Trash Talk
Turning plastic garbage into valuable items
July 2, 2010
Ellen Moorhouse
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
People write Trash Talk from time to time wondering what to do with non-recyclable plastic bags they hate to throw out, such as sleeves from newspapers or strong bags from kitty litter and bird seed.
Well, there’s an army of people out there who are turning plastic bags into durable items to send to stricken areas of the world, from Haiti to the Congo, from Lesotho to the Peruvian Amazon.
I learned about these “upcyclers” at Mazo de la Roche Public School in Newmarket, where environment club members, who took second prize in Trash Talk’s student contest, are crocheting sleeping mats from milk bags (the outer one, not the three inner sacks). Helped by indefatigable parent volunteer Karen Craig-Chizmeshya, they stepped up this project after Haiti’s devastating earthquake.
They learned about the milk bag mat movement from Markham resident Barb Morrison, who in turn found out about it from a teacher in an Aurora school where she was making a presentation as part of the Scientists in the School program (she has a background in architecture and engineering).
Across Ontario and in other provinces, students, seniors, church groups, Scouts, community living centres — all kinds of people — are picking up scissors to turn clean, dry outer milk bags, into long strips of “plarn” or plastic yarn. Then, using a simple chain stitch, they crochet near-indestructible sleeping mats, easy to wash, dry and keep clean.
Each mat takes 300 to 500 milk bags (no biodegradable bags, please), which would otherwise go to landfill. The mats, which double as excellent packing material for shipping fragile medical or food supplies, ease the discomfort for people who bed down on the ground and protect them from parasites, such as scabies and worm infection.
Craig-Chizmeshya, a south paw, taught herself crocheting off YouTube and now has the students from various grade levels all crocheting left-handed. Each environment club member has a mat underway, Craig-Chizmeshya says. Even the Grade 1 kids help in Monday recess, acting as “trees,” holding the plastic bags around their arms to allow for easy cutting into strips.
Morrison, who has made about four bags herself (it takes about 20 hours), puts a lot of effort into teaching others and sending out instructions to people contacting her through a classified on the Kijiji website. Both she and the Mazo mat makers have more than enough bags, so if you’ve got milk bags to donate, they suggest you phone local churches, service groups, schools or seniors’ centres to find an existing program. Or start making your own mats. Morrison will email instructions (barbmail2001-milkbagmats@yahoo.ca). North Burlington Baptist Church, 1377 Walkers Line, ( www.nbbc.ca), will accept completed mats.
Dunnville resident Dianne Scott (905-774-7941) has been an organizing force, spreading the word on mat making for three years. At last count, she says, perhaps 500 groups were involved, and the movement continues to spread. Just this week, a maximum security prison interested in starting a program called her.
And it’s not just mats people are making from plastic bags, according to Scott. They’re crafting plastic teddy bears on request; and they make durable bags to contain supplies for new mothers, their babies and for people undergoing medical procedures.
One woman in Burlington, Scott reports, uses blue plastic sleeves from newspapers, adding beautiful colour to what she’s making; others are sewing multi-layered bags on machines; still others are weaving thicker mats on looms.
The products are attractive. As Scott, who can’t crochet because of carpal tunnel syndrome, but is an ace organizer, says: ”One of the ladies makes bags that are so beautiful, they’re like designer bags, and someone said to her, why do you put all that effort into it, and she said, ‘It doesn’t matter if you’re poor or not, wouldn’t you like something pretty?’ ”
What a great project: reduce plastic garbage, learn a skill, make something useful for others, and become engaged in what for many is a rewarding social activity, a modern-day quilting bee.
Send comments to e_moorhouse@sympatico.ca.