A great deal of attention regarding reusable bags has revolved around plastic shopping bags. But what about the one-time-use plastic that you get when you pick up your dry cleaning? What happens to this plastic when you get home? Yup, you guessed it - it goes straight into the garbage. Actually, you will find that your clothes will start to smell ‘weird’ if you leave the plastic over the clothes while they are in the closet. This is mainly because the fabrics can’t ‘breath’. So, in the dumpster they go. Over the year, that can add up to a lot of plastic in the landfills!

So what are your options?

Refuse Plastic Dry Cleaning Bags – You may get an odd look from the dry cleaner at first but they will comply with your request. Hopefully they won’t tear the flimsy plastic bags apart when taking them off the hanger so that they can be reused again for the next customer.

Return Your Plastic Dry Cleaning Bags – When you go to the dry cleaner don’t forget to bring the plastic! When you get home from the dry cleaners be careful not to rip the plastic edges so that the bag can be reused. Fold it several times and keep it in a convenient place you won’t forget for your next trip to the dry cleaners.

Use a Reusable Dry Cleaning Bag – Made of cloth, nylon or, better yet, recycled materials, these dry cleaner bags are reusable and can carry your dry clean clothes to and from the dry cleaner. Some of the better bag designs can be used as a hamper in the home to collect the clothes intended for dry cleaning.

While doing research on this topic, it was quite difficult to determine the amount of dry cleaner plastic used each year by Canadians and Americans.  But several websites can be found that estimate 300 million pounds of dry cleaner plastic bags are thrown out in the United States every year. Hhhmmm...sure seems like a lot of plastic.

So it begs the question: "Should local, provincial/state and/or federal governments be looking at a ban, or at least regulating, the use of dry cleaning plastic bags?"

Help us find additional facts, figures and research on this issue. Add your comments below!