Reusing Storage Woes
I had a conversation last summer with a swim team mom who announced that she reuses, recycles and renews old to new every day. She saves old bottles, jars, paper bags and so on and reuses them, recycling their use over and over 'til they break or wear out. I wondered how she does it when, after a month, my shelves overflow and become so cramped I can't find anything when I need it. I concluded that either I was missing some trick to the success of this tactic, or she just wasn’t telling the truth.
I began to further assess my situation in order to step up my efforts. What I became very aware of was how many garbage-can liners I was purchasing unnecessarily, when I had supermarket plastic bags that worked just as well. I stopped buying plastic food-storage containers and began relying on old jam jars and glass containers to store leftovers. Even the brown paper bags that were jammed into an overflowing cabinet are now put to new use as a fireplace fire starter in the wintertime. It works like a charm... I just twist-bundle them, and they must be better for us than those chemically treated bricks.
I guess the bottom line here is to continue being aware and do what you can do without turning a blind eye and saying, "It doesn't matter"—because every recycle and reuse counts and makes a difference!
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I give all of my paper bags to antique stores, they are very happy to get them.
Check with your library. Ideally patrons would carry in cloth bags but they use these for patrons to carry out books.
I purchased 6 reusable grocery bags. No more plastic bags from the grocry store! They are larger then plastic, hold much more and less trips means savings on fuel.
I filled an empty tissue box (the square kind) with plastic grocery bags. I keep it in my car for various situations.
In the fall my kids and I would collect dry pine cones. At home we'd put a few into the bottom of a full size brown paper bag and roll it shut. It makes a great fire starter, just a couple logs on top and your good to go. No kindling needed!! We'd get quite a few bags from each trip. It's a great activity for the family. You're all working to stay warm.
I love your tip on rolling pine cones in a paper bag as a firestarter...I already was rolling the paper bag but the pine cones are a really nice touch and will keep the helper burn going longer!
Not that this is a particularly green thing to do, but we save the plastic bags from the grocery store and used them as disposable-diaper disposal bags. This was before I knew what a mess disposable diapers make in the landfill. EW!
We also use plastic bags in our small trash cans, and as trash bags in our vehicles (in the state of Washington, you're required to have a litter bag in your vehicle at all times!).
The state of Washington is also banning plastic bags in the very near future (not sure on the exact date that it goes into effect), so we bought a bunch of the re-usable, made from recycled plastic bag shopping bags from our favorite stores for a buck a bag, and my mom knit/crocheted a BUNCH of shopping bags for us to use. Now if we could only remember to take them with us when we go shopping! LOL