Businesswoman's Blog: Celebrating Earth Day one repurposed bread bag at a time

Caption: Ladies on the Re.Bag.Re.Use team, colour co-ordinates and cuts empty bread bags into strips of plastic yarn (plarn). These strips are then crocheted into beautiful multifunctional items. There are 15 ladies on the team; five sort and cut the plastic, and ten crochet different products. The initiative has been going for two years, and in that time approximately 38 000 empty bread bags have been saved from landing up in landfill, our ocean or environment. Re.Bag.Re.Use is also providing an additional income for ladies from our community to put bread on the table with dignity.

Annually, Earth Day is celebrated on 22 April, a reminder for everyone to take responsibility to look after and protect our precious planet and its natural resources. This year’s theme for Earth Day is, ‘Invest in Our Plant.’

The Re.Bag.Re.Use initiative, now in its second year, is made up of a team of 15 ladies who live in and around the Hout Bay area in Cape Town. These ladies sort, cut and crochet empty plastic bags, such as empty bread, courier and retail shopping bags into beautiful multi-functional products.

“The initiative that started as a hobby during the Covid lockdown, has snowballed into a life of its own,” shares Regine le Roux, founder of the initiative. “I wanted to find a way to share my hobby of crocheting with ladies, to help them to earn an additional income,” adds le Roux.

Not only is it a way for the ladies to earn some money, but, it is also our way to keep plastic from landing up in the environment, landfill or ocean.

“To date, we have repurposed the equivalent of approximately 38 000 empty bread bags into beautiful multifunctional products,” says le Roux. “Our flagship product is a shopping bag, however, we have diversified quite considerably. We now have a large range of different products that we offer, such as wallets, placemats, bathroom mats and even stress balls!” shares le Roux.

Five of the ladies sort and cut the plastic into strips, and the other ten ladies crochet these strips into beautiful products. Each lady has their own specific bag or product that they make. “We meet weekly at the local library to take stock of the plastic and plarn balls, which are then shared amongst the ladies. During these meetings we share ideas, teach each other new stitches and patterns and also discuss the progress of orders that need to be completed,” shares le Roux.

One of the younger ladies on the Re.Bag.Re.Use, team Mitchell Maegret Nyika (24), encourages other youngsters to get involved, “You can use your skills to make a difference; it is helping to keep our community clean because we are repurposing empty plastic bags into other products that can be reused. It’s about making something out of nothing.”

The sale of each Re.Bag.Re.Use product pays towards a cutter, crocheter and a percentage is donated to the Neighbourhood Old Age Home (NOAH) and Rotary Club of Newlands to help spread the love even further!

For more information visit www.rebagreuse.com or Instagram: www.instagram.com/re.bag.re.use

Contact: regine@rebagreuse.com WhatsApp 083 302 1528

Caption: Margaret Nyika (left) and Sakile Ndlovu sharing patterns at the team’s weekly meeting at the local library. The Re.Bag.Re.Use team are continuously innovating and finding new products to make from empty bread bags.

Caption: Mitchell Maegret Nyika on the Re.Bag.Re.Use team crocheting a net grocery bag made from empty bread bags

Caption: The completed product! Mitchell Maegret Nyika proudly displaying her net grocery bag! These net grocery bags are made from approximately 40 empty bread bags.