With single use plastic bags gone from our supermarkets Council has invited Boomerang Bags to run a workshop at St Paul’s Hall, 8 Marae St, Taumarunui on Saturday 16th February starting at 10.30am where people can make a reusable shopping bag from recycled materials for their own use or others.

Waste Minimisation Educator Emily Jasmine said that the free workshop was part of Council’s focus on community education and helping people learn about how they can produce less waste and help protect Ruapehu’s beautiful environment.

“The workshop is for all ages, you don’t need any specific skills or abilities and everyone is welcome,” said Emily.

Making a Boomerang Bag is a collective effort with many steps involved including cutting the fabric, screen printing the logo, ironing and sewing so something for everyone to have a go at.

Anyone with any good quality fabric they no longer need can help by dropping it off at their local Council office so we can turn it into reusable shopping bags.

Local Boomerang Bags organiser Toni Grass said that the movement was founded on the Gold Coast, Australia, and they are now established all over the world including here in Ruapehu.

“Boomerang Bags is a grassroots, community driven movement helping to tackle plastic pollution at its source by providing a practical solution to an everyday problem.

Initially the bags being given to people that forgot to take their reusable bags when they went shopping with the expectation they would be returned like a boomerang for the next person to use.

Nowadays the bags are gifted to people with the expectation that they reuse them or pass on to others in need.

The bags create a platform to start conversations, make friends, up-cycle materials and work towards shifting society's throw away mentality to a more sustainable revolution of re-use – one community, needle and thread at a time!

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