The lockdown forced many of us to haul out and dust off our hobbies. For Regine le Roux, it was her crochet pen, which led her to launching the Re.Bag.Re.Use initiative to empower other women.
Six women from the Harbour and Imizamo Yethu in Hout Bay are repurposing empty bread plastic bags, two litre milk bottle labels and courier bags into reusable shopping bags. The bags are then being sold and the proceeds used to empower the women, their community as well as local charities.
Le Roux shares how the crocheting idea came about: “During this time, I realised just how much plastic was being generated and thrown away every day, so I decided to find a way to repurpose it. Crocheting with plastic worked!”
It takes approximately 30 empty bread bags and eight hours to complete one bag. Two women cut the empty plastic bags into strips for other women to crochet with.
Fiddlesticks, a local haberdashery, offered to be a drop-off point for the plastic bags. The women expressed their gratitude for the support from the Hout Bay community.
