Some Things You Can Do With Plastic Bags... But Shouldn't

Everyone has some plastic bags in their home. You know the ones. They give them out “free” at the supermarket. Sometimes they hold one or two things and we wonder why we even got a bag. And other times they are so overloaded the ice cream is at risk of falling out of the bottom. Yes, they seem to be a part of everyday life but what else do we use them for? Here is a humorous and eye opening look at 4 ideas for other uses for plastic bags… (and a better alternative)!

1. Mummification – Has the beloved family pet last day come and gone. Why not preserve Fluffy as a mummy and keep him around for awhile? Just wrap him up in those plastic bags you’ve been holding on to, and find a good spot for him in the back yard! Those bags take hundreds of years to decompose, and so will Fluffy! Our country’s landfills have been holding on to these bags for years and they are only just beginning to leech chemicals into the soil.

2. Lawn Chair Flight – Ever heard of those guys who fly away on their lawn chair by tying a bunch of helium filled balloons to it? Take 582 of those bags you have at home (I know you keep that many around) and tie the handles together. Fill each with helium and attach them to your favourite outdoor lounger and away you go! Don’t forget that the bags are very flimsy and tend to break at the worst times… remember that ice cream that fell out of the bottom of the bag last week and splattered all over the concrete? Don’t let that happen to you!

3. Reverse Engineering – So you have a PhD in chemistry? You think Einstein’s theories are child’s play? Then you should look into reverse engineering those plastic bags and returning them into their original ingredients. Most plastic is petroleum based so that should be the first thing you should get out of this little science project. At $4.00 per gallon, every little bit helps, right? Just think, you are putting that fresh fruit and green vegetables inside of a little part of the reason that in just America alone, 29.6 million barrels of oil a year are consumed to have the convenience of plastic bags. Lucky us!

4. Video Tape a Bag and Call it “Art” – Some people think that a plastic bag floating effortlessly in the breeze, without a care or worry in the world is beautiful result of nature’s elegance. Break out the camcorder and sell the footage to the highest bidder! Although, since there are so many bags floating around our cities, through our rivers and up and down our coast lines, you may have some competition. Of the 200,000 plastic bags consumed in the world each minute, many end up just blowing in the breeze. Buy hey, one man’s trash is another man’s art… isn’t that how it goes?

All jokes aside, plastic bags wreak havoc to our environment and never seem to go away. Why not purchase reusable bags and bring them with you to the store? You roll them up and put them in your pocket or purse, and when you get to the store and they ask “Paper or plastic?” you can decline and whip out a bag of your own! They come in organic materials such as cotton and hemp or even polyester, and in tons of different styles to fit any personality.

Article by Dustin Brockman 

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