The state of New York previously went through 23 billion plastic bags before banning them in 2020 and one designer is adjusting to this ban by repurposing single-use plastic bags destined for a landfill into a luxury tote. One leather factory in New York makes aNYbag luxury totes by hand using a 40-year-old loom utilizing wasteful single-use plastic bags into a reusable tote.
Of the billions of bags that were used throughout New York, a vast majority were never recycled. This use of recycled plastic waste questions whether banning plastic bags will result in people using less plastic and can inventions like this help to reduce plastic waste worldwide.
Owner of Park Avenue International since 1982, Pierre Dabagh, runs the factory and his son Alex was the one to come up with the idea for creating reusable totes made from single-use plastic bags. Pierre explains that his style is old-fashioned coming to the United States during the civil war in Lebanon and after working for five years he opened his own factory.
Pierre admits that at first, he thought Alex’s idea was a waste of time wondering, “Who’s going to buy garbage bags?” Alex thought of the idea one night when he was taking out the trash explaining he realized that one family’s garbage on a single week was a lot compounded with 8.5 million people living in New York.
The design and construction of the woven plastic was inspired by Alex’s design like a 10-by-6-foot carpet made of repurposed upcycled leather scraps that were remaining from the cutting-room floor. Alex figured if he could make a rug with this construction and design, he can make a reusable bag that took him six months of trial and error to create the final design.
The process starts with Alex’s team separating plastic bags by size and the factory already is equipped with the machinery needed to create the bag. To make the reusable plastic tote, workers use machinery for leather-good construction. The next step is using a heat sealer to fuse the bags together then cut them into long strips and spool the strips like yarn.
The plastic strips are then woven together using a traditional handloom using a combination of soft and hard materials. Alex explains at the beginning of manufacturing the bags, they started using all soft plastic bags like single-use bags from grocery stores but had a problem removing the material from the roll. The resulting roll of material wouldn’t stand up on its own that led Alex back to the drawing board to make a more durable bag.
Alex realized he needed to use some of the harder plastic bag material with the softer plastics that made the material stronger and more durable for use that can withstand the weight of at least 50-75 pounds. Then factory can make one bag every four hours with the final stages of production stitching on the handles and binding for a complete handbag.
Parker Avenue International’s aNYbag (short for ‘a New York bag’) is made of up to 95 plastic bags and the brand has sold nearly 300 aNYbags. In the beginning of operations, Alex collected plastic bags from friends and family that grew along with operations.
The factory collects up to 22 garbage bags filled with plastic bags over the collection rate of six months. The bag production utilizes nearly all sorts of single-use plastic bags including shipping materials, food containers, shopping bags, and more.
Alex has worked to scale up his project over the last year partnering with fashion retailers and elementary schools to collect their unwanted plastic waste for production. These partnerships helped Alex gain access to more than 8,000 pounds of material to work with and spread the popularity of the aNYbag.
Each aNYbag costs $133 that might seem like a steep price, but Alex markets the bag as a luxury item, and he says that the cost of the bag reflects the process of manufacturing it. The weaving process to create the material is time and cost-consuming especially operating in New York City, known for the high cost of living.
Many countries worldwide have or are considering a plastic ban to prevent trillions of plastic waste annually. New York might have banned plastic bags starting in October 2020, but they’re still found nearly everywhere as the law prevents large chains from offering plastic bags though there are exemptions like takeout food, prescription drugs, newspapers, and garment bags.
Enforcement of the plastic ban is rare with only 14 businesses fined a total of $27,250 thus far. Other states have started banning single-use plastic but enforcement will be the key to cutting down plastic waste and holding those responsible for making more waste that is nearly impossible to break down.
