Did you know that about half of the plastic produced each year is meant for single-use items? It’s estimated that four trillion plastic bags are used globally every year, but only 1% of them are recycled. Even worse, most places lack the infrastructure to recycle these plastic bags even if they wanted to. Grocery stores are beginning to encourage the use of reusable bags for groceries, but they still offer single-use plastic bags in the produce section.

You can avoid single-use plastic at the grocery store by making your own reusable produce bags. Here’s how you can do it.

Supplies:
– Cotton Fabric
– Ribbon or String
– Safety Pin
– Sewing Machine and Thread
– Sewing Ruler
– Iron

A Note on Fabric:
Use cotton or any breathable, natural fiber. Recycled fabric works too—think old t-shirts, pants, sheets, or pillowcases, as long as they’re all cotton.

Cut:
These bags are easy to customize. Start with two equal-sized rectangular or square pieces of fabric. To save on sewing time, you can use one long rectangular piece. Fold the fabric in half or place the two pieces of fabric with the printed sides facing each other.

Sew:
Sew along the fold, up the left and right sides of the bag, leaving a 1/4-inch seam allowance. Stop sewing 2 inches from the top on each side.

Fold and iron a 1/4-inch hem around the sides and tops of the bag. Fold down the top seam another 3/4-inch and iron to create the drawstring channel. Sew along the bottom edge of the drawstring channel with a 1/4-inch seam allowance. Repeat on the other side.

Thread the Ribbon:
Attach a large safety pin to the end of your ribbon and thread it through the channel on both sides of the bag. Tie knots at the ends of the ribbon.

Your bags are now ready to use! Make extra bags and store them with your reusable grocery bags so you never forget to take them shopping.

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