If you have many adorable pets like I do, you end up accumulating lots of empty pet food bags. And I used to neatly pile them in one spot, and then there was entirely too many of them. I knew there had to be a way to reuse all these plastic pet food bags by turning all of them into something beneficial. At the very least, I could keep from adding to the poor cities garbage dump. Why would I buy plastic pet food bags instead of the paper coated in plastic? Because the whole plastic bags can either be recycled, or I can reuse them. They also tend to keep the bug population down since paper and pet food attracts certain bugs.
1. Liners – You can reuse large plastic pet food bags just by using them as liners. You can line anything as long as a slight hint of dog food smell is not a problem. I have lined my dog’s wooden house with plastic dog food bags. All you have to do is cut the bottom, top, and one of the sides, and lay the bag out flat. And now you can line chicken coops, storage sheds, car garage, barns, and wood sheds anyplace you wish to keep the wind and rain out. I guess you could say reusing plastic pet food bags as building liners is sort of like cheap tyvecs. Instead of buy expensive cat litter liners, you can use a pet food bag.
2. Throw Weeds in While Gardening – If you have a garden that grows copious weeds like mine tends to do, you end up with piles of pulled weeds in various spots. Instead of taking bucket after bucket full of weeds, you can take a couple of plastic pet food bags.
3. Stuff with Compost – You can stuff these bags with compost, tape it shut, then cut a couple holes in the bottom for drainage, make a couple holes on the top, and then stuff tomato plants for a make shift mini tomato garden.
4. Surprisingly They Hold Water – Since you have animals, you know how they love to drink water. And if you take your pet anywhere, they always want water. So I have found reusing plastic pet food bags as highly temporary water bowls a great success.
5. Kindling Holder – Plastic pet food bags hold kindling sticks fairly well without poking through the sides. When I am camping I like to fill a couple bags full of kindling, since you never know if the campsite will have dry kindling to make a nice campfire.
7. Drop Cloth – These bags make a good drop cloth if you cut them open, sweep off the crumbs, and lay them nice and flat.
8. Holds Broken Glass and Metal – The plastic weaving inside plastic pet food bags keeps broken glass and metal from poking holes in the sides. When cleaning out the garage or trying to secure dangerous broken glass plates or cups, I like to toss them in one of these bags.
9. Shelf Liners – You can clean these bags with dish soap, a little baking soda, and the pet food aroma disappears. And then you can let them dry and cut them into shelf liners.
10. Bag for Pet Brushes – Pet brushes get full of hair especially after brushing short hair pets, so you can store the brushes in plastic pet food bags.
11. Store Messy Things Like Toilet Plungers – Toilet plungers really have no real home like toilet brushes do. They are big and bulky instruments but are needed in just about every home. I like to store these devices in a pet food bag.
12. Air Conditioner Covers – Large pet food bags make excellent air conditioner covers just make sure you clean them as described for shelf liners.
13. Store Tools – If you do not have a tool shed, you can keep your tools safe and dry by placing them inside one of these durable plastic bags.
14. Padding for Pond Liners – These bags make excellent padding underneath small pond liners.
15. Weed Cover – Weeds like sunlight, fresh air and water and without these they can not grow. So you can cover areas you want weed free with pet food bags.
16. Window Cover for a Root Cellar – If you take a couple bags and layer them, you can cover any utility window to block out the sunlight.
17. Archery Target Covers – If you look at industrial made archery targets, they are made from plastic similar to plastic pet food bags.
18. Use as Knee Padding – You can keep your pants neat and clean when you are gardening in the dirt.