Borrow Bags - Making Reusable Fabric Bags

Help to protect our local environment by reducing single-use plastic in our community! We need help to make fabric bags that can be given out in local shops to reduce the need for plastic bags. We also need help distributing these bags and making sure people know about the scheme and shops use them in the correct way. We need to get posters up in all shops participating and refill shops with bags when they run out.

The use of plastic bags has reduced slightly since the introduction of the plastic bag charge, however not as much as you may think - and in fact, research has shown that many people now use thicker, tougher reusable bags as disposable items. Plastic bags form a huge part of plastic pollution and we need help to try to overcome this together for the sake of our wildlife and environment. 

Our aim is to provide bags made from pre-loved material, such as old curtains, bedspreads etc., to people who have forgotten their bags in local shops. The bags can be borrowed and returned the next time the customer visits the shop, or just kept by the customer for them to keep reusing. This is a double win - not only does it reduce the need for plastic bags, it saves old, preloved fabric from landfill.  

The Final Straw Foundation is a registered charity based in Emsworth, working along the south coast to protect our coastline and seas from pollution. We do this through community action and projects, educational outreach in schools and communities and collaboration with other organisations. 

Skills

We need people who can do any or all of the following:

• Help to sew the bags from pre-loved material.
• Deliver these made bags directly to the shops that need them.
• Try to enlist more shops to take part.
• Check if shops need more bags.
• Shout about the scheme and get more people involved in the above list.
• Sewing can be carried out at home, if you have a sewing machine, or you are welcome to come and join one of our sewing groups.