Recycled Art: Using Plastic Bags

 Plastic use and plastic bags are a world-wide problem.  Let’s learn about the problem with plastics, as well as artists who are using their voice to bring attention to the problem.  

Plastic Pollution Facts:

- Americans use an average of 365 plastic bags per person per year.

- It takes 1,000 years for a plastic bag to degrade in a landfill.

- When plastic bags make it to the ocean, they don’t break down and disappear. They eventually are broken into little pieces which animals mistake for food, and can make the animals sick or even die.  90% of all birds and fish are believed to have plastic particles in their stomachs.

- In some countries, such as Kenya, China, France, Rwanda, and Italy have banned plastic bags, making them illegal. 

Let’s look at some artists who are using recycled plastics and their voice to draw awareness to the problem of plastic pollution: 

South African Artist Mbongeni Buthelezi uses melted recycled plastic in his work: 

Artist Tan Zi Xi created this art installation entitled “Plastic Ocean” to simulate what it would be like to be a fish swimming in an ocean filled with plastic:

Here is Ms. Jenn’s video we watched in class of three different ways to plastic bags to create art:

This book, Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of The Gambia shows how one woman turned the problem of plastic bags into something useful:

If you are interested in using recycled plastic in your artwork, here are a few projects you can try!

Plastic Bag Jumprope: using recycled plastic shopping bags, cut and braid them into your own jumprope!

Making Fused Plastic Fabric: Make sure to have a grown-up help you with the iron, and you can make your own fused fabric out of plastic bags.

Fused Plastic Artwork: Create your own fused plastic artwork like artist Mbongeni Buthelezi.

Make Plastic Bag Yarn or Plarn: 

Make a plastic bag friendship bracelet: 

Cut Bottle Bracelets: Cut up a plastic bottle and decorate to make bracelets! Make sure an adult helps you with the iron.

These are some great ways to reuse plastic bags.  We can also do the following to reduce our plastic waste:

    - Re-use plastic bags

    - Bring our own bag when we go places

    - Buy things that are not wrapped in plastic, like produce from a farmer’s market.