Plastic bags: They’re convenient, but they also wreak havoc on the environment.
According to the Center for Biological Diversity, Americans use 100 billion plastic bags per year, or 365 bags per person, which requires 12 million barrels of oil for production.
It takes an estimate 1,000 years for a plastic bag to degrade in a landfill. Additionally, “the bags don’t break down completely but instead photo-degrade, becoming microplastics that absorb toxins and continue to pollute the environment,” the center said.
Despite the known harms of plastics, the current data doesn’t suggest we are slowing down our use any time soon.
“The world is producing twice as much plastic waste as two decades ago, with the bulk of it ending up in landfills, incinerated or leaking into the environment and only 9% successfully recycled,” according to a 2022 report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
“Reducing pollution from plastics will require action, and international cooperation, to reduce plastic production, including through innovation, better product design and developing environmentally friendly alternatives, as well as efforts to improve waste management and increase recycling,” the OECD stated.
Knowing that it will likely take years to solve the plastics problem, local activist and co-founder of the Sedona Area Homeless Alliance Executive Director Laurie K. Moore has started a program designed to “remove over 120,000 plastic grocery bags from the local environment annually.”
The program, called Operation BedRoll, was modeled after similar programs taking place across the country, which are transforming used, clean plastic bags into artfully-woven mats.
SAHA plans to distribute the mats to members of the community who are experiencing homelessness.
“[SAHA] is always looking for win-win projects that include community participation and Operation BedRoll is one of them,” Moore said. “The project is going well and is steadily growing in interest and involvement.”
While meetings are currently taking place at the Sedona Public Library every first Wednesday of each month, Moore is also reaching out to surrounding communities to build interest.
On June 30, Moore and SAHA volunteer Gail Basham gave a presentation about the project at the Cottonwood Public Library.
The presentation included a weaving lesson by Basham, who is also the founder and CEO of, More Than Self, a nonprofit organization established to help Mayan families in Guatemala.
Basham’s Mayan-inspired weaving techniques involve the use of a peg loom, which she said her husband made for her from mostly recycled material. The plastic bags are cut and then tied together to make “plarn,” or plastic yarn, and are woven onto the loom in the same way as more traditional fibers.
Moore said to make one mat, it takes between 500 to 800 bags, and it would take approximately 25 hours for one person to create one.
Moore said that “separating each step into teams not only speeds up the process but allows anyone to get involved, regardless of experience.”
“Volunteers either collect and deliver the bags, process the bags into balls of “plarn,” crochet or weave the bedrolls or deliver to other organization partners,” she added.
So far, the project has collected enough bags to make between 10 and 16 of the mats.
“We have collected about 8,000 bags so far from people in the community who seem very excited about the project,” Moore said. “We have always found that people really do want to help and when you can provide an easy way to do that it’s easy to find volunteers.”
“There is a bag collection and plarn drop off and pickup station located inside the Sedona Public Library at 3250 White Bear Road in West Sedona and we hope to have stations set up soon at all local libraries.”
Moore added that “there is a collection barrel on the porch of the Sisterhood Connection Foundation at 1631 Mingus Ave. in Cottonwood. All donated bags should be clean, dry and free from holes. Additional drop off places will be announced soon.”
More information is available on the Sedona Area Homeless Alliance Facebook page, or by calling (928) 978-9387.
