The Blog

It’s easy for a young person to assume plastics have been used for centuries because they are so ubiquitous in our society today, but in reality we didn’t begin using them until World War II when nylon was an important, new technology for parachutes. A broad variety of plastic materials and goods were developed in the following decades and by the 1980’s and 90’s most food that was once packaged in glass was now packaged in plastic.

Try to go a day now without touching plastic and you’ll find it’s next to impossible. In fact, plastics make up more than 12 percent of the municipal solid waste stream, a dramatic increase from 1960, when plastics were less than one percent of the waste stream (U.S. EPA). That’s a major change in our society in just 50 years and in the last ten we have experienced a similarly rapid change in our ability to recycle the material.

Interesting facts about plastics and plastic recycling:

• Plastic is a synthetic material usually made from oil or natural gas. Some plastic is now made from plants.
• In a landfill, it takes hundreds of years to break down most plastics.
• Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy as burning it in an incinerator.
• Producing plastic from recycled plastic uses 2/3 of the energy required to make it from raw materials.
• The amount of oil needed to produce a plastic bottle is enough to fill a quarter of the bottle.
• The density of micro-plastic particles polluting Lake Erie is higher than in the oceans with 1,500 to 1.7 million particles per square mile, according to recent research reported by the American Chemical Society.
• 65% of plastic generated in the United States is for a disposable use such as containers, packaging, plates and cups.
• Only 8 percent of U.S. plastic waste generated in 2010 was recovered for recycling, but the recovery rate is increasing.

With so much of our waste coming from plastic, it’s more important than ever to recycle it. Please do your part.

In many WNY communities (though not all), we can recycle bulk items like lawn chairs, hose reels and buckets as well as items made of plastics # 1-7. You can also now leave “Caps On” when recycling bottles. It used to be only the material in the bottle, not the cap, was recycled. Now the recycling industry has ways to separate the two types of plastic and both types can be recycled. So leave “caps on” for more recycling - but be sure the bottle is empty first!

As an Environmental Studies student at the University at Buffalo, I am constantly looking for new ways to reduce my impact. One thing that really drives me nuts is how wasteful plastic sandwich bags are, but this girl needs to eat! Tupperware containers are a sustainable alternative, but they can be rather bulky, and I hate to have to cut down on healthy snacks to save space. The solution? Reusable fabric sandwich bags! I found two simple templates for large and small size bags on the Better Homes and Gardens website, and in honor of National Sewing Machine Day I decided to give it a whirl. Check out the steps below to make your own and stop throwing out plastic sandwich bags!

What you need:

• Outer fabric, 14-1/2 inch square (100% cotton works best, but any fabric will do—you can even reuse some old fabric you might have lying around)
• Liner fabric, 12-1/2 inch square
  • My mom had an old polyester laundry basket that she was ready to get rid of, so I used that for my liner – it was a canvas bag with a waterproof lining, perfect for these bags!
  • Better Homes and Gardens recommended ripstop nylon or polyurethane laminate for a liner, but neither of those materials were in my home
• Ruler
• Bobby pins, safety pins, or sewing pins
• Iron
• Sharpie
• A button (or you could use a strip of Velcro)

Some optional, extra supplies:

• Your favorite cup of tea – I was feeling chamomile
• Some relaxing music – If you’re like me, you haven’t touched a sewing machine since you were 11 years old and in 6^th grade Home and Careers class; I chose Iron & Wine

Some tips before you start:

• If your fabric is wrinkly (like mine was), be sure to iron it before you start. It makes measuring and cutting much easier.
• When I was a kid my dad used to always say, “measure twice, cut once” and for probably the first time in my life, those words were relevant to this project. So do it!

Here’s what you do:

1. Start with your 14.5” square of fabric (outer fabric) with the side that will go on the inside facing up, and fold in a 1/2" seam on one side and press with a warm iron for about 5 seconds. Fold in a 1/2" seam again in the same direction and press so you have a finished seam on all three remaining sides.

2. Secure the corners either by simply folding or sewing (I just pressed them a little longer)

3. Place outer fabric right side down on table so the folded seems are facing up.

4. Place liner fabric, right side up (the shiny, water resistant side), on top. Tuck liner under the un-sewn seams of the outer fabric and secure with bobby pins. This takes a little adjusting, so it helps to bobby pin one side and adjust the rest accordingly. If needed, trim liner so it fits flat.

5. Now you’re ready to sew! Using a 1/8" seam allowance, sew down inner edge of folded seam. This is where 6^th grade Home and Careers evaded me; I forgot to backstitch when I started, so I’m reminding you to do this when you make these!

6. And for the finishing touches, I sewed a loop of thicker thread to one corner, and a button to the opposite corner. A couple of things to note here:

• You’ll want to measure the loop of thread to your button; seems common sense, but I almost didn’t do this
• You’ll also want to practice folding up your sandwich wrap to your typical sandwich size so you can see where the best place to sew your button is

Now you can pat yourself on the back – you’ve made your first reusable sandwich bag! If we’re being honest, this project was pretty high up on my list of “really proud moments.” I managed to successfully sew a square without putting a needle through my finger or breaking anything. And now you can rest easy, because Mother Earth thanks you for saving all of those silly little plastic sandwich bags from ending up in the trash.