There are lots of patterns out there for knitting reusable shopping bags out of old carrier bags – thereby avoiding landfill.

One method is to  flatten the bag, cut the top and bottom off and then cut the bag in a spiral to produce a length of ‘plastic thread’. I found this quite difficult to do as the width of the thread didn’t stay regular and because the plastic is so stretchy the bag can become misshapen when used.

Another way to produce the ‘thread’ is to flatten the bag, cut the top and bottom off and then cut the remaining section of the bag into equal strips. Giving you lots of loops of plastic. You can join these together by placing the end of one loop over another and treading the other end of the loop through the two and pulling tight. It is a bit time consuming but makes a stronger bag as the end result.  Just about any knitted/crocheted bag pattern can be adapted to using plastic instead of yarn – you will need bigger needles (I used size 15/10mm ones for the boob) and therefore will produce a bigger bag so you may need to adjust the stitch count and rows. There are also patterns designed for using plastic too try this or this or you could even try this – though personally I think it would be too itchy to wear.

I haven’t actually finished mine yet – so no photos sorry.