Craftzine.com blog: Ghanaian Entrepreneur Recycles Plastic Bags

Ghanaian Entrepreneur Recycles Plastic Bags

The Independent has an article about a businessman in Ghana who makes reusable totes out of discarded plastic bags from the streets of Accra. From the article:

Plastic bags are a ubiquitous feature of the African landscape not seen in coffee table books or travel magazines. In Ghana they line roads, hang from palm trees, float in the sea and gather in drifts on the white sandy beaches. In Ghana's capital, Accra, they clog the sewers that run alongside roads turning gutters into stinking repositories of stagnant water and faeces and prime breeding grounds for malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

Looking around the city, a businessman Kwabena Osei Bonsu decided something needed to be done. "I wanted to come up with an idea that would solve problems in my lifetime," he said. His solution? Collect the discarded plastic bags and stitch them together to make new, reusable bags.

Ghanaian businessman makes recycled plastic totes, via core77

Comments

Newest comments listed first.

Posted by: lindsay on March 20, 2008 at 9:00 AM

this is sooo great! i lived in accra for a short time and these plastic bags really are a problem. it is also inspiring to see a local using readily available raw materials and turning them into something beautiful.

love it!

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