Three local businesswomen are coming together to reduce Ballarat’s reliance on plastic bags while shopping.
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An international movement creating Boomerang Bags – stitched together from donated fabrics and used again and again by the community – has flourished, to the point of not being able to keep up with demand or fabric donations.
Hattie and the Wolf’s Andrea Hurley, Ballarat Wholefoods Collective’s Wendy Aston and The Healthy Hub’s Stacey Gibson are preparing to launch the full project at the end of February.
More than 100 Boomerang Bags have already been stitched into existence, through the work of volunteers at monthly sewing bees.
The next sewing bee is on February 21 at the Brown Hill Cricket clubrooms, Reid Court from 6-8pm.
Ms Hurley said the three women had been grouped together by the program, and each had a strong passion for the environment.
“There is a sense of community, we’ve brought lots of different people together, we’ve had grandmas bring their granddaughters and we’ve had guys come along to sew,” Ms Hurley said.
“It all comes back to reducing the number of single use plastic bags.
“We wanted another option we could offer customers which was positive for the environment and the world.”
Ms Hurley said they were looking for volunteers, with take home bundles of material available for people unable to attend the sewing bees. Fabric and financial donations are also accepted.
The Ballarat group is hoping to get some extra help in the future from interested local schools.
A collaboration has also been formed with local disability support service Merrimu, with students cutting and collating donated materials, ready to be pieced together for reuse in society.
“Our biggest thing is going to be being able to keep up with the demand, because you can walk into anywhere and people say, ‘we’ll take them!’,” said Ms Aston.
The Boomerang Bags movement began in Burleigh Heads during 2013, launched initially to reduce the amount of plastic bags used only once in the beach-side community.
The program now boasts outposts of sustainable thinking in Iceland, Puerto Rico and Malaysia.
The official launch of Boomerang Bags will be held from 7pm on February 28 at The Healthy Hub Wellness Centre in Bridge Mall.