Opting to use green canvas bags for your grocery shopping is an effective option but many people still have excess plastic bags lying about the place.
How to make a mat out of plastic grocery bags.
While the blue or yellow bags can be mostly sorted together the white bags tend to have accent colors that can come out in the finished rug.
In particular plarn can be used as sleeping mats for people.
Gather the plastic bags.
A word of forewarning when putting out the call to action for collecting plastic bags be prepared for an avalanche of plastic bags.
These sleeping mats make great supplies for the homeless population allowing them to sleep comfortably wherever they need to.
Lay a plastic grocery bag flat on a table.
Regardless of who uses it it s a great way to recycle.
Rather than throwing them out you can reuse them by crocheting them into multi purpose mats known as plarn plastic yarn.
So far they have spent at least 100 hours on the project producing 18 mats that have been handed out to the homeless and there are many more to come.
It also makes a great addition to any camping trip.
Instead of becoming landfill plastic bags can be used for fun craft projects.
If you don t want your rug to follow a pattern you can skip sorting.
One easy project appropriate for ages six to adult is weaving a doormat from left over bags.
Meanwhile in norwalk iowa the mighty mat makers meet once a week at st.
Fold the bag lengthwise in half.
Cut off the handles and the bottom of the bag with scissors.
John the apostle catholic church to create their own mats using about 700 plastic bags apiece.
The bag ladies as they call themselves also specialize in making large tote bags out of the plastic.
This is a great way to involve your local church group knitting or crochet group youth group or scout organization with collecting and sorting the bags.