A Plastic Bag Dispenser Box is the perfect way to organize your plastic bags and keep them contained while still making them readily available.
Total Project Time: 30 minutes
I already know that I’m a low-key hoarder. But who doesn’t hoard plastic shopping bags? They’re nice to have around to use as small trash bags or sometimes, it’s just nice to be able to reuse the plastic bag. But having a lot of shopping bags means a potential chaotic and uncontrolled pile. That’s exactly what I had in my pantry, and it drove me a little insane.
So, I decided to clean up the bags and the best solution I could produce was to mimic a tissue box but instead of using tissues, I used plastic bags! I love this method because I could easily fit twenty plastic bags in a box (thirty if I were trying really hard) and they are easy to pull out whenever I need to use them!
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Supplies
This project is super simple. All you need are:
- An empty tissue box (I used a rectangular one to fit more bags, but a square one can be used as well)
- 20 – 30 plastic grocery bags
One downside to this method is that is can only be used on shopping bags that have their handles sticking out of the top, away from the bag. I had a couple of square bags with the handle punched out, but they were not agreeable to this method.
Process
01
Flattening and Folding the Bags
One of the most important steps in this process is making sure is flat and folded in a way that is conducive for dispensing. To do this, I first like to lie the bag completed flat and it makes it easier to fold.
Then, I folded the bag into thirds. This is remarkably similar to how I fold clothes, so this process felt soothing to me. After folding the width into thirds, it was time to fold the length into thirds. For the first bag, this step isn’t that important, but it becomes crucial after that.
02
Interweaving the Bags
After folding up the bottom to one cover one third of the strip, I threaded the handles of the previously folded bag around the base of the active bag. Then I folded the active bag up the remaining third which enclosed the handles of the previous bag inside. Writing this out feels weird but I hope I explained it well!
Then I just shoved each bag into the box until the box was full. For me it was bout twenty-eight bags before it became a really tight fit. But the plastic moved and molds to what I want to be so I could have fit more if I tried hard enough.
Reflections
This project reduced the mess I had when it came to these bags, and I am so happy about it. I love having an organized hoard!! This has been a weirdly enjoyable project for me.
Quick Recipe
Plastic Bag Dispenser
Materials
- 1 Empty Tissue Box
- 20 – 30 Plastic Bags
Instructions
- Flatten the bag
- Fold the bag into thirds along the length of the bag (decreasing the width)
- Fold the bottom of the bag up one third
- Take the handles of the previously folded bag and loop them around the active bag (Skip this step for the first bag)
- Fold the bag up another third
- Stuff into empty tissue box with the handles of the bag poking out of the top
- Repeat steps 1-6 until the tissue box if full or you run out of bags