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My sister uses plastic bags to crochet water barrier pads for homeless. I've used them to knit outdoor seating and door mats as well as pads for my dog's water and food bowls. I've also used old tshirts, both sewn and knitted, for bags. Lots of ways to recycle, but i always enjoy your videos.
I started making/sewing these kinda bags few years ago, but I sew up old cloth (fabric) for a lining inside my bags. I feel like it helps the cloths get a second chance at life and not just end up in landfill. I also iron bags add fabrics to tops like old blanket, and make weather proof mattress for local homeless people in my area. I just leave them in my front yard with sign and the number of ppl that are so appreciated over something that only takes few hours to makes a bunch. Its about helping other but also saving our world!!
Hi folks - love this, I made a few wallets from your fused plastic video and linked pattern. I also crochet with 'plarn', yarn made from plastic bags. That's good to use up the thinner plastic carrier bags and soft plastic bread bags.
Thank you so much for mentioning the carbon footprint! I understand the need to reduce/replace plastic, but all angles of the problem should be considered intead of just going 'paper good, plastic bad'.
Isn't one of the problems with plastic breaking down into particles that they become small enough to end up in the food chain? The plastic doesn't get composted, even when it becomes an accidental part of the compost pile.
Been a leathersmith for years now, and I enjoy repurposing leather items, but I'd love to try making bags, wallets, etc like this! And also the combs to go with my beard products! Very awesome of you guys, so glad I came across your channel!
Always love watching your videos, I make totes out of scrap fabric and old clothes to recycle them and they are really strong and you can wash them too. I love recycling and have taught kids in school how important it is. One thing you forgot to mention about the paper bags,is that they kill the trees which give us clean air by using the CO2 and giving the O2. Thanks a lot.
While they do harvest trees for paper, almost everyplace that isn't just clear cutting for the land to be used for something else will be replanting those trees and coming back to harvest those same replanted trees later. As it's cheaper to replant fast growing trees than find/buy new land to harvest from, it makes good business sense, plus there are various certifications for sustainable harvesting that can be had. Trees are a renewable resource (if not as fast of one as cotton), so the focus more on how much C02 is produced in the processing is the better metric to focus on.
Some trees can grow back more easily and quickly by leaving a strong stump. I'm not claiming to be an expert, and maybe none of the companies are doing it, but the stumps will send up "shoots" and each stump and be good for tree pulp.
Have you considered using leatherwork tools for strap cutting and bag designs? I imagine you could use a clicker press/die to make repeatable cuts of varying design products and a flat iron could be used to fuse small seams. Just an idea to possibly streamline.
Hi chaps - I'd love to see a project with those horrible plastic nets that lemons and onions come in from the supermarket You're great, been following you for a long time - keep it up x
@@BrothersMake Perhaps the mesh bags could be used as an interleave layer for reinforcement/strength, and if stretched out, the other bag material may 'melt' into the open spaces of the mesh. Just a thought - I may go and experiment with this myself and let you know!
@@BrothersMake Thanks for the reply - there's 2 types, there's the 'solid' plastic mesh for onions and the 'multi-fibre' ones for lemons etc. do you know type of plastic they each are? I'm sure there must be something we can do with them?
Sew the bottom of the bag sides making one long piece. Fold it together. Fold up the bottom two inches to make a 4 in bottom. See down both sides over the fold. Flip it right side out and sew along the bottom edge. It will make a nice bag that stands up and you don’t have to cut out those little squares. No waste.
@@gallardoranch5129 Sure. It's so much more convenient than carrying the bags in your hand. And there is no other way, for example, when shopping on a bicycle that has no luggage rack.
My grocery store banned backpacks because of shoplifting, if I try to walk in with a bag the security guard makes me put it in the office and I can't get it back until after buying my stuff. Fry's was the first but now more and more stores are not allowing backpacks in the store. They don't care that I take the bus or that I was coming from a class, all backpack carriers are potential shoplifters so they went zero tolerance.
@@-desertpackrat Yeah, that sucks. The few zero tolerance shops in my area at least have lockers. Here's a tip: Watch closely what the security guard is doing. Does he let women with (big) handbags in? What about the granny with her trolley? If yes, ask the manager why these potential shoplifters get treated differently. Ask him if he has heard of this little thing called "equal rights". Or ask yourself how much you really need to go to this shop...
