If you’re anything like me you somehow manage to accumulate an ungodly amount of plastic grocery bags. I think every household has “the bag” or “the corner” that stores the ever-growing pile of thin plastic.
So what can be done with it? Well, there’s many things you can create using plastic bags! A few personal favorites include cutting strips to make plastic yarn (plarn?), using them as trash bags, even returning them for sanitation (we hope!) and re-use! I am really impressed by this idea to create mats and gift them to needy or homeless as a blessing!
But, I decided to break out my iron and fuse the space-consuming bags together into a useful raw material!
Fusing Plastic is A Trial & Error Activity
Truthfully, I have fused plastic bags before and made my share of mistakes along the way. Too few sheets or too many layers. Too much heat or too little heat. Not keeping the iron moving or moving it too quickly. The list goes on!
So therefore, before I begin anything, I want to say: Give yourself some grace with this. It’s a lot of trial and error and results can vary depending even simply on your irons’ settings.
Now then, I can move on to the useful stuff!
How to Fuse Plastic Bags:
Preparing your bags-
Cutting the bottom off the bags 
Cutting the handles off 
A faster way to cut a straight line; fold the bag over!
- First, Gather plastic bags and ensure they are free of food residue or other contaminants that might ruin your plastic piece.
- Next, prep the bags by cutting the bottom edge and the handles off. I did this step seated in the living room half-watching some tv since it can get pretty monotonous.
- Group your plastic bags by design and size as desired. The closer in size, the more area you will have and the easier it will be to get even layers.
- Gather your iron (I purchased a cheap one from a thrift store for crafts like this since I feared ruining my good iron), ironing board, and parchment paper or thin fabric big enough to layer your bags between.
- Now you need to set up a workspace somewhere WELL VENTILATED! The potential exists for the heating and fusing of the plastic bags to release fumes that could make you lightheaded and possibly sick so do yourself a favor and either open a window or set yourself up a nice spot outside. Disclaimer- wind will likely be an issue working outside. I fought a light breeze while working on this latest set of bags but the fresh air kept me feeling safe while working- a worthwhile trade for some minor frustration!
- Time to heat your iron! Most recommend the rayon/polyester setting for fusing bags. My iron didn’t have a specific setting for this so I just used a medium heat setting and it seemed to work well. As a general tip, be sure to turn the steam setting for this project as the moisture will make the process much more of a hassle and cause uneven heat distribution through the plastic.
Bringing the heat-
- Get started by layering up your bags. I found four bags to be a perfect amount for my iron and conditions. Some of this will vary by the thickness and quality of your bags so feel free to adjust away from 4 as you familiarize yourself with your iron and the thickness of the bags. Some will layer their bags so the logos line up or to create an attractive design on the finished plastic sheet. One thing to keep in mind though is to turn the top and bottom layers inside out so the ink doesn’t transfer off the melting plastic onto your paper/fabric as you iron.
- Next, sandwich your aligned plastic bags inside the parchment paper or fabric so that covering as much plastic as possible. I had some plastic edges hanging out of one side often while working which I will address in later steps.
- Keeping your iron moving constantly but not too quickly, iron over the covered bags trying to avoid creating creases or folds. Try to get all the air bubbles forced out the open ends of the bags. A rookie error I made when I first tried fusing plastic bags was not cutting off the bottoms of the bags before layering, and I wound up with many air pockets and uneven heat.
- To continue, gently lift the edge of your fabric/parchment and check how well your layers are fusing together. If you run your finger over the top you shouldn’t hear much crinkling like you would with separate layers (CAREFUL! It will be hot for a few seconds so always pause before touching!).
- Flip your plastic over and do a quick iron of that side to ensure you get heat the whole way through. Adjust your piece and iron again so that all edges and bubbled areas become fused together. Now turn any edges that you hung out beyond your parchment or fabric so that they are covered and iron them just as you did the rest of the piece.
- Finally, remove from parchment/fabric and voila! Fused plastic bags into raw plastic sheeting.
- Optional- You can trim the edges of your plastic sheet to make a clean, even edge for crafts like sewing. Have fun!!
What’s your experience?
Have you ever tried fusing plastic bags? I would love to hear your experiences and see some of your completed recycled plastic bag projects in the comments!!
