Practical Ways to Reuse Brown Paper Bags

I’ve been keeping all the brown bags that come with our purchases these days. As you know, paper and even recycled paper takes energy, resources and time to produce so best make the most out of them before putting them in the green bin. If you keep the bags clean and fold them neatly, they’ll be good for reuse a second time or perhaps even a third or a fourth before becoming worn out completely.

A few practical ways to reuse paper bags:

You could donate your pile to a local trader who accepts recycled packaging.  In the Philippines, Zero Basics and CommonRoom  accept used bags of any type, so long as they are clean.

Bring them to your nearby grocer or sari-sari store and suggest that they be reused.

Find ways to reuse them in your home. As I don’t have extra budget to buy planter covers, brown paper bags work well for keeping plastic pots or noodle-cups-turned-planters out of sight, sort of Uashmama inspired 😂

Soiled paper bags can be used to line trash bins in place of plastic bags.

Here’s a smart suggestion from Jana of ZeroBasics, “Brown bags and newspapers can be donated to animal shelters and organizations too. Those are always used as wiwi pads or cat litter or cage/carrier liners.” 🙂

Do you have other suggestions? Thanks for reading.