I really love the idea of reducing single use plastics in my life. What have you done to successfully reduce or eliminate it?
I am finding that there are things that I can replace stuff with but they don’t tend to work as well. If I can get like 90% efficacy out of a more eco friendly replacement then I’m good, but it’s been more like 50% so far.
If plastic grocery bags could be considered single use, then I think I have an interesting method to share.
Since I was young, probably in the 2nd grade or so, my mom and I were trying this project where we’d take plastic bags and cut them into strips. We’d then feed these into her sewing machine, which used one of its functions to stretch the plastic until it was about the same with as a thin strand of rope or thick yarn. We’d quite literally roll them into balls of plastic yarn.
She’d then knit them into all sorts of things. Drawstring bags, coin purses, and her favorite- tote bags. They were very pretty and had unique feel to them as well. The best I could describe it was it felt like a fake leather purse, but more bumpy due to being knit. It might not be the most efficient method of reducing single use plastic waste, but given that we still have the bags we made back then, I’d say we did a pretty good job of keeping them out of the landfill!
Knitters and crocheters call that “plarn”. But I’ve not heard of anyone feeding it through a sewing machine first. We just roll up the strips. There’s a way to cut the bag so that it’s one long continuous strip.
A popular use for this material besides making reusable shopping bags is to make sleeping mats for homeless persons.
Edit: meant to say that I find the sewing machine use fascinating and will see if Google can shed more light on how to go about it and what machines it can/can’t be done with.