Useful Ways To Reuse Produce Nets

Have a few of those produce nets laying around? They often come in prepackaged fruits like oranges and limes. You may be thinking why would I even have these since I live a sustainable lifestyle. Living sustainably is different for everyone, sometimes it depends on your location. For example – some may live in a smaller town where fruit in bulk isn’t available; so the only option is to buy produce that comes in nets. Or what if a packaged item is on sale, then you are saving money plus keeping that food from the landfill! For me I acquired all these nets during pandemic grocery shopping. Items were super limited, and getting my produce package free was the least of things on my mind during that time. 

If you do have access to bulk produce, I highly suggest using your own reusable produce bags. They often are made from a mesh like material, which makes it easy for washing and for the cashier to see what’s inside at check out. You can also repurpose those reusable mesh bags.  In fact you will see I reused a few of them below. Overall I am just trying to get across that living sustainably looks different to everyone! Ultimately I wish bulk choices were available all over and eliminating these nets from the world would be amazing! Sadly they aren’t recyclable (at least here in the US). So yes, eventually it will end up in the trash.  However until then here are some useful ways to reuse them.

1. Embroidery Crafts.  Place a net around an embroidery ring and trim the access off the back. Using an embroidery needle and some floss make a fun design to display. Mine is freehanded so the design isn’t that great, but you get the idea. There are lots of print offs online if you want more of a clean design.

2. Flower arrangements.  Place a net over a vase and secure with a rubber band. Place your flowers through the holes and they stay in place! This is very helpful for any floppy flowers as well.

3. Clothes pin holder.  This works great for holding clothes pins! The holes in the nets are small enough so the pins don’t fall through, yet large enough for any water to drain (in case you accidentally leave it outside in the rain).

4. Drink charm.  Hosting a party and want people to remember what drink glass they are using? Just tie a little net around the bottom. Guests just need to remember their color.

5. Hair net.  I may be joking on this one or maybe not. It actually worked very well. I secured the back with a hair clip. There aren’t a lot of times I would use a hair net. But in case I do, now I know where to get one.

6. Hair accessory.  This was used from the excess of the embroidery hoop. It’s actually very comfortable as a headband, and great for keeping those little hair flyaways in check.

7. Art Projects.  Add a little paint over a net and you get some fun textures. Could be used as diy wrapping paper or great for collages.

8. Beach/Pool Organizer.  A great way to organize all your pool/beach items. I like how you can see directly through it. Plus if anything gets wet it will dry easy!

9. Bag for Bulk Produce. Just because this net bag says mandarins doesn’t mean it can only hold that! I’m storing some bulk apples from the grocery store. Just make sure any upc codes are covered up from the old mandarins. It makes for an easy check out at the store and might even spark some interesting reuse conversation at check out.

10. Kitchen Scrubby.  Simple as just stuffing a bunch inside one net until you get the desired size you want. Secure the opening with a knot or add a little string. Just note that some little pieces may fall off of this contributing to micro plastics within the water system.

11. Gift Wrapping.  Jazz up a plain gift with some nets. A bow makes it even more festive. Extra reuse points for you if you put the bow in your hair after.

12. Mess Kit.  I was a scout back in the day and we were required to have a mesh bag to hold our plates and utensils. After clean up the mesh bag made it easy to drip dry as well.

13. Bath Toy Organization.  Store the kids bath toys easy. The mesh makes it easy for them to visually see what’s inside. Plus the bag and contents will dry easily in the mesh bag.

14. Jewelry Organization.  The perfect way to hang your earring, pins, and everything else! I attached mine just with some push pins. Alternatively you could also add the net to an embroidery ring and hang from there as well.

15. Potpourri Sachet. This is cut up from a reusable mesh produce net. I added some dried lavender and sewed all ends shut. I even reused a little twisty tie so you can hang for use.  This idea is best the mesh with very small holes, otherwise your potpourri will fall out. Also Potpourri is one of those weird words to spell, no?

16. Sprout Strainer.  No need to buy special sprouting equipment. You probably already have everything to reuse at home. Cut a net to size on your canning ring and get to sprouting! This helps the water drain from your sprouts easy.

17. Plant Protection.  I had a problem with squirrels diggings up my fall bulbs. This was my solution and it worked very well! Weave some string around the base of the net, place over a small pot, then tighten with string. If you’re working with any netting that has a picture over it, try not to rip it off. Most likely it will rip larger holes into the netting. I found luck just cutting off the picture that wasn’t attached to the net. You can see on the bottom row of the picture here.  As your plants grow you can easily either grow through the holes in the net, or try snipping off a few holes for it to fit.

18. Hanging Storage for Dirty/Clean Items.  I keep a few of these in my bathroom and kitchen. They hold small items of either clean or dirty cloths. I like how they hang so they take up little room.

19. Plant Support.  Out to the garden again. I do a lot of vertical gardening and sometimes heavy fruit needs a little support. It’s like a little hammock for your fruit!

20. Shower Caddy.  Probably one of my favorite reuses. A shower caddy for storing your soaps. You can simply tie as many bags together as you like (I just used a double knot in each). The holes in the nets lets the soap dry out nice. The only negative here is sometimes once the soap has dried in the net it sticks a bit to the netting. It’s not a big issue, you just have to pull the soap out, but worth noting.

There you go! 20 ideas to get you started.  I’m sure there are many more as well.  Feel free to leave a comment if you have any other ideas that have worked well for you.  Lets all share the love of reuse with all!

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