Artisan Name

Trashy Bag Team

For the complete story, please visit trashybags.org

Trashy bags are made from reclaimed plastic drinking water and ice cream sachets which are not re-processed in any way apart from washing and disinfecting. This has the benefit that very little energy is used in order to add value to material that would otherwise be dumped or burned.

In addition, by incorporating the original and complete sachets into there products, it demonstrates in a very visible way that it is possible to increase the lifespan of plastic packaging and so helps to tackle the very serious problem of environmental pollution in Africa and elsewhere.

In Accra alone, the capital city of Ghana, waste produced from plastic packaging is estimated to be more than 60 tons per day. That adds up to over 22,000 tons of plastic in one year. Whatever is not disposed of by the local authorities ends up on the streets of Accra and other urban areas, which are littered with rubbish; the most common items being plastic water and ice cream sachets that have been discarded after use. This is choking the drains causing frequent flooding and increasing the risk of disease.

By making useful and attractive bags directly from water and ice cream sachets that have been collected from the streets or kept for recycling Trashy Bags are:

  • Demonstrating that waste plastic can still be useful long after it has outlived its original purpose.

  • Using an opportunity to educate people in Africa about the dangers of land pollution and encouraging them to dispose of their rubbish responsibly.

  • Creating employment by paying for sachet collections, employing people to wash the sachets and then stitching them into bags.

  • At their Dzorwulu workshop trashy bags employ over 60 full-time workers. Helping to keep their streets and residential areas cleaner, thereby making the environment more attractive and safer for us all.

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