Upcycled Tote Bag

A few years ago supermarkets introduced the 5p charge for using plastic bags, to encourage us to use them less, at the same time they introduced “the bag for life” A bag that in theory was twice as strong as a normal plastic carrier bag, that could be re-used multiple times.

Unfortunately, this plan is flawed because to make these “bags for life” they require nearly two times the amount of plastic to make as a normal carrier bag (Sometimes more), and because we are human, we don’t always carry one with us, so we end up buying more when we inevitably forget one, hands up how many of you have gone to the shops, forgot a bag and just “brought a new one” I’m very guilty of this. So we end up buying more bags for life than we need, using more plastic, and because we end up with so many, we get tired of a draw full of these bags for life and just throw them in the trash, where they end up at landfill sites.

So this is where a trend started with Tote bags, these are bags made from a material that can be washed and reused, they contain no plastic what so ever, they come in all shapes and sizes and look beautiful, its a brilliant idea to help combat the bag for life cycle and be more environmentally friendly.

But again this is also a little flawed, according to studies by the environment agency, these tote bags are not as green as you would think, as most of these bags are made in places like China and East Asia, the manufacturing and shipping to us in the UK creates such a large carbon footprint, you would need to use your tote bag 131 times to have the same carbon footprint a using a plastic bag just once! Its crazy isn’t it, but there are solutions and that’s where this page is here to help. Ive found some fantastic ideas to re-use old clothes like t-shirts and jeans to turn them into useable tote bags. Thus reducing the need to order material from China, and allowing you to be more green 😉