At this point, I pretty much consider myself a pro when it comes to Marie Kondo-ing my closet, paperwork, even my holiday decorations. But I recently came across one tricky item I wasn’t entirely sure how to organize and dispose of: canvas tote bags.
It seems as though every store has been slowly replacing traditional shopping bags with these reusable alternatives, and almost every event I’ve attended through work for the past two years has left me with yet another simple tote. All in all, I counted 28 canvas tote bags stuffed into one mega tote bag hanging by my front door (you know, so I could conveniently grab some on my way to the grocery store).
Following the advice of the ever-wise Kondo, I determined that realistically no one needs more than four of five of these carryalls and set out to determine which ones I would keep and which I would toss. This was no problem at all. The problem was figuring out what to do with the 23 bags I’d rejected.
Despite the fact that most of the reusable bags you pick up from stores are made from recyclable materials, they aren’t themselves recyclable. Charities that recycle fabric pieces (like sheets, T-shirts and the like) wouldn’t take them; no one on Poshmark was going to want my second-hand tote from a press event last August.
