Photo: StoneAmazon/ Flickr

Don’t just throw away plastic bags. Instead, try recycling them at your local grocery store or using them as trash bags. Real Simple has a clever slideshow all about trips for reusing plastic bags around the house — knee pads, paint-brush preservers, wrapping paper and more.

If the plastic bags keep piling up from grocery runs, switch to cloth ones. Check out our fave find post about some great nylon totes.

ecologue is a contributor to HGTV Green Home.