Creative uses for all those plastic bags

Forgetting the reusable cloth shopping bags on a few shopping excursions can result in an abundance of petroleum-based plastic shopping bags. Vilified for wreaking havoc on our oceans and clogging landfills for all eternity, the cheap and easy answer to transporting goods from store to home ranks high on the list of our collective consumer sins.

And of course, with sin, comes guilt. What can be done when bad shopping bags happen to (basically) good people? The answers -- and there are quite a few -- might surprise you.

In an effort to ease our guilt ridden consciences and help rationalize our addiction, some retailers print recycling tips on the bags. Walgreens' bag suggests "5 Reuses for a plastic bag" and lists: shoe protectors, dirty diaper holders (tie them tightly closed), freezer bags, rubber glove substitutes and plant protectors.

Target too encourages customers to reinvent their used bags as "tiny trash can liners," for "doggy duty", "soggy laundry," "tomorrow's lunch bag," or as stuffing inside of a "care package." Once the bag has been utilized in every way imaginable, Target hopes consumers will "return [the] bag to a participating store for recycling."