Routinely overlooked, the good old paper bag has become a staple of the British kitchen, often accompanying breaded goods as your mum struggles through the door after her weekly food shop.
But did you know there’s more to the paper carrier bag than meets the eye? Here are ten innovative uses for recycling this reliable papyrus.
1. Get Food Wrapping!
Paper bags are pretty durable, especially block bottom paper bags which are built to withstand storms (or so I’m told), so cutting them up and re modelling them into fancy looking lunch wrapping shouldn’t be a problem.
The effort needed is pretty minimal, and you can either have it stood up (as displayed), or you can wrap up your food cling films style, except your lunch will look a lot more appealing in a beautifully crafted paper than layers of sticky plastic that does little except get stuck together.
The choice is yours…
2. Get composting!
Believe it or not, paper bags are 100% recyclable (say what?! *gasp* *awe*). What does this mean we hear you ask? Well, it means that green thumb of yours can finally be put to good use.
If you’re looking for an only mildly disgusting way of making the most of leftover food, you can collect it together inside your nifty paper bags and then, when the magic happens, both the food AND the bag can be broken down and used as compost.
Allotments aren’t just for old people you know, maybe it’s time you whipped out that shovel and make the most of your waste. Perhaps invest in some gloves too, because it’s a bit disgusting.
3. Ripen Your Fruit
I think we can all agree that avocados are exhausting. They’re either not ripe enough, or you accidentally blink or suddenly they’re all brown and disgusting.
Well, praise the avocado overlord because we have a solution to this age old dilemma. You guessed it, brown paper bags.
They’re practically made for ripening fruit and keeping it in tip top condition. Don’t ask us why, we’re not entirely sure of the science behind it (probably something to do with algebra), all we know is that it works.
But don’t just take our word for it, go ahead and relish in endless avocado enjoyment!
4. Keep Your Caffeine Safe
Caffeine is the precious seed of the earth and without it, we would surely perish. Like anything precious, children for example, we have to ensure their safety at all times.
That’s where the block bottom paper bags come in. They’re strong, they’re sturdy, and as we said before, they’re (probably) built to withstand a full on storm.
They’re the perfect solution to keeping our caffeine safe as we walk in the wilderness between the coffee shop and the office.
Anything could happen, it’s terrifying to even think about, stay safe and keep your paper bags with you at all times.
5. Recycle Your Rubbish
As we discussed earlier, paper bags are 100% recyclable, so it makes sense that they’re the perfect storage for any materials you want to recycle.
We’ve all been told to use our brown bins more, and if like us, your bin starts to whiff a little after a while, paper bags make a great bin liner, and they don’t need to be separated either! It’s a win win situation really.
Paper bags are a beautiful gift to the earth that should be relished on every opportunity. They’re versatile, they easy to use, and they look hella fancy.
If you’d like to read more about how to make the most of your excess packaging, take a look at a few of our blogs below, otherwise, go ripen some avocados or something.
http://www.charlottepackaging.com/latest-news/top-5-tips-perfecting-freshers-fair-packaging/
http://www.charlottepackaging.com/latest-news/uks-carrier-bag-tax-blessing-disguise/
http://www.charlottepackaging.com/latest-news/child-friendly-food-packaging-works/