some that are easily to broke and can't reuse any more.
1 person likes this
@ladym33 (10979)
• United States
7 Jan 12
I agree some of them just are not worth the trouble.
• Philippines
7 Jan 12
There was an ordinance in our city encouraging the use of paper bags and paper products on groceries and most establishments. Although plastic bags are still used on products like fish, meat and other wet products we are encouraged to recycle their use or disposed them properly through waste segregation in our garbage. I re-use paper containers like paper bags to re-wrap my lunch box. The small poly plastic used in meat, fish, poultry and other wet product, I re use them by washing the inside with warm water and soap and re-pack again the meat, fish and other wet products. *Tip: coffee cup holders (like that of Starbucks' and other coffee shops) and paper egg trays are good insulation materials.
1 person likes this
@ladym33 (10979)
• United States
7 Jan 12
Good tip! Thanks
@peavey (16936)
• United States
7 Jan 12
I re-use plastic bags of all kinds and re-use the ones that had meat in it. I re-use plates and bowls and pots and pans that had meat in them, so what's the difference? I wash them with hot, soapy water, rinse well and dry over a bottle. I use plastic grocery bags for a lot of things as well, but not food unless it's packaged and I re-use plastic bags that hold popcorn or things like that if they're ziplock.
@stephcjh (38473)
• United States
7 Jan 12
Yes. I re-use baggies sometimes. I mainly re-use grocery bags.
• Japan
7 Jan 12
I avoid getting plastic bags, because of all that stuff you hear about them. You know, being a pollutant, flying away to God knows where, being eaten by animals... Instead, I use shopping bags. You see, they're more stronger and long-lasting than those plastic bags at supermarkets. Besides, you can carry them around quite easily (my bag has a small pocket-sized pouch of its own).
@Queen_11 (307)
• Philippines
7 Jan 12
I reuse plastic and paper bags whenever I can. I would somehow feel bad if I throw those bags away when I know I can use them for other useful things. I also already made it a habit to say no to having my purchased stuffs in convenient stores be placed in the said bags when they are just small pieces. Doing this, I save myself from the temptation of being careless in just throwing away the plastic and paper bags and from the guilt of becoming one of those contributors to the waste in the community.
@FluxNL (503)
• Netherlands
7 Jan 12
I don't re-use plastic baggies where there was meat in. I think it isn't good for your health and I don't think it is good for the bag, because of the bacteria who are enjoying a party. Even when you clean it it isn't 100% clean. Just use new bags is my conclusion