Plastic Bags... Needed!

[Miyu]

Hey everymer, if you follow me on FB you may have already seen this, but I'll post it here as well just because.

I've had a project in the works for some years, doing testing, research, etc. I'm finally ready to finish my project and share it with everyone, and Christomer conveniently just announced the Achievement in Ocean Advocacy scholarship, so hopefully I'll be able to finish this project to include in my video! I just think it's so neat that we'll get to see what every-mer does to help the ocean :)

I know I can complete this project in a relatively small timeframe, the problem right now is the supplies! My project is going to be made entirely out of plastic bags, and I just simply don't have enough - I really try not to bring too many plastic bags home, and the last year's worth of bags got used to stuff Lucy, my duct-tape body double, along with a good amount of re-used pillow stuffing (I really didn't have that many bags, in retrospect...)

I've got a small stash of plastic bags to work with, but I am all too aware of how quickly those run out, and I don't want to needlessly bring home more plastic bags than I usually do - that will only increase the demand for them - so I'm looking only to collect bags that people have already accumulated in their normal rate of consumption.

If you have a stash of plastic bags you will never do anything with, I'm looking to collect an obscene amount of them - in the thousands - to visually show rates of plastic bag consumption as well as how many plastic bags are in a square yard (or other measurement) of ocean, etc.

If people would like me to pay shipping, that could possibly be arranged. I was also considering offering a giveaway/raffle of some sort if people would be interested, in which every 10 bags "buys" you an entry, with the prize being either a custom-made jewelry set (see my other threads or Facebook for examples), or some custom "rescued" plastic bag gear (examples coming soon).

I'm looking for:
shopping bags - extra points for fun colors or bags reclaimed (and cleaned) from the beach!
bread bags
newspaper bags
phone book bags (I love these, they're usually sturdy)
any other awesome plastic bags of roughly that size or larger.

Let me know if you'd be interested in helping! I can't wait to get started, I had a lot of fun with my tester samples I've done in the past!

[NerineArcticMermaid]

I've got a ton of bags.. like a dozen bags full of bags.. I refuse them around the house of course but still got as heft collection. How do I get them to you?

[Miyu]

Heehee that would be awesome! I'll PM you my address. :)

I'm going to try to keep track of how many bags everyone is donating in case enough mers show interest in the raffle-thingy, so let me know if you would like to be included in that as well so I can include your donations!

[MerEmma]

This sounds like a great project already! I have a ton of them laying around in our pantry, I'll try to ask my mum about them. I know we don't have anything else planned for them (like you, body double, patterning and stuff, only need a few more) and I'd love to help out.

[Miyu]

That would be so awesome MerEmma :D Thank you for checking! It can be hard to get rid of them if you don't use them in big projects, LOL! I was practically swimming in them until my mertender and I made out body doubles :P We even had to stuff his with mostly old clothes!

My new project, thankfully, doesn't condense the plastic bags quite so much, so it will be a good educational tool to show folks just how many plastic bags (enter number here) equals.

[MerEmma]

I'm so glad we switched over to reusable bags like, three years ago. Now we only bring in the ones from wrapped around the produce or meat. Still working on a way to avoid those, too though.

Any project that uses recycled materials is perfect to me! :D

[deepblue]

I can help with that. So many plastic bags, collected in the past couple years whenever I'd forget my reusables. I've been meaning to separate them so I could recycle the ones that can be, but I haven't gotten to it. But, only if you don't need them before March- I can't send them til the 3rd, my budget this month is already spoken for. Let me know, happy to send them if you can use them. :)

[Miyu]

SurlySeaNymph, I would be happy to take them off your hands! :D I have no problem waiting, as simple of a project as it is, it still will take several months to finish most likely, as I have to sort and process the bags before adding them to my project (after I get it started with my little stash here :p)

[Mermaid Azira]

What exactly are you making if you don't mind me asking? About a year ago I made a dress entirely out of plastic grocery bags for an art competition, so we don't really have a lot of bags. Do you have any neighbors are friends you can ask? I ended up doing that quite a bit.

[Aziara]

I could certainly send you some! I keep them to reuse as trash bags and whatnot, but I often end up with much more than I need (the stores near me feel the need to double bag everything, grrr...). I have a huge pile of them taking up space in my cabinet, I'd rather see them put to good use. I dunno how many I have, but I can't fit anymore in the cabinet, so probably I could send you several dozen.

[Thalassa]

I've got a bunch because I'm too chicken to ask the checker if I can use my own bags, then I feel guilty for using the plastic bags.

Depending on the shipping it might have to wait a bit, but I'd love your address to estimate it!

[Morticia Mermaid]

I think she is going to turn them into crocheted bikini's (with lining of course) and maybe some yoga mats

[Miyu]

Ah! Thank you everyone! I shall be contacting you all through PM to give address info. You are all amazing! With all your help I may just be able to reach my goal by World Oceans Day this year (which is a week before my birthday)!

I'm making a few yoga/sitting mats to begin with (mermaid cushioning, kid sitting mats, educational device all in one)... Plus a coral reef display (possibly with fishies). So really, clear plastic bags will come in handy as well :D. And probably some bracelets to hand out at World Oceans Day or whatever event I can make it to this year... Kids and adults seem to really like those, and they're good daily reminders to say no to single-use plastics.

I may also take some of the damaged bags and pieces and some other plastic bits, and put them in a big jar with some ocean-y looking water to show them what trash in the ocean looks like to aquatic life. (Can you tell I really have a vendetta against ocean trash? :p)

I'm researching a lot of statistics and figures right now, and ideally I'd like to be able to utilize either the amount of plastic in a square mile of the ocean (46,000) ,or 60,000 plastic bags (amount used in the US every 5 seconds). These *are* rather large numbers, so I'm also trying to maths and figure out the smaller fractions of those that are more attainable.



...Not making the bikinis yet LOL, I still haven't made on out of regular yarn. But I saw that page and thought that was pretty neat!



...Neighbors LOL... I could try, but uh... the few neighbors we have... I think we've talked to a few of them them maybe once :p We live way out in the boonies. However, when the weather is nicer and permits a leisurely stroll/drive down our road, I can use that as a way to actually talk to them! :D 'Tis monsoon season right now, haha!

[Mermaid Azira]

That is really cool. Good luck!

[Aziara]

Yeah, I get kinda crazy about ocean trash myself, especially the plastic rings on six-packs of coke. I saw some pictures of seagulls and sea lions trapped in them when I was a kid, and ever since I'm militant about cutting ALL the openings open before it's thrown away. I've even snatched some from a friend's trash can and snipped them :blush: