The deadline to enter the It’s In the Bag competition is fast approaching on April 28th. Now is the time to get into the studio or the shop and make something spectacular out of plastic bags. The Kingston Press which was built last fall in the Waste for Life studio is available for anyone to use during the following monitored hours:

To help you out the W4L studio put together a materials recipe pdf You can benefit from all the guess work and experimentation the studio put into the Press and into the materials and get a head start making something out of trash! Check out their work below to see some of the possibilities!

Don’t miss some of you last opportunities to melt plastic bags!

Getting started
DIY sites and photos to whet your design appetite.
Daily DIY

1. The Plastic Bag Chandelier
2. The Plastic Bag Chair
3. The Plastic Bag Cushions
4. The Plastic Bag Shoes
5. The Plastic Bag Containers

Threadbanger tutorials

How to fuse plastic bags into a laptop case.

Plastic Bag monster!

Other organizations
Conserve, India

CONSERVE, a non-profit organisation, using a blend of creativity, design & innovation has turned, what was once a dull environmental hazard, into a clean, funky, and fashionable material, from which have been crafted a range of appealing handbags and fashion accessories.
We don’t just stop there! With the support of the Asian Development Bank, we are currently working on a project to generate income, through the production of this material, for the less advantaged communities in Delhi.
Read more about them on Treehugger.

Resources / Inspirations
Craftzine – Various

How-to’s, fuse your own, get inspired by a patchwork raincoat!

Cathy Kasdan – Apparel

Knit wear like you can’t find in the department store. Good ideas for how to use the material as-is.

Ryan Frank – Furniture

(see limited and bespoke) A recycled plastic bag chair design inspired by African bag chicken art

Plastic Bag Resources
Good Stuff? – Plastic Bags

Globe-wide facts about the ubiquidous plastic bag. Need inspiration to get into this project? Here you go.

Cartoneros background information
Backstory: Lives recycled in Argentina
Buenos Aires: The Ghost Train of the Cartoneros

Cartoneros are the trash pickers who collect paper informally, in Buenos Aires, through middlemen in warehouses, to executives in large corporate mills. The process exploded into a multimillion dollar industry after Argentina’s latest economic collapse. The film by the same name is both a record of an economic and social crisis and an invitation to audiences to rethink the value of trash.

Waste for Life

Learn more about the original organization working to improve the situation for the Cartoneros through design and engineering. This is the official website that includes background of the organization and the movie trailer for the documentary Cartoneros.