Over here every shop sells very cheap “reusable” super thick not at all degradable bags that people end up throwing out with rubbish. Id rather plastic stayed super thin at least creates less garbage. Cotton bags on the other hand aren’t very bun liner friendly so people end up donating them at worst. Eventually 1-2 bags is all you need for daily needs which is gonna pay for it’s emissions within a year, while they could last a decade and are infinitely reparable if desired while still staying biodegradable
Awesome idea. Judging from many of the reusable cotton bags that I have used...the thread/sewing is your weakest link, not the handle like most of my bags. I eventually put more than I should by weight or size into my bags. These will take it. Thank you. The thread will probably be the first thing to let go.
First of all, love what you guys do. You said that it's a tarp like material at the end of the video. And now I'm thinking that it would be awesome if you could make a tarp out of recycled plastic.
Awesome way to use bags again and always you do make something incredible . If more people thought like ya'll we wouldn't need too many landfills because most everything can be recycled . For the home person they need more ways to reuse or recycle in order for it to make a real change . 90 % of most people's garbage gets buried , thrown out on an abandoned road or tossed in our oceans . Thanks, brothers, for helping make a change :)
RE: degradability of plastic bags; Being across the pond as it were, you’ve probably never seen a plastic bag sitting in the hot sun for a couple of months. After sitting in the sun, a plastic sack becomes very brittle and breaks apart when touched. Having lived in the American southwest for many decades, I have, unfortunately, seen many instances of plastic sacks clogging chain-link fences, scrub brush, pinion trees and any other barrier to prevent them from being blown away. One summer in the hot desert sun will disintegrate a plastic bag. Plastic buried in a landfill won’t break down or disintegrate as fast. I don’t know exactly what your average cloud cover is offhand but would suggest that as an experiment, you leave a plastic bag on the dashboard of your car and see how fast it disintegrates. Alternatively, tape a plastic sack to a board, (or between two wire racks) and leave it on the back porch or other location which gets lots of sunlight.
Leaving it on your dashboard would make it degrade quicker anyway due to the heat through the glass. But here in the UK the weather doesn't usually get very hot. We occasionally get a 38c (100.4°F) day once in a while but our average is usually around 9C- 18C (48°F - 64°f). I think it would last a lot longer here. But your suggestions are great for places that are lucky enough to get heat :)
This is excellent! I've been working on plastic bag recycling at home with my iron, but I always run into the problem of the sheets not lying flat and getting warped in unpredictable ways. Once I have the space I'm gonna look into getting a used t-shirt press!
I am confused - why did you/they not just leave it as one big rectangle folded in half (so no bottom seam needed)? I would have double sewn the seams (but maybe I am jsut a very traditional sewer).
I reuse my thick plastic bags, but we recently found a ton of plastic bags we can iron together for stuff like this. Paper bags suck, it's always the paper ones that break in those broken grocery bag gags. I only buy the genuine reusable ones if they're good quality. Plastic lasts forever, we might as well use the same plastic bags forever.
I think the more important metric of durability is how well the item is made. There are a wide range of "reusable" cheap bags out there that die after about 10 uses, where as most canvas type cloth bags will hold up to decades of constant use and can even be laundered, and if they ever do wear down, they can be patched or used in other projects.
Being able to launder a bag is important. For bags that need a quick wipe, we could just use thick plastic. Another factor upcycling. We'll probably never want to use plastic for clothing, so turning denim clothes into washable bags is a good way to go. An interesting thing is being able to dispose of any kind of single use bag. I've seen cloth bags be used for take out food. They were used once and then thrown away. That should have gone to a facility for sorting.
