I don't know what to do with all those shopping bags i get when i purchase something at the mall?

Question

I feel real bad when i go shopping, cause i shop a lot... and i get a bag for even a scarf ... then i end up with tons of bags at home and i feel bad throwing them away its like wasting a lot. So what do you do with your bags from stores?

Answer 1

Adamantly refuse to accept those paper bags.

If the store person insists, request that the sale be reversed and leave the  items in the store.

Now that is what one should always do for purchases that are only a few items. But carrying your own bag(s) with you when you are buying multiple items is the plan-ahead way to deal with it.

Our stores have all given in to the preference of many customers to skip those store plastics.

Next, we are going to have to start demanding less packaging on the individual items we buy.

Answer 2

Refuse them; take your own cloth bag or ask for paper.

Return them to the stores; some have bins to collect.

Reuse them for storage or lining garbage cans at home.

Answer 3

I put mine on my wall behind my bed. Like a huge collage. You can make collages on posterboard, reuse them, make bookmarks, wrap gifts,  make cards. The possibilities are endless.

Answer 4

My mom found the coolest thing online-she makes tote bags weaving or crocheting plastic bags. I recycle them or use just one bag at the mall. Some cashiers get a little annoyed when I ask if I can use my first bag but oh well.

Answer 5

Wal-Mart recycles all kinds of bags.

Answer 6

I dont know where you live but here we can take our plastic bags to a Wal-Mart.They have a drop box for them.I put one bag on my kitchen door k**b and put bags in it until it is full.Then replace the bag on the door.I put the bag full of bags in my car to drop off next time I'm at the store.If we all did a little it would add up to alot.

Answer 7

use them to take you're lunch to work or to take clothes to the gym

Answer 8

if they're sturdy bags like gift bags, then you can use them as lunch boxes. if they're plastic then u can reuse them. I know Whole Foods actually takes money of your bill for reusing your own bags. plus, they give u discounts on drinks if u bring your own cup. alot of stores even have recycle bins towards the front of the store where u can recycle old grocery bags. i also know alot of stores have reuseable tote bags for groceries but u could just buy your own to take shooping with u if u go somewhere else. in my house we use old grocery bags as garbage bags so that we don't have to buy anymore plastic from the store. plastic bags r already recyclable anyway so u could just strait up recycle. just remember: reduce, reuse and recycle.

Answer 9

With the plastic bags you've got lying around, these are some good ideas for what to do with them:

http://www.simpledebtfreeliving.com/goin...

(scroll down to the bit titled "Use Your Imagination to Go Green with Plastic Bags")

For the future, though, buy seven or eight calico bags, and take some with you EVERY TIME you go out shopping. Insist on using these for all your purchases, instead of plastic bags. You can use them for years and years, and you will avoid using hundreds of plastic bags.

Answer 10

You can do nothing with your bags but next time you go shopping, if you want to get a scarf just use one of the bags you previously got before. Alternatively you can bring your bags from home. That will help a lot. Can you imagine how may bags would be saved all around the world if everybody did that?? I have a strong plastic bag that I use every time I go to the supermarket. Thanks for trying to keep our environment. ;)

Answer 11

Take a few tote bags with you to use instead of plastic bags since everyone already wearing tote bags you'll fashionable and environmental

Answer 12

Sometimes, its okay to say "no thanks, I dont need a bag"

Answer 13

You don't have to take a bag for every purchase. Take a large plastic bag with you or a shopping bag and put all your purchases in that.

In Minnesota we recycle plastic bags. I drop my used plastic bags off at the grocery store collection station.

Sometimes Thrift Stores will reuse clean plastic bags.

Just ask them.

At home I line small waste baskets in my bedroom and bath with plastic bags. When it's full, just take out the bag containing the trash, tie the ends together and throw it in the garbage.