Plastic bag recycling

cjaynes11 · #1 01/05/15, 11:16 PM

Does anyone recycle the plastic bags, say from wal-mart and/or other grocery store type bags, like to make either planks or something else.
Has anyone tried this or attempted to do this. I understand that it may take quite a bit of bags to melt and put in some sort of mold to press into some kind of useful shape.
Just curious, if it's something that someone has thought or even tried to do.

Buffy in Dallas · #2 01/05/15, 11:54 PM

You mean like this...

Buffy in Dallas · #3 01/06/15, 12:00 AM

Or you could do this...

To make this...

Buffy in Dallas · #4 01/06/15, 12:19 AM

I wonder how strong this would be?

Harry Chickpea · #5 01/06/15, 12:28 AM

A plastic bag melts down to the size of a VERY small button. I've done it just to see what happens. Impurities and poor control make for a very weak plastic. I've heard of some people making costume jewelry out of the more brightly colored bags melted down.

Fire-Man · #6 01/06/15, 06:11 AM

I recycle/reuse all we get and recycle several family members that save them for me. I recycle them by sending out fresh eggs to customers in them and reuse them when we sell at the Flea Market.

hippygirl · #7 01/06/15, 10:24 AM

I reuse mine as can liners for bathroom and office trash cans. Sure, they won't hold as much as bought liners, but I have a LOT of them saved up and a seemingly never ending supply, so hey!

I also been known to use them when picking veggies, temporary emergency insulation around doors/windows...many things.

Rustaholic · #8 01/06/15, 11:27 AM

I am a rope maker among all the other things I do and I know another rope maker that makes the Plarn strands and makes rope from them. It is not a braided rope but it is a twisted rope.

Rustaholic · #9 01/06/15, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buffy in Dallas

You mean like this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFq3EoxJg3A

This guy is paying 136 bucks per ton for kids to bring plastic to the centers.
I was thinking $0.15 a Kilo was nothing until I ran it through the conversion.
That is a pretty good amount to get for plastic.

emdeengee · #10 01/06/15, 12:43 PM

We don't get a lot of plastic shopping bags as we have been using cloth bags and plastic bins for over 20 years. We don't use plastic bags for garbage either. We are fortunate that our recyling center bought one of the Plastic to Oil machines invented in Japan and all of our plastic - including any bags or wrap - is turned into oil which the Recycling center uses for heat and electricity and sells when they have enough. So far they have paid for the machine 3 times over. And given that manufacturers are not being restricted in their use of plastic - particularly in wrappings - they will never run out of this source for oil.

Ardie/WI · #11 01/06/15, 01:12 PM

I also use them as wastepaper basket liners in all the rooms in the house.

Forcast · #12 01/06/15, 02:58 PM

I use them for kitty litter removal. My sister made the homeless sleeping mats with her church and she said it took a verylong time and she is a fast knitter.

Forcast · #13 01/06/15, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fire-Man

I recycle/reuse all we get and recycle several family members that save them for me. I recycle them by sending out fresh eggs to customers in them and reuse them when we sell at the Flea Market.

You dont use egg cartons?

Wendy · #14 01/06/15, 03:23 PM

I also put cartons of eggs in them for customers & use them at the farmer's market. I also use them to line small trash cans here. When I get a huge amount I take them to Kroger where they have a recycle barrel for them or to the food pantry which seems to always be out of plastic bags for people.

DEKE01 · #15 01/06/15, 03:45 PM

one of the recylcer's I used to work with in Florida makes lumber from them similar to the Kenya vid above. He used our waste wood from building demolition to grind into sawdust to mix with the plastic to make the lumber heavier and stronger. But he had lots of equipment to make that happen.

Nimrod · #16 01/06/15, 05:18 PM

The waste transfer station will recycle them but I give them to the library for reuse.

starlady · #17 01/06/15, 05:52 PM

You can fuse them together into plastic "fabric": https://blog.etsy.com/en/2008/fusing...the-etsy-labs/

Fire-Man · #18 01/06/15, 07:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Forcast

You dont use egg cartons?

Yes, then put the cartons in doubled recycled bags. Its so much easier to take 8 to 10---dozen count eggs cartons out in 2 bags than no bags.

cjaynes11 · #19 01/07/15, 01:44 AM

I wondered about this. I just can't really see how long these bags actually lasts in a landfill. Why I was thinking of other ways to reuse them. I've seen one company actually uses the bags that is made into lumber for park benches and such.h It would make for a better reuse of them.

**Shrek** · #20 01/07/15, 03:27 AM

I primarily recycle grocery bags as trash bags for the last 15 years, however since most now are made of corn oil or other more environmentally friendly based oils and break down in a year or so buried 1 foot deep in a test I conducted a few years back, I also recycle them as landscaping fabric sometimes.

Sometimes if bored I also cut them into strips to braid into disposable light duty twine.

They also can be recycled as root ball binding if starting tree or bush starts indoors.

Last year I also used some grocery bags with unscented kitty litter bentonite clay to seal a leak in my smaller fish pond.

Most "plastic" lumbers as carpets are made of recycled polyester soda bottles which most folks think are plastic but actually only the cap and seal ring are plastic.