Tip for Dog Owners: Reuse Empty Plastic Bags

I grew up with a dog. Instead of buying rolls of dog poop bags, my parents have always reused leftover plastic bags as poop bags. These included newspaper bags, bread and other food bags, bags that had been used to hold produce, and disposable plastic shopping bags like the kind you get takeout food in. We also had a neighbor across the street who had a huge surplus of rolls of dog poop bags, so he would often give them to us, especially after his own dog died.

Unfortunately, in the last few years, some sources of plastic bags have dried up in my birth city. The local newspaper used to send physical papers every week, but this decreased to 4x a week, then finally to Sundays only. And a few years ago, a ban on single-use plastic bags was also passed, though some places still give you them. In response, I did buy my parents some rolls of dog poop bags and a holder for our dog, but they didn't keep buying them after they used them up and stopped using the holder. Fortunately, it seems they've found other sources for plastic bags to replace the dried up ones.