Upcycle Your Plastic Produce Netting
- new life for plastic net bags
I’ve been working on a new venture called Cora with some amazing people, and here’s one of our offerings. The app we’re working on will connect us ith all sorts of ways to give new life to our stuff, including DIY ideas. This is a quick and easy way to transform produce netting to a sturdy scrubber, as good as anything you’ve paid for; better, actually, since this is free and it keeps non-recyclable plastic out of our landfills and oceans.
- plastic netting produce bags
1. Gather your fine mesh bags and accordion fold them into segments 2-3″ long. I used one bag from some satsumas and a smaller one from some onions. Using more bags results in a larger and fluffier scrubber, but even one bag will work. Stiff mesh works best for very dirty pots; the very soft netting on some oranges makes a scrubber that’s better suited for very delicate items.
- net bags folded and tied around the center
2. Tie the center as tightly as you can with a length of string; I used cotton string that had stitched closed the top of a bag of birdseed. Square knots are perfect here, and an extra set of hands can help you seat the knot tightly around the center.
- ends of bags cut and fluffed
3. Once the bundle is securely knotted, clip the ends of the string (cotton remnants can be composted), then cut each loop of bag to fluff the ends up. Voila! From produce netting to pot scrubber.
- DIY pot scrubber in action
I tested this one by washing out a bowl of chocolate ganache and our very dirty sink.
- rinsing clean
The bowl, the sink, and the scrubber are all clean and ready for longer lives.
And if you like this solution for plastic netting, please check out what we’re up to at Cora!
[...] you do find yourself with a plastic mesh bag to deal with, turn it into a produce scrubber with my tutorial here (this works only with the stiff plastic mesh, not the fabric-soft [...]