Knitter finds a novel use for old bags (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Knitter finds a novel use for old bags

10:56am Friday 22nd February 2008

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OLD plastic bags have been given a new lease of life - thanks to the handiwork of a keen north Hampshire knitter.

Instead of throwing used old plastic bags away, Jenny Shurgold, of South Lea, Cliddesden, has been saving them up and knitting them together to create large, strong, reusable bags.

As well as being kind to the environment, the knitted bags are pleasant on the eye, as different coloured plastics are used to make each one.

Mrs Shurgold, 67, said: "I just thought it was terrible to have to throw so many plastic bags away after they've been used a few times, so I thought I'd try knitting them together to see if I could make them into something. The bags are nice and colourful, as well as strong."

To make the knitted bags, Mrs Shurgold chops off the handles and bottom of each plastic bag and then cuts the rest into one long continuous strip of plastic, a few centimetres wide.

Only non-biodegradable plastic bags can be used, as biodegradable ones won't last.

Once the plastic has been knitted together, Mrs Shurgold uses coloured wool to stitch the different pieces that make up the bag together.

The bags have proved so popular with the pensioner's friends and neighbours that she has already sold several of them, and is now looking for more plastic bag donations so she can knit some more.

"I've been given up to £5 for each bag, but I've given all the money to charity as I'm only using things that would otherwise be thrown away," she said.

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