Recycling Plastic Bags
July 18th, 2007 by CandaceMr. McGuire:I want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
Mr. McGuire: Plastics.
–The Graduate
My name is Simone, and lately I’ve become completely obsessed with plastic shopping bags. I think it started when I couldn’t stuff another bag into the bottom of my holder without pushing fifteen more out of the top. On the other hand, I also could not bring myself to toss them because, after all, they were perfectly good bags. I then stumbled upon crocheting strips of plastic into, you guessed it, another bag. Since one tote-sized, crocheted bag takes at least 30 to 50 shopping bags, this project did make a dent into my collection.
Oft cited My Recycled Bags.com provides excellent instructions on how to prepare recycled plastic yarn from shopping bags and shares some crochet patterns for this kind of yarn. Once you have a ball of plastic “yarn,” you can also mix it with other materials. For example, I made this bag by alternately crocheting rounds of plastic yarn and yarn made out of denim strips.
I think it would be kind of fun to follow the Daisies’ crochet instructions, make different kinds of plastic squares, and sew them all together into. . . a bag. (If anyone can come up with something else to crochet besides a bag, please let me know. A rain poncho perhaps?)
Recently, I saw a posting about fusing plastic bags to make a plastic fabric. That inspired me to make plastic beads out of fused plastic bags.
You use the same technique you would apply to making paper beads, i.e. cut a triangle out of the “fabric” and roll it up from the broad to the narrow end. You may encounter more resistance from the plastic than you would from paper. I first roll up a bead without applying glue. I then unfurl the bead, apply the glue (Uhu Mosaic) and roll it up again. Like paper beads, you can leave the bead like that or apply a layer of lacquer.
Lastly, I decided to make a wallet out of two ‘I Love NY’ bags and a white trashbag without any print on it.
* I fused the three bags together and cut out a 6 1/2″ x 4 3/8″ rectangle.
* I then cut out two 4 3/8″ x 2 5/8″ rectangles out of clear vinyl left over from some bedding packaging that I had saved for just such an occasion. These will become the inside pockets on the left and the right side of the wallet.
* I then basted the pockets to the left and the right of the rectangle with a glue gun to keep everything in place.
* To finish it off, I trimmed the wallet with a 31″ long piece of 7/8 inch ribbon. The ribbon is folded in half and sewed on around the wallet through the fused plastic and the vinyl with a top stitch.
Start to finish the whole project took me a little over an hour. You could add a velcro closure to the wallet to keep everything in place, if you don’t stuff it with as many random pieces of plastic as I tend to do.
Now I’m worried that New York will encourage businesses to cease the use of plastic bags. In that case, where will I get my raw materials? Have fun with plastic. Let me know if you have any other ideas of what to do with this stuff.
July 18th, 2007 at 6:21 am
so cute and creative! Love that you made beads out of bags, too!
And a big thank you for linking to the tutorials. I am going to have to try that. I have enough white Target bags to crochet a zillion bags!
July 18th, 2007 at 7:34 am
Ah! They’re all awesome, I especially love the watch strap. And bags. And wallet. XD *Haha, how can I choose? ;P *
Thanks for the inspiration!
July 18th, 2007 at 10:09 am
Wow, terrific post! I especially love the plastic bag beads – what a great idea.
July 18th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
I love the ideas!!
You are just too crafty!
July 21st, 2007 at 12:01 am
LOVED the watch strap…
July 22nd, 2007 at 10:45 pm
What a great idea!!! I have about 500 plastic bags under my kitchen sink that now have this projects name written all over them. Thanks for the inspiration. By the way, The buttons look great too.
July 24th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Wow — I love your use of recycled plastic bags and denim. Wonderful bag and way to recycle!
September 4th, 2007 at 11:33 am
Very cool.
Did you use your machine to sew the wallet together? If so, do you ever have any problems with your sewing machine being able to stitch through the glued layers?
September 5th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
[...] Craftydaisies.com has a great article about using plastic bags as a source of resin for plastic beads. Cool! [...]
September 24th, 2007 at 3:58 am
I’ve seen Welcome mats made from crocheted bags before.
October 25th, 2007 at 8:27 am
great ideas here. i have so many plastic bags i could make hundreds of these.
November 16th, 2007 at 6:56 am
What a neat idea! Love the beads!
April 18th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
very creative impressed x
June 5th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
I love theidea of making beads from bags. One question though: Is there a non-toxic or organic way to lacquer these babies? Keep up the eco friendly site!
June 18th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
I copied some of the palstic craft from you and link you to my post, at Http://jbsolis.blogspot.com. Thank you for the idea of crafting plastic or recycling them! Awesome!
August 11th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
^^….the bag looks good….^^
May 18th, 2009 at 3:24 am
you guys are soo sexy
come have sex with me
May 19th, 2009 at 2:06 am
yuck your yucky but i will have sex with you
October 12th, 2009 at 1:20 am
you have really good ideas i think you have really got me make me more bagz
October 12th, 2009 at 1:38 am
i think ur bags are really good you have rally inspierd me
October 12th, 2009 at 1:41 am
hii i really lik ur designs and i think they r unique ….
March 22nd, 2010 at 2:28 am
Thank you for the post, I am really wondering how can I use this to create my own blog post.
April 26th, 2010 at 8:11 am
I think your bags are awesome!
August 24th, 2010 at 10:58 pm
Biodegradable plastic and packaging is a modern necessity for our ever-endangered environment.
Now PLA has been used to line the indoors of Paper Cups in place of the oil based lining additional usually used, create Plastic Cups, Plates, Carrier Bags, Food Packaging and even Nappies.
Eco Pure is our proprietary blend of organic materials that does not modify the base resin to which it is added.
Thanks a lot for your information
January 6th, 2011 at 8:54 pm
How fabulously creative you are! LOVE the beads!!
April 21st, 2011 at 7:46 pm
this is one of the best reads I’ve had n a while, i will be sure to recommend this to a couple of people, great job
April 23rd, 2011 at 7:58 pm
that is some good stuff you wrote there…thanks for taking the time to do so
May 4th, 2011 at 5:57 pm
Great design of bags and accessories.