You can always un-knot knots on plastic bags...take the edge, curl it like you would curl a strand of your hair (you know, when you're playing with your hair unconsciously?) and when its a harder twist, push it in towards the knot :)
Well done as always lads I think it's a really cool idea and looked awesome, do you think this this is something that would find it's way into the BM online shop?? Also my offer still stands that when either of you take a holiday I'd step in as honorary brother 😆 Can't wait till the next video but for now I'll just wait to get involved in a comment war with the trolls lol
Thanks Davey G! And we were actually talking about this the other day funnily enough. I think they'd be hard to produce at scale with our setup, but we'd definitely consider making small runs of them and putting them up for sale. Ah, we should have called you - certainly could have done with your help this week! Only 2-weeks until the next one pal. So until then, continue doing what you do best - we always enjoy reading your comments 😅
I'm late to the party (always) but am wondering about the handles. I'm wondering why you didn't overlap the white handles while you were laying them on the already- fused black trash bags. It seems like it would have been stronger than having spaces that were only fused trash bag between the spaces that included the old handles. Does that make any sense? 🙃 I would love to try making these. Thanks for showing us how! 🙋🏽♀️
I am having so much fun making these!! I did have a few questions for Kev! What sewing needle do you use on your sewing machine for this thick plastic?
Hi, we are in bali and want to make a table top out of plastic bags for a restaurant we frequent. We are hoping that if we can make it using simple tools and methods, the other locals will follow our example. We leave bali in about 3 months, so hope to hear from you soon.
Well done brothers, you've done it again! It's great to see you highlighting the fact you need to look deeper into the total cost of the carbon footprint rather then at face value. This project would also be great to include plastic mailing bags, as I never know what to do with them. Also do you think bubble wrap would work as 'filler' material?
I think plastic mailing bags would work just fine. We’ll see if we can incorporate some into a future project. Bubble wrap is an interesting one as well. We’ll for sure test that out
@@BrothersMake oh man those things keep on going though (I run a 3D printing business). If you pick up an ABS like resin you’ll be surprised the small and robust parts you could make with it. I know it’s not plastic recycling but for anything detailed or prototyping it’s a fantastic tool
Next step might be to try and design a bag "What don't need no Kev". Heatseal the edges with the tshirt press. Might require two longer rectangles that overlap somehow - dunno? Jus thinkin out loud. It's a lovely bag you've made!!
Hey, I know I am late to the party on finding your channel, I am curious as to whether your laminated plastic bags would be proficient for a shower curtain. Is it flexible enough and waterproof enough to keep as long term solution for not needing to buy a plastic sheet?
You could probably reduce the amount of time it takes to cut open the bags by mounting a simple razor blade in a jig. If you design something similar to how fabric is guided into a sewing machine, you could just pull the bags through the blade.
I like this and am going to try my hand at making the process continuous. We get inundated with this fake plastic "woven fabric" (PLA fibers) bags and I think it would be pretty cool to turn them into actual grocery bags people can use more or less indefinitely and I or any other maker could patch almost indefinitely
Bro, well made cotton bags are generational (i use one that was my grandmother's) . No plastic comes close. Even the best eventually become brittle and unusable, especially in the sun.
Brothers, I thought that different plastic had to be melted at different temperatures. So is it still safe to use the press on several kinds of plastic at the same time?
Worst bag I've ever had, I don't even know what it was made of but it blew me away: It sat in my spare room holding some stuff for a period of time. One day, I went in to tidy old stuff away, grabbed the bag and it turned to dust in my hand. In the time it'd been sitting there, the molecular structure had completely broken down, and yet it still stayed in it's shape, as if nothing was wrong, frozen in time.... until the moment I grabbed it and it just turned to dust. Can anyone explain this to me?!?!?
I think this is an awesome project and a good way to reuse the plastic already made into disposable bags, but I do think the math was a but misleading here. When you consider all the individual bags used in making this one, the carbon footprint goes up A LOT and I don't think the reusability of the bag is much better than a cotton one (which is also repairable and reusable as material for a new bag). Great idea... but if you are gonna do any math, you should do all of it before claiming the plastic bag is the "best."
Yes that’s fair, you’d have to factor in the multiple bags used. However, if these bags were all destined for landfill and this provides a new use for them, then essentially we have sequestered the carbon. I do agree that cotton bags are repairable, but possibly not as accessibly. All good points though!
Please work out a way to cover exercise books with recycled plastic?! I've looked for ages, trying to find someone who has done this, but alas.... nothing yet.
Something is wrong with the audio. I feel like you were trying to remove a lot of background noise and it cut into the speech making it sound degraded.
