Eco Tip: Put Mesh Bags to Good Use

by 
Marsha Low, Weavers Way Environment Committee

While it's better to shop for loose produce using your own reusable bag, so many fruits and vegetables come in plastic mesh bags, and you often get a better price buying those. So what to do with those mesh bags? Turns out you can put them to good use in the home and garden. Here are a just a few of several possible uses:

  • Make pot scrubbers: Wad up small mesh bags or parts of a larger one into balls, secure with elastic and scour away. 
  • Smooth your skin: If you save chips and slivers of soap, put them into a fine mesh bag (the kind that garlic comes in) and secure the ends. Hang in the shower and exfoliate.
  • Save the seedlings: Cut the bags so they form a sheet and use them to cover young seedlings so they can get a head start before the rabbits find them.
  • Make new bags: Snip off the metal part that seals one side closed but leave the other side tied. Then use the bag the next time you buy vegetables!