This is a tale about a community driven initiative tackling plastic pollution at the grassroots level.  

I first came across Boomerang Bags a few months ago, when one of my customers told me she was starting up a local branch in my home town of Stanthorpe, Australia. Boomerang Bags originally started with two people on the Gold Coast and has since spread to over forty communities around the country.   

What is Boomerang Bags?

Let's start with what a Boomerang is, for those not familiar with this Aussie icon. It is a traditional indigenous hunting weapon. This simple curved, flat, wooden tool uses aerodynamic forces, so when thrown in a particular manner,  it returns to the thrower. 

Boomerang bags moto is borrow and bring back, so I think the name is perfect.   

Most people are aware of the environmental damage caused by plastic bags. Eco green bags have started to pop up everywhere. Yet despite all the alternative carry bags on the market, most of us still return home from grocery shopping with handfuls of single use pieces of plastic. The vast majority of which end up in landfill and in our waterways.   

When looking to tackle the growing reliance and use of plastic bags in Australia, the founders of Boomerang Bags, saw one major set back to 'eco' bags - People simply forget to bring them to the shops. 

I am guilty of this. I have a huge collection of re-usable bags in my pantry but I routinely pop to the shops, leaving them behind. 

Boomerang Bags offers a cool solution:-    

Simple cloth bags (made from recycled donated materials) are stitched together by a group of volunteers. The bags are then made available to anyone, out the front of co-operating shops. The idea being, if you forget to bring your own bag, grab a boomerang bag instead. 

Boomerang Bags are free to use. Once you have emptied your shopping at home, you can return the bag to the stand (or any Boomerang Bag stand) at your convenience.  

 

Boomerang Bags are made by the community for the community 

Boomerang Bags relies on volunteer and community support to operate. Any region can register to start their own Boomerang Bags community, building on the concept. 

 
I offered the workshop floor space in our shop for Stanthorpe Boomerang Bags to host their first community sewing bee. My shop is also a drop off location for people wanting to donate fabric to the cause. 

Boomerang Bags is positive and proactive. Even if you are no good with a sewing machine, there is other jobs such as ironing, pinning and stamping to be done. Not to mention fundraising. 

Local businesses can get involved by offering to have a bag stand out the front of their shop. People in the local community are encouraged to donate unwanted fabric. Bed linen through to table cloths, rice sacks and even tea-towels can be fashioned into a bag. 

By using recycled materials, this initiative is also curbing textile waste in the process.   

At the sewing bee in my shop, I was surprised to learn that Ikea throws out staggering amounts of fabric each year. From display fabric, to brand new cut fabric returned by customers. Brooke, who co-ordinates Stanthorpe Boomerang Bags contacted Ikea and was given boxes of brand new fabric couch covers, that for whatever reason were destined for the dump. This fabric will now be turned into Boomerang Bags. 

Brooke is hoping to launch Boomerang Bags here in the coming months. A small team of volunteers are meeting each week at community sewing bees with the goal to launch with one thousand re-usuable bags.   

Boomerang Bags is a wonderful concept and I am so happy that my community is embracing this solution and bringing it here. 

I hope it goes global. Such a simple idea that can have a huge impact on the quality of our environment and life.

Until next time - remember to bring a cloth bag with you to the shops! 

xx Isabella