Recycled plastic bag rug

March 4, 2007 at 2:07 pm | Posted in recycling | 12 Comments

Another project of mine has been to make some items from plastic bags to be used till they are really used up, then they can go into a recycling bin. I thought I would try a rug first. Here are photos showing the progress. This was after a few trials and errors so I am showing what I found to be the most easy method.First, collect all the bags of the color that you want your rug to be. I got these from neighbors who could not re-use all the bags they collect. Sigh. Lay the bags flat and remove the handles and bottom. Place the clippings into another bag or container so that they can be used for fringe, or pillow stuffing.Then cut them into strips. You can do this with a rotary cutter also, and do several bags at once, a real time saver!Then, interlace the strips to create one long strand. When you have cut up all your bags, then roll them into a ball and you are ready to crochet.

For those of you who have made rugs, feel free to use whatever pattern works best for you. I have not made a rug before so I went with a basic rectangle using a large sized hook and a double crochet. Since the stripes are essentially doubled, this rug will have lots of spring. It works up super quick too! These rugs are washable, then you air dry them. Perfect!

I hope you all feel inspired to go out and recycle something today!