20 ways... to reuse every day plastic garbage

I've now been in the US for about a month and I am shocked over and over again about how much of plastic garbage one "has to produce" every day. I am using "has to" because there is no way one could avoid all the plastic that is used. You "have to" buy most of the food in plastic bags or packaging, you "have to" buy drinking water in plastic containers, you "have to" eat your food with plastic cutlery because there is no other available. Of course some of this could be sidestepped but only with a huge effort and most people (me included) would never think of for example bringing their own cutlery to a restaurant or bring their own containers for take-out food.

Anyhow, there are many, many ways to at least reuse the unavoidable plastic containers/bags/packaging a few times before throwing them out.

A few of my ideas I have already incorporated in our daily life, such as:

reusing plastic bags as waste bin liner, to keep bread fresh, as batting for packages, to store food in the fridge

reusing vegetable/fruit packaging as a piggy bank (you could even get a little crafty and decorate it)

reusing food containers to store other food/odds and ends in

reusing water bottles as planters for herbs and other small plants

reusing take-out containers as planters

Xoxo, have a great week!