A Free Source of Dishwashing Scrubbies
By Chris Baskind in The Daily Footstep
You’re probably throwing away a source of all the little dishwashing scrubbies you’d ever need. Heather Solos of Home EC 101 suggests today’s tip: Rescue the netted plastic bags which usually hold the onions you bring home from the store. Remove the metal staple (and maybe add a rubber band to hold it all together), and you’re set. Since the bags aren’t marked for recycling, you’ve kept a bit of plastic out of the landfill — and saved money, too.
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You're probably throwing away a source of all the little dishwashing scrubbies you'd ever need. Keep a bit of plastic out of the landfill — and save money!
Things are packaged differently in different places, but here in SA and in the UK, citrus fruit comes in a sort of string bag that also makes a good scrubby when all bunched up. It also makes a good kneeling cushion for the garden if you fill the bag with newspaper that's been folded in half. We even used to weave wool through the top to make it look good when we were kids.
Note that the “bit of plastic you've kept out of the landfill” isn't the onion bag, unless you use it as a scrubbie forever. It's the scrubbie you didn't buy. This may seem like a quibble, but it's important to think clearly about the costs and benefits of reuse and recycling. The book Cradle to Cradle has an excellent discussion of recycling vs. “downcycling.”
That's not a quibble: You're correct. But the plastic to which the item refers is, indeed, the scrubbie you didn't buy.
Your point is well taken. We need to think systematically.
Those are especially great for gross stuff like bread dough — it rinses off more easily than from a sponge or rag, and if it gets really nasty, you can toss it.