Subject: How do I safely melt household plastics?

This is a follow up to the question asked and answered at 
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/apr2000/956880647.Ot.r.html .

I'm not the original questioner, but I have a related interest.  I am trying to 
find a way to recycle plastic that accumulates in a home so that it does not 
need to go out with the trash.  Melting it and turning it into something useful 
seems like it opens up some possibilities, but therein lies the question.

How can I safely melt down household plastic, like that which makes grocery 
bags, newspaper wrappers and plastic bottles?  

The question and answer cited above provides the industrial answers, but are  
either of these something that a homeowner (or mad scientist) could do?  

In my quest to recycle, I've been using the bags to empty our cat's litter box, 
but the number of bags we get weekly fars exceeds our cat's ability to poop.  
It seems like the volume of plastic could be turned into something useful, even 
if it's just a lump of plastic to use for a paperweight.

Re: How do I safely melt household plastics?