EntrePinoys Atbp.

Plastic is one of the most widely used products in the world. We use it to package consumer products, to charge our purchases with credit cards, to carry our food and drink, to build our toys and to even make our clothing. There are over 10,000 different kinds of plastic in the world, and it is so versatile and can be mixed with so many other elements that its uses are limitless.

But plastic takes up about 10% of our total waste stream, and it is composed mainly of the non-renewable resource petroleum. So the more petroleum we burn to make new plastic products, the more greenhouse gases we release into the air. Only 5% of all plastic is recycled, so we need to push for more plastic recycling practices in our daily lives.

Plastic is too great a part of our lives to completely eliminate it. Through recycling, we can lessen the environmental impact of our habits. There are many environmental and monetary benefits of recycling plastic. Many useful items can be made from our everyday trash. One of them them is making useful household materials like rugs made from plastic shopping and grocery bags.

Tools and Materials:

• Plastic Bags (150 pieces or more)
• Wax Paper
• Iron
• Scissors
• Straight Pins

Here’s how:

1. Gathering Bags. This should be the easiest step. You simply save your plastic bags after you go shopping. If you want a multi-colored rug, you must collect bags of different colors.
2. Sort Bags by Colors. If you don’t want your rug to follow a pattern, you can skip sorting. To make creating the colored rings in the rug easier.
3. Choosing a Pattern. If you’ve decided to make a rug with a pattern, having the bags sorted is a must. You have to look how many bags of each color you have.
4. Split and Fold Bags. To make usable strips, you must cut and fold each bag. The bags are cut along both side seams through the handles. This is the easiest way to get the bag to lay flat.
5. Begin Braiding. If you do not know how to braid, the following Instructable seems to be rather educational
6. Pinning the Braid. To begin forming the braided bags into a rug, you have to lay the braid in a spiral pattern. As you lay the braid down, use straight pins to temporarily hold the spiral together.
7. Fuse the Backing. It may be better for you to practice this step first.
8. Continue Braiding, Pinning and Fusing. As you continue braiding, pinning, and fusing there are some things you should be aware of. When you reach the end of a bag, tie the next bag on with a square knot.
9. Finishing. Once you reach then end of your rug, you simply tuck the last tails under the the rest of the rug and continue with the fusing process.
10. Position in your Home. While this rug should be rather durable, it is still mainly a showpiece. The best place I’ve found to put it is under my chair made from neck ties.

Complete instructions with photos here. Another style here

sources: greenstudentu.com, instructables.com

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