Penistone Friends of the Earth

5 Jun 2008 - Bag making session for Penistone Carry-A-Bag project

Penistone Carry-a-Bag Campaign’s bag making workshop was highly productive with 31 durable shopping bags being made – enough to replace 31,000 one trip carrier bags during their life time.

The workshop was held in St Andrews Church Hall Penistone on Thursday 5^th June. Eighteen volunteers came along to cut, pin and sew the bags. Each bag was unique and the finished products carry the Campaign’s logo.

The fabric was donated by Barnsley Hospice Shop in Penistone and JT Interiors, Penistone. Karen Watkins of Image IN, Penistone, designed the bags and, provided cotton, threads and equipment as well as providing expert advice to the volunteers.

Penistone Carry–a-Bag Campaign hopes the local residents will buy bags to take the place of the 2 million one trip carrier bags which are consumed in the town every year. The first bags hot off the production line were on sale at Penistone Gala on Sunday 8^th June and then in local shops..

The bags will be sold by local shops to raise money for Barnsley Hospice and Yorkshire Wild Life Trust.

The Penistone Carry-a-Bag campaign is working with the local community and retailers to cut down the use of free, one-trip carrier bags in Penistone. The campaign will be launched in the summer. Every household in the district will receive a free cloth bag to use instead of plastic carrier bags. The bags will be provided free by the Co-operative Group. Support has also come from Barnsley MBC Waste Management, Penistone and District Community Partnership, Penistone Town Council, Barnsley Primary Care Trust, Barnsley Hospice and Michael Clapham MP. Nine out of ten residents and most of Penistone’s retailers are backing the Campaign.

One of the workshop organizers, Helen Fryers, commented:

“We were delighted with the response to the workshop and would like to thank Karen Watkins and everyone who enabled it to happen and for the hard work of all the volunteers. We have calculated that over the life time the durable cloth bags we have made will save around 1000 plastic bags being used. That’s 31,000 bags saved by the efforts of those attending the workshop. Preventing waste like this is the best way to reduce the impact of waste on the environment and litter which threatens wildlife and livestock”.