What's so cool about this article? Photos of a couple of my upcycled green coffee bean bags are in their gallery of "green" fashion - Seattle's "must-have accessory:" - as "green" grocery accessories! Here's my upcycled green coffee bean messenger bag in their gallery.
And here is one of my tote bags.
Both are made from upcycled green coffee bean bags that I rescued from a local coffee roaster. Treating each discarded burlap sack like a piece of fabric, I remove the stitching along the sides and bottom, wash them and make a wide variety of unique tote bags, messenger bags, shoulder bags, purses - even throw rugs. Inside is a layer of 100% cotton quilt batting and a lining in a pretty contrasting cotton fabric, all freehand machine stipple quilted together to provide extra strength. I try to include as many of the colorful logos printed by the coffee growers on their sacks into the designs that I make. I like how the words and colors decorate my bags. No two are ever quite the same!
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Tuning discarded burlap sacks into reuseable shopping bags is just one more way to help keep useable stuff from clogging up our landfills. There is a lot of life left in the fabric in discarded gunny sacks, and by reuseing them, they make great shopping bags - and more. Since we have so many coffee roasters and shops in the Pacific Northwest, reusing the green coffee bean bags seemed most appropriate.
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Grocery, convenience and drug stores commonly offer plastic bags at checkout. Plastic bag pollution is a problem world wide. I like what Seattle is proposing in their effort to eliminate some of the plastic bag pollution and would like to see more communities join in this effort to help solve the problem. Here's a great video, The Bay vs. The Bag, an effort to help raise awareness about plastic bag pollution in the San Francisco Bay area.
That video just might help us think twice before responding to that "paper or plastic" question we so often hear at the grocery store.
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As stated in another article in the Politics and Government section of the Seattle Times, Seattle bag fee on ballot: Would it change our habits?, once again Seattle voters will decide whether to keep or reject the ordinance - Seattle Bag Tax - passed last year by the Seattle City Council that would charge shoppers 20 cents for every new disposable bag they carry out of supermarkets, drugstores and convenience stores. How would you vote if that issue was on your ballot.
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If you are interested in purchasing one of my reuseable "Seattle's must-have" upcycled green coffee bean bags, that information is here - Upcycled Coffee Bag - Messenger Bag.
The tote bag, here - Upcycled Coffee Bean Bag - Tote Bag.
Thanks for your interest in reducing plastic waste, recycling and saving our environment!
Plastic bags are harmful to the environment. Please use reuable bags!
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