Do you have the habit of keeping your grocery plastic bags? I do, and have plenty of them in my cabinet. I know that I will make a Recycle Grocery Plastic Bags project one day instead of throwing them away into the dustbin and loading the landfill.
I emptied them out on the weekends as there were too many to keep. Looking at them and noticing that some plastic bags are so beautifully designed, it seems like such a waste, so I made this!!!
Recycle grocery plastic bags by fusing them into a plastic sheet for various crafts, you can even sew on them. At this point in time, the outlook of the plastic sheet doesn’t seem appealing to you but it will be great art when you put them together with other material. I am going to use them to make a recycled tote bag!!!
Let me bring you to the tutorial on how to make these recycle grocery plastic sheets. I will keep the recycled tote bag for another post in a few days’ time, so please come back and check for the updates.
UPDATE ***
I have used this fused plastic sheet combined with other materials to make a Recycled materials Tote Bag.
Fused Grocery Plastic Bags
Recycle grocery plastic bags by fusing them into a plastic sheet for various crafts, you can even sew on them. At this point in time, the outlook of the plastic sheet doesn’t seem appealing to you but it will be great art when you put them together with other material. I am going to use them to make a recycled tote bag!!!
I have used this fused plastic sheet combined with other materials to make a Recycled materials Tote Bag.
Enjoy making them!
Materials
- 2 sheets of blank white paper
- A thick towel
- Plenty of thin grocery plastic bags
Tools
- A pair of scissors
- Iron
- A well ventilated room
Instructions
- Cut the grocery plastic bags into flat rectangle sheet, i.e cut away the handles, the bottom, and side seams. Stack 6-8 pieces of equal size together. The most top and bottom plastic sheet must be white and blank.
- Sandwich 2 pieces of plain white paper in between the plastic pile. The paper must be bigger than the plastic so you won’t iron and melt your plastic and stick on it.
Set the iron to medium heat and stroke across the plastic pile slowly and evenly.
- The heat from the iron will fuse the plastic sheets underneath.
Remove the iron and press against the pile with a thick towel to let it cool down slowly.
Please don’t touch the surface directly as it is quite hot for your bare hand to handle it.
As it cools, the plastic pile will harden and shrink a little, you will hear some creeping sounds.
If you skipped this step, your plastic pile will shrink and roll up while it cools, as a result, you won’t get a flat plastic sheet.
- Take a closer look at how it looks after the fusing. See, they are bonded together!!!
- You need to try out a few times to get the right temperature.
The photo shown below was my failed trial. The reason being was that I set my iron temperature too high and the plastics were melted and formed holes.
If you find that your plastics are not fusing, that means your iron is not hot enough, increase the temperature or stroke it longer.
If you have any questions, please do leave comments below and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
Good luck.
Selene
Friday 1st of August 2014
Very nice website, congrats BUT, but as u show some ideas for recycle, I must thing that u have enviroment concerns so... plastic bags is not a good idea to have at home. The best thing to do is make a strong shopping bag and always take with you. In Finland the shops not even give than for free. If you want a plastic bag or papper bag for your grocery, u have to pay for it. Please people, lets stop using plastic bags!
Lori Rothermund
Thursday 12th of December 2013
Just discovered your wonderful website today. I have instantly fallen in LOVE! I have already found several projects that I am going to pursue (and I say pursue because I have six children and this is sometimes a task when doing projects!).
I cannot wait to try my hand at making these into recycled shopping bags. What a wonderful idea! Thanks so much for posting!
Tammie
Sunday 13th of May 2012
I saw a tutorial for recycling plastic bags that was amazing! They laid the bag flat, cut off the top and bottom then cut the bag into strips. (kind of like your loops that you used to make pot holders out of when you were a kid :). Next they attached the loops... like you would attach two rubber bands together to make a single string) then when they had all the loops attached into a string it was rolled into a ball. Next step, they crocheted the plastic yarn into mats for the homeless. It turned out great! The lady doing the tutorial said the most important thing was to use bags of similar weight for each mat. Here is the connect to the You Tube tutorial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiUC0iDQtkA
It really is an amazing use for recycling bags.
Craft Passion
Monday 14th of May 2012
You are right, Tammie. It is another good way to recycle the grocery plastic bag. They called it PLARN, derived form the word PLastic yARN. I wanted to make PLARN but I can't seems to collect enough grocery plastic bags since our country is going into "plastic bag free" campaign. Grocery and departmental stores no longer giving out free plastic bag for our purchase. Even we donate some money to get the plastic bags, they are all bio-degradable type that will break itself into pieces after a while.
Wendy
Friday 3rd of February 2012
You are so talented and creative! I once saw a raincoat made from fused sheets of shopping bags. VERY unique and functional. Looking forward to your tote bag results.
Pounds4Pennies
Tuesday 25th of October 2011
I saw this on Etsy a while back. I have been planning on making these into a bag. Thanks for reminding me of this idea.