Re.Bag.Re.Use is an initiative that started off as a hobby during the Covid-19 lockdown, where empty bread bags were being repurposed and crocheted into beautiful shopping bags. It has successfully been building momentum in Hout Bay, Cape Town, and is now extending its footprint to Koedoespoort, Pretoria.
“The project is snowballing and going from strength to strength,” shares the founder and brainchild behind the initiative, Regine le Roux. “The support for Re.Bag. Re. Use has been incredible.
“The idea is to repurpose soft, clean plastic into beautiful shopping bags, instead of the plastic bags landing up as an unsightly mess next to the side of the road or landfill.
“The pandemic has had a dire economic impact on many people. Re.Bag.Re.Use provides community members in a small way to supplement their incomes with a bit of extra pocket money. It’s not a full-time job and the ladies who are part of the initiative are not employed by Re.Bag.Re.Use. They get paid a stipend for cutting and/or crocheting Re.Bag.Re.Use shopping bags,” shares le Roux.
Jacolyn Radebe, one of the cutters in Gauteng says, “With the extra money I make from cutting the plastic, I am glad that I am able to buy groceries and essentials for our home.”
A percentage of all the sales also goes to local charities; the Sungardens Hospice in Pretoria has been one of the many beneficiaries.
“With Re.Bag.Re.Use we are able to reduce some of the plastic generated and at the same time create an opportunity for women to make extra pocket money and be able to put bread on the table.
“This is a project that I would ideally like to expand across the country. We have incredibly talented people in our communities, and there is a lot of plastic landing up in our environments.
‘We are thrilled to share that Hirsch’s Home Stores in Centurion and Silverlakes in Pretoria will be collection points for clean soft plastic. If you have empty bread bags, courier bags, fruit or vegetable packets, or even old video or cassette tapes, please drop them off at Hirsch’s. The plastic will then go through to Koedoespoort, where it will be sorted, and repurposed into beautiful Re.Bag.Re.Use products” shares le Roux.
Chief Operations Officer of Hirsch’s Home Stores, Margaret Hirsch, said: “This project touches on so many aspects that are key to us. Firstly, empowering women in our communities and secondly, being able to provide the ladies to use their crocheting skills to turn something that is quite ugly (plastic), into something beautiful that can make quite a fashion statement.”
