Whenever I have a spare moment (and I'm always happy to make such moments when I should be doing class readings, or house chores...) I drag out my fabric stash and try to make a dent in it.Recently, I've been busily making morsbags.
It's all about having a group of friends around to chat whilst simultaneously making shopping bags out of old duvet covers etc. to distribute en masse to shoppers to help protect marine life.You can check out some of the creations on Flickr.
Morsbags are fully recycled, fun and easy to make (download instructions), hygienic (washable), portable, foldable, unique, cheap, biodegradable and reusable.
The idea is to get other people, who perhaps haven't thought about the environmental impact of not having reusable bags, to use them. You can also think of it as a Random Act of Kindness to someone who has perhaps forgotten theirs.
Using recycled fabrics from op-shops and/or old doona covers, curtains sheets, etc., minimises the amount of cotton produced solely for reusable cotton bags, which means less water, energy and pesticides being used. It also keeps production costs down and makes for some rather interesting fabric patterns - all part of the charm! It might be worth putting a call out for suitable fabric on your local freecycle network if you haven't got any lying around.
The movement also encourages people to avoid "green bags". While better than using a lot of single-use plastic bags, they are still made from polypropylene (a fossil fuel-based plastic). They are recyclable (dependant on consumers doing so) but not biodegradable.
And who can resist free cloth shopping bags? I've made a dozen or so, and have been giving them to my local op-shop. They always have a shortage of bags, and I'm not comfortable approaching people outside shopping areas to hand them out "guerilla-style". Besides, it's fun to buy things like torn doona covers from them and return with a bunch of bags!
Go on, find out if there's a group making bags near you by browing the morsmap or the forums. Join or create a pod and get bagging!
Related posts: Recycling old pillowcases into Morsbags, Morsbags from tea towels, A zebra and some boats, Red lemur bag! & Happy Valentine's day to 15 strangers
2 comments:
Great idea! Argh, sometimes it makes me incredibly angry when I see people packing their groceries in millions of little flimsy good for nothing plastic bags. Not very productive to get angry though. Should sew morse bags instead! Grin.
I know what you mean with not being comfortable enough to hand them out "guerrilla-style". Maybe it will be a good overcoming shyness exercise for me
I am a morsbagger too! It's great, isn't it?! Happy morsbagging!
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