Guys, the information you provided in the start of the video concerning carbon footprint is entirely misleading, and I get the feeling it isn't your genuine information. Did you get that from somewhere else? It sounds like oil company shenanigans. Each category has an entirely different set of criteria for measuring how much carbon is produced. For plastic, you only start counting carbon at the factory, but for cotton you started counting at the farm. The data is skewed in the direction of plastic. If it were more honest it would consider the entire carbon footprint, starting at the source. Cotton and paper actually trap carbon during the growing phase. Plastic comes from oil and not only does it not trap carbon, but it introduces new carbon into our reality, making more available for pollution. Not to mention the destruction of the earth required to get the oil, the pollution and human rights violations involved and the general shit nature of the oil industry. I understand that this truth doesn't get people excited about recycling plastic bags, but don't be misleading for the sake of profit or attention. Otherwise though, your videos are great. Thanks for teaching us stuff.
@@BrothersMake that's good then. I'd love to be doing this kind of thing. I've got a reasonable sized garage and really like the idea of doing something worthwhile like you're doing. You guys are ace
I guarantee I know exactly why people are careless with these bags, and it all boils down to recycling, and any money you get for them For the price of the items rhat are put in those bags it's not worth just giving those bags away for free When so many people are hurting financially, and they need money . We shouldn't keep giving away our recyclables when we paid good money for the groceries and stuff that goes in our recyclables . That right there is why I'd rather put my recyclables in the trash, because you know you're only going to keep and reaching these recycling companies that don't want to pay for your stuff. You can work your hardest to collect recyclables, and all you get is peanuts for all that hard work be charging storage fees for storing recyclables on your property For the time it takes to collect enough to recycle . The sad truth is you drop off the recyclables and they just take them before paying you and then they decide how much they want to give you. When you get paid for recycling, it's usually not much unless you've got some big ticket items. That's why some people who used to recycle no longer do. One friend was collecting cans and then quit because it just didn't pay. I think they were also helping Someone else who was also collecting cans , but there comes a time to just toss them in the trash when you realize it It ain't worth it . I guarantee if I was in the of someone collect everyday recyclables, I'm not giving one single can if recycling centers aren't willing to pay . We need to treat them just like any place that won't give us the merchandise if we're not willing to pay the price. If those recycling centers aren't willing to pay the asking price, they don't get it . When you go to a store and you see a price on something and you're not willing to pay that price, you don't get that item . The same rule should be for those recycling centers . We need to set a reasonable price for storage, The items that go into those bags and the cost of transportation along with what we had to go through to get to that store and then back home. We need to crack down on these recycling centers and start setting prices and boundaries , even if it means switching to reusable containers Switching to reusable containers hits recycling centers in the pocketbook, but it's up to us to have stuff handy that we're willing to use and actually remember to take them to the stores with us. Some stores actually have a reward for bringing your own bag, which is what I personally would opt for. This is why you should actually be prepared before leaving for the store and don't just stop off at the store on a whim. Remember, it's the people keeping those recycling centers open and we can just as easily shut them down by just not using them. One time years ago I had a foot problem and needed the help of a bicycle that later needed repair. I was trying to collect enough recyclables to raise enough money to be able to cover that repair. Despite everything I collected, all I got was a dollar and a penny . Thank God the bike shop that was around back then Was understanding and actually ended up giving me a bike because mine needed far more work than I could afford and he knew I needed something right then . This was an emergency thing, so I ended up riding home on a bike spare bike he had handy and trading mine in. My foot problem eventually cleared up on its own, but it took a while. What I learned from what I went through during one of my lowest times is that recycling centers just don't pay. Then sometime years later there was another friend saving cans for money and Then sometime years later there was another friend saving cans for money and I guess recycling paid better over in a neighboring town . You're actually best to just not save those plastics either, and to just put them in with the rest of the trash. It wouldn't even be a bad idea if you're walking by and just Bring home some recyclables and put them in with your trash, because you know those recycling centers who pick up your recyclables off the curb will never pay you. I guarantee recyclers who are hurting financially now would probably not have been hurting financially all along If recycling centers paid fair in consideration for what we have to go through and the prices we pay for the stuff that goes in those bags, more people would probably want to recycle. We need to opt for stuff that doesn't ever need to be recycled. We must also consider bringing back repair shops such as shoe repair and repair shops that will actually repair other everyday items instead of those items landing in the landfill or at the recycling center. There used to be electronics repair shops locally back in the old days, we need to bring them back
This is the issue when you centre the issue around money. Recycling is expensive, and when compared to virgin plastic in terms of cost only, it will never win. But just because something is expensive doesn’t mean it isn’t worth doing. The cost to the planet environmentally is more important to us. This is why we take the hit in terms of collecting, cleaning and storing out material ready for use. We could double/triple or more our profit margins if we switched to virgin plastic, but we don’t because it promotes the use of more fossil fuels.
