How to Up-Cycle a Tee Shirt or Feed Bag into a Re-Usable & Durable Bag

BYOB! Bring Your Own BAG!

The plastic bag ban went into effect in NYS March 1, 2020 & retailers can charge 5 cents each for paper bags. I was pretty happy about this, but…

Paper bags are no better, using 3X the energy, 17x the water, and has 1.6 times the C02e production compared to plastic.⁠

Organic cotton totes are the worst culprit & must be reused thousands of times before they meet the environmental performance of plastic bags—& organic cotton is worse than conventional cotton when it comes to overall environmental impact.

So… what does this boil down to???

The best bags are the ones you have right now!

Whatever you have in your house now—be it a pile of cotton totes, or a jumble of plastic bags—don’t throw them out.

Keep using them until they fall apart. Whatever the material, use it as a garbage bag once you can’t use it for other purposes any more.

And whatever you do, try not to buy new ones.

If you want to Up-Cycle, an old tee shirt or a feed bag can be made into a bag pretty readily. I made some & I’m in love! I’ve shared my tips & techniques step by step w/ photos.

See my posts on Facebook & Instagram for more info on thoughts on bags.