Green Daily

The easiest way to recycle is to sort through your waste, haul it all off to those big recycling containers that your local councils dot about town, and simply throw your unwanted junk in there. Plastic bottles in bin number one, glass bottles in number two and paper products in number three. Whatever. You empty your car, piously toss the junk, and mentally pat yourself on your back. And why not? You deserve to feel that you've contributed to 'saving the planet'. You've done a good thing, no doubt about it. It's far better than simply tossing everything out for the rubbish collectors to deal with.

The problem is that recycling takes energy and power too, so it's not always the best eco-choice. What you could do before discarding your waste is go through the very first step of recycling: look at what you're about to ditch and think about another way you could use it.

Plastic shopping bags are one thing that can be reused, and in a very trendy way too. Fuse them. Yes, you can fuse your plastic bags. At home. With your iron. No mess, no fuss. It's as easy as that.

I came across this idea on Etsy Labs some time ago and now the tutorial is up and it is so simple. I'm one of those clumsy, walking-accidents people and yet I managed to fuse a whole bunch of bags in no time at all. Of course, now I have a stock of thick, fused plastic that I need to turn into something useful and even that should be a cinch now that I've seen these really cool and trendy tote bags by Etsy seller, Eclipse.

It's a perfect project for a rainy day.