The bag lady: Reusing those plastics
Posted
Oct 17 2007, 02:02 PM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Those of you who read “Extreme savings: washed baggies and unflushed toilets” know that some people take thriftiness to a galaxy far, far away.
I’ll admit I’m one of those Ziploc recidivists. The bags are sturdy, so why not reuse them? (And yes, I know there are other brands besides Ziploc. But the word has entered the common parlance, a la “Band-Aid” or “Xerox.”)
However, it’s relatively rare that I actually use a Ziploc. To my way of thinking, there’s no reason to throw away a perfectly good tortilla bag once the last burrito has been folded.
That’s why that tortilla bag may now hold cookies, the 12-grain bread bag keeps brown sugar from solidifying, the produce bag swaddles bacon and the newspaper delivery sleeve stores bottle caps waiting to be entered into My Coke Rewards.
I’d even been saving the bags from the $1 dried cranberries from Walgreens. Recently I found a use for them: wrapping cooked hamburger patties I wanted to freeze.
What’s wrong with you people?
A reader of the Smart Spending message board, “monroe2,” thinks that’s weird. In a thread called “Just how much money do you people make???,” monroe2 wondered why reusers didn’t simply “roll off some produce bags when you go shopping...They are free, and at least they are brand-new.”
This prompted several responses:
- “Sunset Hiker” said reuse is “one of the ways I try to cut my household's contributions to the landfill.”
- "Chrisfan1958” lamented the disposability habit. “Why waste money on plastic bags for one use and throw them into the garbage?”
- My own personal reality check for monroe2 was that those extra bags are not “free.” We pay for them eventually in the form of higher grocery prices.
- A reader named “Steph0226” was blunter: “Reusing something so that it does not go to waste is a lot better than throwing it away and going to the market and STEALING something you do not need.”
Saving the earth and/or our wallets
Monroe2 also wanted to know why anyone would need so many spare plastic bags. I came up with some reasons:
- Freezing bagels (the bakery sells them in a paper bag) or meat bought in bulk and repackaged.
- Keeping teabags fresh once the wrapper is off the box.
- Protecting cheese after the package has been opened. (I don’t buy much plastic wrap, either.)
- Taking baked goods to school to share.
- Saving leftover French bread, which also comes in a paper bag.
- Storing oatmeal or cornmeal bought in bulk; when they’re empty, I take them to the store and refill.
No doubt you have other uses. Those of you with dogs definitely have other uses.
Tons of trash
The EPA says Americans generate 245.7 million tons of waste each year. After recycling, more than 166 million are left for disposal -- and 12 percent of that amount is plastic.
I know I won’t single-handedly end global warming by hoarding bags from Panera Bread. But each reuse reduces my share of waste. What I spend on food preservation is reduced, too; I can’t tell you the last time I bought Ziplocs. I’m still using bags I bought in Alaska -- and I left there six years ago.
Baby steps -- but each thrift habit contributes to the bottom line. According to a reader named “Sam O Ting,” it’s not what you earn, but what you keep. He and his wife gross nearly a quarter of a million each year, yet they reuse Ziplocs.
“By being smart about spending and managing your money, whether you make $25K a year or $250K a year," wrote Sam, "you attain a certain level of freedom."
Just thought of another use: storing your cash cache. Isn’t combining thrifty obsessions fun?
