Oh I am just WAITING for the "PATH" people ("Pebbles as Tripping Hazards") to pipe in with comments like:
"this is irresponsible! Why would AT encourage parents to give their kids ROPES to play with? And then encourage the kids to jump up & down & make themselves sick & dizzy & while throwing a rope over their own heads! Then the kids might use the rope for some other dangerous activity like tying one end to the back of a bicycle while one kid peddles the bike & the other kid stands on a skateboard & allows herself to get pulled along down the street...."
Actually that sounds like fun. I'm going to make a jump rope & look for my skateboard right now!

Pebbles as Tripping Hazards, best part of my day!

definitely a cool idea but who has plastic bags laying around anymore? (especially in San Francisco!)

This makes my heart hurt, only because I have enough trouble just trying to find free plastic bags to put in my trashcans.

I've resorted to begging pathetically for bags from friends and family. Since I've cut down how much grocery shopping I do (and upped how much cleaning I do) it's created a problem.

ION, what the heck do people use as trashbags if they use cloth bags for shopping? Do you actually then BUY plastic bags?

My grandma used to make these when I was a kid, but out of bread bags.

@ Toypixie- there you go! Bread bags. We are so surrounded by more plastic bags than we realize we've become almost blind to them. I remember when we bought bread at the store & it came in wax paper packaging. After the loaf was gone we would reuse the wrapper for wrapping our lunches.

To help LittleMissSunshine answer her question about plastic trash bags... remember, people didn't always have plastic bags for trash. That is relatively new phenom, since around the 70s. As Toypixie mentioned bread bags (used to make ropes) you can probably look around your home & notice how many things arrive in plastic bags that can be reused as trash bags, if that is what you want. I buy large sacks of bird seed that comes in plastic bags. Also the brand of dog food I buy for the dogs comes in plastic lined paper sacks (with a plastic zip lock). Those bags do well as kitchen can bags so I use them when I have them. But really I did away with plastic trash bags a long time ago. We need to rethink why we need plastic in the first place. Usually it's because of wet things in the can- which is mostly food scraps. Food scraps go in the compost. Problem solved. Dirty Pampers. Why are people still using plastic diapers? Most other things go to recycling. (I have a friend who said to me "But what about bones, they can't go in the compost." No, but they can go to my dogs! If you have a neighbor or friend with pets see if they would like your non-compostable meat/bones.)

So, really, I don't know what each household throws away, but it is good to evaluate what we are throwing away in the trash can & why, & see if we can eliminate part of that.

I mostly use paper grocery bags for trash- we did that when I was a kid before the invention of plastic bags. Our collection company has the trucks with the gripper which picks up the can & dumps it into the truck. The driver doesn't even have to get out. Trash doesn't even need to be in bags! So my kitchen can (& other little cans around the house) has doubled paper bags. When the bag is full I just take it outside to the big can. Paper bags don't hold as much as plastic obviously, but I get more exercise this way & I never have the worry of the bottom ripping out of the bag due to over stuffing it like is done with plastic bags!

@ EhF, Yeah I coined that phrase a few years ago when the whole "OMG everything that we enjoyed as kids will kill my own kid today! Quick, speed dial my lawyer!" phenomenon started. I am 50, my daughter is 30. I made her play on rusty metal, eat dirt, rocks, peanuts & anything else she could fit in her mouth. She made forts out of scrap lumber, rode home made skateboards, drank out of the garden hose, & turned her bed into a three ring trampoline circus. Didn't kill her. Made her stronger. And healthier. And she makes my 5 year old grandson do the same. He's the only kid in his pre-school that doesn't have a food or environmental allergy. Coincidence?

So, yeah, "Pebbles as Tripping Hazards"! Nothing more depressing than seeing kids today on those ridiculous barely inclining all plastic 3 feet off the ground playground "jungle gyms". Makes me want to weep into my big jar of peanut butter (and now there's more for me & my grandson since everyone else is allergic!)

Love your comments Ecuadoriana1!!

this is the most fab idea ever!!!!! i have cloth grocery bags that i just bought but still have an OVER abundance of them stupid plastic bags. sure i use some of them for keeping the funk of dirty diapers out of my kitcchen and as trash bags for the bathroom (feel free to make your suggestions on how to rid of this whole ordeal not happen my community could use it) but this will for sure deplete my supply fast, esp. with the tons and tons of kids i see everyday. oh im so excited i want to make one now!!!!!

I agree that I could use just an empty bin, or have a composter but I try to be conscious in other ways, and unfortunately trash liners are one of my selfish non-compromisers. I cook way too much with meat (especially fish and chicken) and then there is bathroom trash, cleaning up after the animals.

It's just more sanitary for me and that puts me at ease. I do love the idea of using items other than plastic grocerybags! I started going through the house and now have a collection of little bags, plastic and paper. I recycle so that cuts down on the bags I use too, but I still tend to put out at least 1-2 small plastic bags daily (I use a small bin so I frequently take trash out to the outdoor trashcan.

This is a great idea! I try to use my cloth bags every time I go shopping, but I still end up with a ton of plastic ones. This year I cut up some plastic bags and made plarn (plastic yarn) and crocheted some reusable produce bags.