Hey, it’s Dan

In Today’s Issue:

• I attempted to sort my bag pile (key word: attempted)

• Ended up knee-deep in Target bags, panic, and one surprisingly emotional Safeway bag

• I’m officially testing ½-inch strips next

• And yeah, I probably need to make a Plarn Bag Sorting Guide at this point

🌎 Our Mission

Eco Hustle is about helping people get paid to save the planet—one plastic project at a time.
We’re building small wins, testing messy experiments, and proving that reuse can be powerful (and surprisingly profitable).

The Great Plastic Bag Sort-Off (Plus, a ½-Inch Twist)

What started as a quick “sort the bags” session turned into something closer to a low-budget nature documentary.

I expected maybe 30 bags.
What I got: a floor full of grocery store logos, tangled plastic, and a weird amount of emotional energy from a brown Safeway bag that smelled like 2018.

Here’s what I learned:

• White bags breed like rabbits. Especially pharmacy ones.

• Sprouts bags always show up late and cause problems.

• There’s no faster way to lose control of your life than dumping 200 plastic bags onto your bedroom floor.

How I’m Sorting Now (and Why It Works)

So now I sort two ways:

🧤 By Feel:

• Stretchy & smooth → loop it

• Crinkly & loud → donate or skip

• Weird finishes or mystery textures → test pile (aka chaos plarn)

🏷️ By Store (with crossover logic):

• Grey Target + Walmart → basically twins

• Sprouts + health stores → soft, unreliable, emotional

• Vons/Albertsons → durable, decent loops

• Unmarked mystery bags → logo-less anxiety sacks

• Trader Joe’s frozen bags → look sustainable, loop like wet tissue

• Trader Joe’s paper bags → don’t plarn—but they do judge you from the corner

It’s not elegant. But since I started sorting like this, I haven’t had a mid-roll bag snap. So we’re calling that a win.

The ½-Inch Experiment

This week, I’m slicing everything into ½-inch strips.

Until now, 1-inch was my go-to. But I’m curious if thinner means cleaner plarn, faster looping, or just shredded knuckles and regret.

Theory: thinner = tighter = smoother
Reality: TBD. (Pray for my thumbs.)

Money Breadcrumb:
Every weird test makes future kits better.
If ½-inch strips work, I’ll batch faster, loop smoother, and maybe even sell chaos that sells like it’s not chaos.
That’s how we turn reusable friction into revenue.

Speaking of revenue... checking out today’s sponsor helps keep the plarn rolling.

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💡Pro Tip (From a Beginner)

Before you slice through 50 bags, test a strip.
If it curls too tight or tears—skip it. (Same rule applies to people.)

One Last Tangle

Next week: results from the ½-inch test.
Also flirting with the idea of color-sorting. Might be genius. Might be a nervous breakdown in rainbow.

You Pick, I Plarn

P.S. I Read Every Reply

Got a sorting system that actually works? Or a bag drawer horror story?
Tell me I’m not the only one spiraling in polyethylene.