Plastic shopping bags are high on the environmentalist’s list of things to remove from the public psyche. We are now banning them in shops, being told to find substitutes and some shoppers may even be rewarded for using recyclable shopping bags.

But, whichever way you turn there are still billions, possibly gazillions, of plastic shopping bags still laying around – and there will be for some time yet. I know, because I’m sure we have at least that many littering our pantry shelves.

So, rather than depress yourself with the overwhelming enormity of the problem try using the ones you have for another noble purpose – growing vegetables.

Here’s one guy who’s turning his shopping bag problem into cultivatable hot property. He fills the bags with potting mix and sows seeds as someone would do with a garden bed. A little water, some sunshine, add some fertiliser and Voila! the bags have sprouted fresh vegetables.

One of the bonuses of growing vegies in shopping bags is that the heat is captured by the plastic which warms the soil. So, for those wanting an early start on some tomato or capsicum plants this is quite an advantage.

The plastic bags can be washed and reused after each crop but hopefully they will start to break down from the pH levels. Then it’s on to the next bag and the next crop of vegies.