Community Service Through Creative Reuse
Description
Find out how you can build stronger community while also creatively reusing trash. It’s like a 2-for-1 good deed!
Crocheting Sleeping Mats
Many community groups crochet plastic bags into mats for people who are currently homeless. To make these mats, people cut plastic bags into loops and loop them to together to make a type of yarn called “plarn.” It takes about 500-700 plastic bags to make a mat and between 12-30 hours depending on how fast you crochet.
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In Canada, an organization called Milkbags Unlimited weaves sleeping mats from plastic bags. They weave the mats on big wooden peg looms. In Canada, milk is often sold in plastic bags rather than cartons or jugs.
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Sewing Community Projects that Can Involve Creative Reuse
Fidget quilts or fidget blankets are made for people with dementia or Alzheimer’s. They can be very calming. These are small quilts – maybe 2 feet by 2 feet that sit on your lap and they feature a lot of movable parts like zippers, tags and loops. Check out this great tutorial on how to make one from Rob Appell from Man Sewing:
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United States
