Plarn

Good News Good Planet

For more delicious news, go to www.GoodNewsGoodPlanet.com, and scroll to bottom for more ways to find the feel good stuff!* PLARN Plastic bags have a huge impact on our planet. Over a hundred billion are used every year worldwide. Each bag takes five hundred years to degrade, releasing chemicals that contaminate our environment as they break down and cause harm to marine animals who often mistake them food. But what if you could keep these bags out of the landfill and turn them into something that helps others? High school students in Denver, Colorado are doing just that by recycling grocery bags into "plarn", or plastic yarn, which can then be crocheted into blankets and mats to help the homeless. The students got their inspiration from a group of women called "Bev's Bag Brigade" who have been making the bag mats since 2009. The kids decided to get in on the act and the Lakewood Plarn Club was created. Soon, the teenagers were churning out plastics mats of their own. The idea itself isn't new. At one time, people recycled bread bags and other plastics into crocheted floor rugs and even slippers. But now a new generation is discovering plarn and its many uses. “You take plastic bags and you cut them into strips, and you tie those strips together and that makes this thing called plarn, plastic bag yarn,” says teenager Shelby Tillema, who founded the club. Once the plarn is made, the students use large hooks to crochet it into sleeping mats. The mats are comfortable, soft, very long-lasting and water-resistant. You can find instructions for plarn and its uses on crochet websites such as Ravelry. You can even find a group near you—or start your own. It's a great community project for people of all ages, from kids to the elderly, teaching everyone, through creativity, to care for the environment as well as each other. #### *Hungry for more of the Good Stuff? Search "Good News Good Planet" on YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, Alexa and wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.