Fused Single Use Grocery Bags (Reusable and Durable Material)

Have a lot of single-use grocery bags in your house? You’re probably saving them to use as a trash bag liner for a garbage can or a poop bag for your pet, but did you know that you can make a really durable material out of them? If you fuse together single use plastic grocery bags with an iron, they create a super durable material that will last much longer than the single-use bags ever will. It’s really easy to do, and you can do it with only three tools! Sew it together to make a reusable plastic bag, use it as a waterproof lining, or even as a sail for a toy boat. This material has infinite uses!

First, plug in your iron and set it to a high setting. While it is heating up, cut two pieces off a parchment paper roll that are about 2 feet long. Place one of them down on a table, and take one of the bags and shake it to get the crinkles and creases out. Place it on top of the parchment paper and flatten it with your hands. Repeat with a few more bags, until you have as many layers/bags as you want in your material. The optimal amount of bags layered on top of each other is about 4, because the material will still be pliable while remaining strong when melted. Then, lay the second piece of parchment on top of the stack of bags.

Next, place your iron on the middle of the bag stack. Make sure the iron only touches the parchment paper and not the plastic bags. Let your iron sit on the spot for about 15 seconds, then shift it a little over and let it sit for another 15 seconds. Keep moving your iron around and letting it sit until the entire top of the bag stack is slightly fused together. Flip the bag stack over and repeat for the opposite side of the stack. Keep doing this process until the material has no bubbles, is firm to the touch, and feels like a sturdy reusable plastic grocery bag. It took about 4-5 times of flipping the stack of bags and letting the iron sit for my stack to fuse.

Next, get out your scissors. Wait until the bag stack has cooled fully, then peel it off the parchment. Cut the edges off the material until the edges feel similar in quality and thickness to the middle of the material. Save the parts that you cut off like the handles and thin edges because you can fuse them together to create more of the material. Now, you have a really great plastic material that can be used to create reusable plastic bags, waterproof linings, or anything that you can think of!