[gingerrr]

"Reuse" in the context of the 3Rs means "give new life beyond initial purpose", not "have it sit around to wait for other garbage to join it before we throw it out after a single use". Neither of your examples actually reuse the bag, just make it wait for the buddy system before sending to the landfill.

Don't hurt yourself bearing that cross of "doing good" though.

[mr-debil]

It's definitely re-use. Otherwise they'd be purchasing another bag to dispose of dog poop.

[0des]

> Don't hurt yourself bearing that cross of "doing good" though.

I see the downvotes are already communicating this, but there's no need to be so cockstrong when talking to other nerds. Most people here are just normal folks like us, its easier to just chill out and talk. Your point travels further when it isn't deployed as an attack.

[mindslight]

Trash bags and pet waste are two purposes for which most people would otherwise buy new plastic bags. So this definitely qualifies as a reuse.

The real critique is what percentage of bags can actually be reused that way? I can see dog owners keeping up with the constant influx of shopping bags, but I would think anyone else would develop a surplus quite quickly.

[tconfrey]

Completely disagree here. Even by your definition, a bag used for groceries is being given a new life if its reused as a trash bag!

The biggest saving on waste comes from a single re-use. If every plastic bag was used twice we'd need half as many. (If course a third re-use is better, only need 1/3 as many etc.)