Plastic T-Sacks Recycled Into Sleeping Mats for the Homeless

Who would have thought you could crochet 500 plastic t-sacks into a sleeping mat? But that is exactly what dozens of non-profit organizations and churches are doing across the country to help the homeless.

One such organization is Huntsville, Alabama’s Operation Green Team (an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, Inc.). They have a city-wide effort this holiday season to turn thousands of plastic shopping bags into sleeping mats.

Joy McKee, Director of Huntsville’s Operation Green Team, says, “We’re going to put the challenge out to the community to see if we can get 500 sleeping mats made by the end of December.” These will be delivered to the area’s homeless population including many homeless veterans.

It takes about 500-700 plastic bags to make one mat. But the advantage of plastic over other materials is that it is both waterproof and lightweight. These mats can be rolled up and carried easily.

Nashville Wraps has always been a promoter of recycling plastic bags. Many of the plastic bags we carry are made from recycled plastics here in the USA as part of our Green Way brand of Eco-friendly packaging.

You can learn how to make these mats in the second video below by St. Paul’s Lutheran Church of Chicago. See more pictures of recycled plastic sleeping mats.

What a tremendous idea to reuse these bags to help the less fortunate! Watch how Operation Green is making a difference with a simple plastic bag.

See more video how-to’s here.