1000 Flowers for the Planet - #437 Recycle Plastic Bags

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #437 Recycle Plastic Bags

China uses 3 billion plastic bags every day. There are enough plastic bags to circle the earth 29 times. So plastic products have been, and will continue to be, a topic of discussion throughout this 1000 Flowers for the Planet art project. Several Flower suggestions made so far can be revisited in regards to plastic bags. They were: Reject Plastic Bags (Flower #18); Live Without Plastic (Flower #63); Avoid Single Use Plastic (Flower #64); and Refuse Plastic Products (Flower #392). But if you can’t keep plastic bags out of your life altogether, then ensure you recycle them in an appropriate way. This isn’t suggesting that you can make life easy by saying to yourself it’s okay to take as many plastic bags home as I like because it’s easier, and you know you can recycle them and that makes it all okay. It doesn’t make it all okay.

Find a local site that collects plastic bags for recycling. My local one is the Coles supermarket chain, where they take many different types of soft plastics as well as their own plastic supermarket bags. Another avenue is your local charity shop, which may like to take some off your hands to re-use as carry bags for their customers. Re-use the bags yourself for activities in your own life: carrying around gym shoes or muddy boots in the car; re-use them at the supermarket; when moving house they can be used as packing around glassware – search the Internet for more ideas. For crafty people, plastic bags can be cut into strips and used as yarn to be crocheted into useful or fun items. Whatever your lifestyle, if you can’t keep them out of your life completely, then find ways you can recycle all your plastic bags.