This isn’t exactly a review of Fat Bottom Bags. I chose local solutions as much as possible and these bags are made in the North West of America. They caught my eye because they look quite a bit like the grass basket that my wife bought in Hergla.
Below is a bag made by Berbers from grass…
…Above is a Fat Bottom Bag made from plastic bags
Fat Bottom Bags are made out of single use plastic shopping bags that are supplied by several local households. Christi started out making bags as a hobby and as a way to make use of the bags that had been accumulated in her household and by her extended family. This was an unsustainable system (in a good way for once); the single use bags were being incorporated into durable reusable bags that were put to good use, thus curtailing the accumulation of disposable bags. Rather than move on to another project, Christi chose to broaden her collection efforts to dozens of local families and sell the finished product. I really like this concept. It is a much better idea than putting a pile of plastic bags into the conventional recycling stream. When that happens they could end up on a slow boat to China.
I am happy to add Fat Bottom Bags to my reusable bag roundup post.
September 21st, 2009 at 4:43 am
Nice bags. Looking at them I would have never thought that was made from plastic!
September 26th, 2009 at 11:40 am
Good find Martin! These bags are beautiful, and the prices are quite reasonable for the amount of work that goes into them.
September 30th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
How cool. I would have had no idea that these Fat Bottom Bags were made from repurposed plastic shopping bags. What a great find.
January 9th, 2010 at 2:24 am
Christi is one of my Twitter friends. I love her bags!
January 19th, 2010 at 2:25 am
My friends and I have been crocheting bags from “plarn” (plastic yarn) for awhile, too. It’s a great way to reuse them and they are surprisingly durable…although stretchy; don’t use them to hold a watermelon!
That pic definitely looks like grass, but they don’t up close, which I love. It means it sparks some really interesting and inspiring conversations with people when they look puzzled over the “material”. I can’t tell you how many convos I’ve had in line at the grocery store over reusable bags and the unsustainability of plastic bags, simply because someone saw and questioned these bags!
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:46 pm
I crochet Plarn too! I raided my mum’s bag draw, lol… it gets funny when I have a design in mind and I need a particular colour… I end up visiting friends and searching their cupboards.
June 1st, 2010 at 7:13 am
My friends and I have been crocheting bags from “plarn” (plastic yarn) for awhile, too. It’s a great way to reuse them and they are surprisingly durable…although stretchy; don’t use them to hold a watermelon!
That pic definitely looks like grass, but they don’t up close, which I love. It means it sparks some really interesting and inspiring conversations with people when they look puzzled over the “material”. I can’t tell you how many convos I’ve had in line at the grocery store over reusable bags and the unsustainability of plastic bags, simply because someone saw and questioned these bags!