What do you do with your old plastic bags? They're used in all sorts of ways these days, but a new one to us is creating "plastic lumber." Would you be daring enough to add them to a pot of canola oil until they make a thick sludge and them press them in a simple form? We might be now, read more about the process this way.
Our friends over at Make tipped us off to the works of Michael Colombo, from Push The Other Button, who created this curious Instructables tutorial on repurposing your old plastic bags in a new way.
Although the original intent was to make children's blocks, we think the idea has tremendous possibility when it comes to making things such as book ends or even a tile of sorts for backsplashes. How would you put this process to use for you (assuming you're down with the small mess that's involved)?
Let us know in the comments below!
(Image: Michael Colombo for Make)
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I'm all for sustainability and recycling, but that looks like a kid's summer camp project.
When does the weaving cornstalks start?
Gross. No thanks. It's still trash and now it's covered on oil.
I'll re-use or recycle mine instead.
Garbage In, Garbage Out.
is it worth all the fumes its going to emit?...why not ..not bring them home at all...
I usually bring my own bag, but if I need an extra or two, I return them to the grocery store.
Hmm. I can see this as an artistic venture or something, but not as a realistic thing to do at home. First, it seems like you'd need a gazillion bags. But more importantly, I can't imagine the air pollution in your home after you boil plastic bags. It seems a little nuts to me.
This seems silly to me. And potentially dangerous. And unnecessarily messy. The last two I'm categorically against.
It looks like at least one bag is a frozen green-beans bag, so they aren't all shopping bag. My bigger concern is the wasted canola oil. I don't think you need to get the oil and bags so hot that they emit fumes. I have fused bags together by ironing them together- sandwiched between paper to keep it from sticking to the bags... but I found that I don't have so many shopping bags to play with now that I am using my own shopping bags (that I made... some from salvaged decorator fabric).
I never had a way to reuse frozen vegetable bags... still I'm not going to waste good edible oil on a project like this.
This one doesn't seem very appealing to me. I bring my own shopping bag, usually the typical cotton ones, to the store and on very few occasions when I've forgotten one at home, I buy a plastic one, which then will be used as garbage bag.
I never have an overflow of plastic bags the way you see in some homes, and mine are folded neatly into a cotton "tube" made for holding precisely these bags (holes in both ends), in order to take up as little space as possible.
Yes, yes, your all very green and bring your own bags. Good for you. Still, I for one will end up with one of these now and then, and I figure if I open the windows up the fumes won't hurt me. Seems like a pretty easy way to make something light weight in any shape I want. Honestly, though, I'm more likely to use this for costuming or something than home decor. I still think it's interesting, and as an artist I'm perfectly comfortable with a cleanable mess!
Back when I had use of two hands, and no dog (why I keep the plastics now) I used to braid them in strips and weave mats (when I went camping, and had to use the--sometime nasty--pubic showers, for example) but I don't do that any longer. If this project could be proven absolutely to be safe, I'd do that--I'm all for easy craft projects, but less plastic, and cooking oil--I use is better for the environment. Just my opinion, of course...
Oops... PUBLIC showers. Oy...