My mom had instilled in me the need to reuse plastic storage bags--but I had never found a convenient way to dry them. Ideally I wouldn't use them at all--but they are so handy and don't take up much space. I had tried hanging the washed out bags over the ends of pots that I had in the drying rack, but they always seemed to fall off and get wet or dirty again. I think I washed about one out of 10 bags, and I gave myself a good dose of Catholic guilt for the other nine bags I threw away.
A couple of weeks ago I was reading architect Michelle Kaufmann's blog (green ideas, sustainable, modern design, fun eco-friendly projects), and she had a post entitled "green it yourself: planted bag dryer." Finally, an easy, cheap, water-friendly and aesthetically pleasing way to dry those bags.
easy=I didn't even bother with the wire hanger, just used two chopsticks we already had.
cheap=The succulent cost me around $2.
water-friendly=I'll never have to water the succulent, as it receives it's minuscule amount of necessary hydration from the drying bags.
aesthetically pleasing=The plant is adorable, and I haven't even covered the pot with stylish scraps from design magazines. I may not as the Asian-esque plate it's sitting on works well with the chop sticks.
My version of the planted bag dryer.
Now, am I reusing more plastic storage bags? Absolutely! It's only if raw meat has touched the bag that I'll throw out a bag in good shape. I just get squeamish about such things. However, I mostly put such items in glass bowls, so I'm at about nine out of 10 bags being washed and dried. That one bag that gets thrown out is most often the one that finally gives up and tears.
I'm certainly not making a big dent in helping San Diego's water crisis, but I'm happy with my baby steps.
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