La Crosse BAG LADIES

Join the Bag Ladies*

A community effort to cut down on single use plastic bags.

While plastic bags are bad for the planet - they are made from fossil fuels, they are rarely recycled, they kill thousands of animals who ingest or become entangled in them, they leach toxic chemicals into the environment, they break down into microplastics - many alternatives are not much better!

WHATEVER BAG YOU CHOOSE, USE IT HUNDREDS OF TIMES! A 2008 UK EnvironmentAgency (UKEA) study found that single use plastic bags “cost” about two kg of carbon per bag. For paper bags, seven uses would be needed to achieve the same per-use ratio. Tote bags made from recycled polypropylene plastic require 26, and cotton tote bags require 327 uses.

BAG LADIES (*need NOT be a lady to participate) will commit to making - sewing, knitting, or crocheting - reusable shopping bags from fabric items that are ready to be repurposed - t-shirts, pants, sheets, towels, etc - OR plarn (yarn made from plastic bags!) Once a month we will choose a large store and hand out free bags to shoppers along with a tag explaining why we must stop using plastic. Make the bags by yourself or in a group.

Ready to get started? Do this:

Email crsierraclub@gmail.com subject: Bag Ladies  to sign up

• Make reusable shopping bags from fabric items ready for repuposing (do NOT buy new fabric or materials for these bags! That defeats the purpose!) - see below
• Attend the monthly bag distribution event at a local retailer (or, if you can't attend, arrange for someone to pick up your bags)
• Hand out bags and info tags to shoppers
• Help select the distribution sites, contact retailers, and do publicity if you wish (not required)

 Ready to make your bags? Try these NO-SEW t-shirt bags. This site offers seven different patterns for t-shirt bags. Here you can see how to make bags from a pair of old jeans. And this is a tutorial for making shopping totes from old pillow cases. And this site uses sheets to make shopping totes. 

If you prefer to knit or crochet, here's a tutorial about using plarn to make reuseable shopping bags (from La Crosse's own Festival Foods no less!) Here's another site with a little more detail for beginners.

We'll do as much as possible by email but we might choose to get together a couple of times a year for a potluck and plastic bag reduction celebration! Join us!!