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Plastic Bag Dryers: Not just for hippies

2007_06_21_plastic_bag_drye.jpgWith the approach of SF's plastic shopping bag ban we've been thinking about the other class of non-decomposing plastic bags that pass into our kitchen via the grocery store and then just as quickly into landfill: produce bags.

This class of polyethylene bags are not part of the ban, and we have to own a certain fondness for their convenience factor...so we're thinking about doing the next best thing to a self-imposed ban: instituting a plastic produce bag re-use policy in our house.

Sounds simple enough: you rinse the bags with soapy water and then air dry them overnight, up to eight at a time, on a drying rack.

Does anyone out there already do this? Any good tips on making it part of a busy household's routine?

Plastic bag dryers are available here.

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Comments (16)

I occasionally do this and just drape them over utensils in my dish drying rack.

posted by Joan A. on 2007-06-21 15:41:39
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I have been wanting to do this for ages and in fact, I finally did it for the first time today! I must confess, I didn't wash out my bag but I washed the apples I put in the old bag when I got home. Shouldn't that be good enough?

posted by clarice on 2007-06-21 16:11:38
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well, I keep a nice market bag in the trunk of my car at all times so that I don't need to use the plastic ones at the store. It also keeps me from buying too much, just the essentials, since I only have one.
My mom used to carry a fairly large, market bag that folded up the size of a wallet in her purse at all times... must be an Italian thing since most of my aunts back in Italy still do so... they're always ready to buy some fresh produce or pasta on their way home from work....

posted by chris_94131 on 2007-06-21 16:17:11
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I do this and drape over wooden spoons, etc, as Joan A does. You just have to make sure to readjust the bags so pockets of water don't get stuck in there and prolong drying time.

What really bums me out is the amount of plastic that's breaking down and getting into the ocean, causing untold numbers of bird/sea creature/sea mammal deaths, since the animals think that the bags/plastic bits are food. Yuck.

posted by elkanikkole on 2007-06-21 16:19:54
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yep - I do this. I drape them over utensils in my drying rack then for final drying, I use magnetic clips and hang them on the side of my fridge. Then, when the coffee is brewing each morning, I roll them up for storage.

I keep a market bag of bags in the car and a small pouch attached to that holds produce bags. That way, when I'm at a market or store, everything is in one place.

I also clean and reuse plastic cutlery, yogurt containers and old film canisters (perfect for salad dressing).

posted by birdseyechili on 2007-06-21 16:37:43
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It looks as if you could easily make a plastic bag dryer with chopsticks and some clay. Even easier is to just rest some chopsticks in a cup. That way, you can use the chopsticks for other stuff, and you won't have an unsightly kitchen gadget hanging around. I could never understand why they actially sold these things. What an unfortunate waste of wood (and money).

posted by cali-nys on 2007-06-21 16:39:39
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I go to a separate place for my produce, and I really try to use no produce bags unless they're necessary (really damp stuff, etc). But apples, oranges, potatoes--especially if you're going to wash them--can do just fine w/o their own little bag. They're going in one big (re-usable) grocery bag anyway.

The ones I do need to take, I don't really rinse out, but I let them dry and use them to take my lunch to work in.

posted by Shannon in SF on 2007-06-21 17:51:01
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Hippies?! Anyway...

I use one of the above racks -works well.

I suggest popping a yogurt lid under it to protect the wood from the slight puddle that may result underneath. The base is exactly lid sized.

posted by jocie-o on 2007-06-21 23:01:40
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I use one of these and I'll confess that I love it, even though I thought it was just an extra thing at first. But I put away all my utensils and have a pretty clear countertop, so I was draping my bags over the soap dispenser or any random surface, and I kept having to move them around because they weren't drying quickly enough. This has helped me keep my counter clear and the bags out of the way.

posted by shisomama on 2007-06-21 23:08:44
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This gadget costs 19 dollars! When you've washed the bags you still couldn't use them for food use. This idea has just passes me by. Like ironing socks.

posted by hrhprincessfiona on 2007-06-22 09:52:24
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Why can't you reuse them for food?

posted by Joan A. on 2007-06-22 09:54:45
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We always bring our own shopping bags, but when we need to take a small plastic bag for lettuce or something, we wash and reuse. Only we have to dry them by sticking them to the fridge with a magnet inside, because our kitty chews plastic bags.

posted by Lesley on 2007-06-22 14:46:11
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I reuse my plastic ziplock bags.

posted by showing on 2007-06-22 15:53:23
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i don't bag produce separately unless i really need to. then i used reused plastic bags, reused paper bags or cloth bags as much as possible. and yes, i have one of those dryer racks. it seemed extravagant and silly at the time, but it was an improvement over a plastic bag clothes line.

(lesley, good to know my little princess isn't the only cat to eat plastic bags.)

posted by damova on 2007-06-22 16:16:06
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My mom does this, but she makes sure to get the bags with labels, because no matter how hard you wash them, smelly stuff stays.

I have had my onion bag for about 6 weeks.

posted by Geeka on 2007-06-22 21:26:51
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Yay hippies!!

I wash out the produce bags and reuse them for my lunches, and also wash out my ziplock bags if they aren't too yucky. And yeah, they get draped over whatever will keep them open enough to dry so this is definately a consideration. Although I did like the chopsticks in a cup idea...

posted by oceandreamer56 on 2007-06-23 00:45:57
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