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
For more information
please visit our Instagram page: www.instagram.com/re.bag.re.use/
WhatsApp: 083 302
1528
Email: regine@rebagreuse.com
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