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Austintown library hosts recycled bags event
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Reagan Ellis threaded a strip of T-shirt through slits she cut in making the bottom of her recycled bag.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Reagan Ellis cut a strip along the bottom of her T-shirt during the Spark a Change with Recycled Bags event at Austintown library.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Starr Jones (left) instructed Reagan Ellis on cutting slits in the bottom of her T-shirt in making a recycled bag at Austintown library.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Assistant supervisor of Austintown library Starr Jones (left) and Reagan Ellis, of Ft. Worth, Texas, got their T-shirts ready to be turned into bags during the Spark a Change with Recycled Bags event.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Reagan Ellis held up her finished recycled bag during the Spark a Change with Recycled Bags event at Austintown library.
By TIM CLEVELAND
On Aug, 11, the Austintown library hosted an activity that would not only allow people to be creative, but also help the environment. The event, which was called Spark a Reaction with Recycled Bags, involved turning donated T-shirts into bags.
The event was attended by 9-year-old Reagan Ellis of Ft. Worth, Texas. Her family was visiting in Austintown.
“The theme for the teen summer reading program is Spark a Reaction and there is a manual of ideas that comes with that,” said Austintown library assistant supervisor Starr Jones, who headed the event. “One of the ideas was Spark a Change with Recycled Bags out of old T-shirts.”
After selecting her T-shirt from a pile, Reagan cut a strip from across the bottom. She then folded the bottom up about an inch and cut slits about a half-inch every inch. She took the strip of T-shirt she had cut and weaved it through the slits to enclose the bottom of the bag.
After cutting the collar to make the top of the bag bigger, Reagan cut off the shirt’s sleeves to make the handles and complete the project.
Jones said making the bags allows the T-shirts to have a use after they might normally have been thrown away.
“We are repurposing items that might normally be thrown away and then being able to use them in others ways to help the environment and hopefully spark a change in the way you think about reusing and recycling,” she said.