Expecting a cold front? Protect tender plants from overnight frost by gently tying a plastic bag around them. The plastic buffer will keep the harsh wind and chill at bay by trapping warm air inside to insulate roots and branches.Make “Plarn” for Household Crafts

 

If you’re crafty and enjoy knitting or crocheting, you can turn grocery bags into plastic yarn (or plarn) to use in a zillion-and-one projects. Just lay your bags flat and cut across, top to bottom (discarding the handles), to create loops. Knot the loops together to create a long strand of material, then roll the strand into a ball and use it to create coasters, placemats, reusable bags, rugs, plant hangers, or any other creative notion your mind invents.

Line Your Trash Cans

 

Plastic grocery bags are the perfect size to line small trash cans in the bedroom and bathroom. Keep a stash of old grocery bags in an empty tissue box in your pantry or under the sink. You can easily grab one anytime you need a new garbage bag.

Create Textured Paint Surfaces

 

Faux finishers, take note! Many painting and glazing techniques can be achieved with the help of a recycled grocery bag. Cover a clean paint roller with a plastic bag, then roll it in paint and apply to the wall to create a textured effect, or achieve a faux leather look by taking a wadded up plastic bag to a coat of glaze to create random patterns.

Line a Paint Tray

Paint tray liners, the kind that can be slipped in and out of a paint tray to simplify post-painting clean-up, have become quite popular with DIYers. Convenient as they are, you don’t need a store-bought liner to achieve a mess-free paint job. Instead, line your paint tray with a plastic bag. Pour the paint into the tray, paint, and (when you’re done) remove the bag for effortless clean-up.

Sew Reusable Sandwich Wraps

 

Sew your own reusable sandwich wraps and you’ll not only recycle your plastic grocery bags, but avoid using plastic ziplock bags. First, fuse several layers of grocery bag plastic together by ironing them between layers of parchment paper. Then, sew your plastic sheet to a piece of cloth—the plastic side will form the liner of the wrapper. Attach some velcro and you’ll have a pocket to pack your sandwiches in that is both adorable and earth-friendly

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1. Protect your side view mirrors.
   During freezing weather, tie plastic bags around your side view mirrors to prevent them from frosting over. It will save you time in the morning because you don’t have to scrape them!
2. Cheap packing material.
   Substitute plastic bags as parcel padding for breakable or valuable items. You don’t have to purchase Styrofoam and it works just as well! Just make sure to pack it in securely.
3. Painting tool preservation.
   Place wet paint brushes inside plastic bags and tie them shut to keep them from drying out while you’re taking a break. You can also use plastic bags to seal paint cans by putting a plastic bag over the paint can opening before you put the lid on. This prevents old, dried paint from the lid from falling back into the can!
4. Keep your shoes in pristine condition.
   Walking through a muddy area? Is it snowing and you don’t have snowshoes? Tying plastic bags over your shoes can keep them clean and dry during adverse weather conditions. After washing your shoes, you can also ball plastic bags up and stuff them into your shoes while they are air-drying to help them keep their shape!
5. Plant protection.
   You can tie a plastic bag around your plant overnight to protect it from the frost. Just remember to remove it the next morning! You can also use plastic bags as additional padding for your knees when gardening by tying them around your knees. They also keep you clean!
6. Creative Craft.
   There are many creative crafts you can make from plastic bags! Here are just a few:
   • Rug
   • Woven basket
   • Jump Rope
   • Flowerpot
   • Crochet plastic yarn and more!

Uses for Paper Bags

1. Use them for compost.
   Collect kitchen scraps and other compost items in a paper bag and then when it’s time to compost, dump out the food scraps and then tear up the bag to go directly into the compost pile.
2. Use it as a recycling container.
   Paper bags are recyclable, so to make recycling paper easy, you can put all of your weekly paper recycling in a paper bag and then toss the whole thing into your recycling bin!
3. Cover books.
   Cut and tape paper bags to cover and protect your favorite books. They’re also great to protect kids’ textbooks from damage and allows them to decorate them however they want!
4. Moving or Traveling containers.
   Don’t want to pay for extra boxes when moving or traveling? No problem! Load up your paper bags with clothes, books, and more to make moving easier or to pack in the car for trips.
5. Prevent weeds in your garden.
   Place plain (no dye) paper bags on the soil around your plants before covering with compost or mulch. It adds an extra layer of weed prevention for your plants!
6. Use as gift bags and tags.
   With a little creativity, you can turn an old paper bag into a cute holiday gift bag. You can also turn paper bags into actual gift wrap by turning them inside out or turn them into gift tags!
7. Kid’s art activities.
   You can use paper bags to make masks for Halloween or play time. Just cut out eye and mouth holes and let them draw funny faces on them! You can also make a kite and many more kid-friendly crafts!

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Types of manufactured plastics after recycling

Rwanda Ecoplastic manufactures various plastics such as:

• Dustbin bags used while collecting waste,
• Impermeable bags used in medical area,
• Tubing bags used duplication of different crops,
• Sheetings used in building roofs,
• Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS), a hermetic bag used for storing food for a long time; etc

What is PICS?

Rwanda Ecoplastic in partnership with Purdue University, the later agreed to transfer its PICS technologyto allow the manufacturer to use it. PICS is a hermetic bag that allows its user to avoid fungal growth and aflatoxin contamination of the harvest mainly grains, PICS has three layers, these layers prevent the oxygen inflow and the leak of dioxide carbon, which gives it a capacity to store for more than three years without losing the quality of stored crops. PICS has been a very successful storage bag, especially in Africa which is in a very sunny region and has not acquired latest storing technologies yet.

Plastic bags threats

Earth Policy Institute statistics states that almost a trillion plastic bags are used every year in the world and they are contributing to ecosystem pollution. Plastic bags are not biodegradable and take many years to decompose.

According to the BBC plastic bags are also a threat to animals, more than 70% of cattle and sheep that diein the capital of Mauritania, Nouakchott, are killed by eating plastic bags. When plastics are thrown in oceans that have been used to carry food, marine animals are attracted to eat the food and end up eating plastic, and also getting entangled in the plastic, which most of the time leads to death. Also when fish consume small plastics with toxins, they might not die, but this toxin is later consumed by human beings.

Rwanda is progressing well in environmental management and does not hesitate in making tough decisions such as banning plastic bags. Recycling is one of the long term solutions and the government of Rwanda encourages such cleanleaps through providing tax incentives on the importation of recycling machines to drive investment, to help the country to reach its vision 2020 to be the cleanest country in the world, and help create jobs in waste management.

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