Hout Bay women turn plastic waste into colourful bags

Hout Bay resident Joana Mnisi is part of the Re.Bag.Re.Use community project which uses plastic bags to crochet colourful reusable bags. Photos: Ashraf Hendricks

Bags, sun hats, placemats and footstools. These are just some of the products that Re.Bag.Re.Use, a Hout Bay community initiative, makes with recycled plastic bags and old VHS cassette tapes.

Founder Regine le Roux says she started the initiative four years ago during the covid lockdowns. They have since repurposed over one tonne of plastic — the equivalent weight of “eight baby elephants” — to create about 1,700 items.

“Each handcrafted product helps to keep plastic out of the environment and landfill sites,” says le Roux.

They wanted to solve the problem of having “communities filled with plastic” while using people’s creativity to create income streams.

The process is simple, says le Roux. They cut up the plastic into strips to roll it into a ball of “plarn”. This can then be crocheted in the same way as yarn. Each ball of “plarn” is made up of 10 plastic bread bags and each crocheted bag uses 100 bread bags.

She first got the idea for the bags after seeing mats that were made out of plastic bags.

Darmeris Makovere has been part of the Re.Bag.Re.Use project for three years. She says that she enjoys making unique things out of plastic. Makovere says is takes about two hours to finish one bag.

The project supports 21 women from Imizamo Yethu and other communities across Cape Town. They work from home and get paid immediately once the product is complete. The products are then labelled and added to their website catalogue for purchase. They are also sold at seasonal craft markets, pop-ups or from The Collective, an artisan store in Hout Bay.

When Mejury Kazingizi started working with Re.Bag.Re.Use about two years ago, she could not crochet so she contributed by cutting the bags into strips. Now she’s able to complete a bag in a couple of hours. She says that learning to use the crochet hooks was challenging.

But she adds that she likes working on a project that also “helps the environment” and takes great pride in seeing her work being worn in public. “You can repurpose something…from nothing.”

Regine Le Roux, founder of Re.Bag.Re.Use, says that they are continuously looking to expand the project. They are in the process of becoming a PBO (Public Benefit Organisation).

When she’s not crocheting, Kazingizi earns a living as a domestic worker in Camps Bay.

Le Roux says that the majority of the plastic bags are donated by their sponsor, Blue Ribbon, but the community also collect bags for them. “We’ll use any soft plastic as long as it’s clean.”

Le Roux says they would like to expand the project in the future. The project is also active in Koedoespoort in Pretoria.

The project has won numerous awards. A portion of every sale is donated to the Neighbourhood Old Age Home (NOAH) and the SPCA animal rescue.

Each crocheted bag uses 100 bread bags.

Support independent journalism
Donate using Payfast