Not everyone has either an iron or a Tshirt press😅😅😂🤣. I’m here in Mexico trying to figure out how to repurpose all the bags I’ve collected into something useful in a world that’s not quite recycling plastic. 🥲
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My sister uses plastic bags to crochet water barrier pads for homeless. I've used them to knit outdoor seating and door mats as well as pads for my dog's water and food bowls. I've also used old tshirts, both sewn and knitted, for bags. Lots of ways to recycle, but i always enjoy your videos.
That’s a cool idea! We’ll have to explore that :)
I bought a knitting loom, do you think using plarn would work well to make a bag?
I started making/sewing these kinda bags few years ago, but I sew up old cloth (fabric) for a lining inside my bags. I feel like it helps the cloths get a second chance at life and not just end up in landfill. I also iron bags add fabrics to tops like old blanket, and make weather proof mattress for local homeless people in my area. I just leave them in my front yard with sign and the number of ppl that are so appreciated over something that only takes few hours to makes a bunch. Its about helping other but also saving our world!!
I'd love to get a pattern for the mattress!
If the plastic melting was not so toxic I would do the same!
Hi folks - love this, I made a few wallets from your fused plastic video and linked pattern. I also crochet with 'plarn', yarn made from plastic bags. That's good to use up the thinner plastic carrier bags and soft plastic bread bags.
Awesome! We’d like to experiment with plarn for sure
Thank you so much for mentioning the carbon footprint! I understand the need to reduce/replace plastic, but all angles of the problem should be considered intead of just going 'paper good, plastic bad'.
Precisely! Thanks for watching!
Isn't one of the problems with plastic breaking down into particles that they become small enough to end up in the food chain? The plastic doesn't get composted, even when it becomes an accidental part of the compost pile.
Been a leathersmith for years now, and I enjoy repurposing leather items, but I'd love to try making bags, wallets, etc like this! And also the combs to go with my beard products! Very awesome of you guys, so glad I came across your channel!
Interesting fact: I've been using leather cutting dies to cut shapes out of thin plastic sheets using a Sissix die cutter machine.
Always love watching your videos, I make totes out of scrap fabric and old clothes to recycle them and they are really strong and you can wash them too. I love recycling and have taught kids in school how important it is. One thing you forgot to mention about the paper bags,is that they kill the trees which give us clean air by using the CO2 and giving the O2. Thanks a lot.
While they do harvest trees for paper, almost everyplace that isn't just clear cutting for the land to be used for something else will be replanting those trees and coming back to harvest those same replanted trees later. As it's cheaper to replant fast growing trees than find/buy new land to harvest from, it makes good business sense, plus there are various certifications for sustainable harvesting that can be had. Trees are a renewable resource (if not as fast of one as cotton), so the focus more on how much C02 is produced in the processing is the better metric to focus on.
@@SomeoneElse-z4tYou make a good point about harvesting from the same place. They won't have to rebuild roads.
Some trees can grow back more easily and quickly by leaving a strong stump. I'm not claiming to be an expert, and maybe none of the companies are doing it, but the stumps will send up "shoots" and each stump and be good for tree pulp.
Extra tip for those wanting to try this: cereal bags are HDPE! Or, they are wax paper.
Does that mean they are also useable?
Have you considered using leatherwork tools for strap cutting and bag designs? I imagine you could use a clicker press/die to make repeatable cuts of varying design products and a flat iron could be used to fuse small seams. Just an idea to possibly streamline.
That's a sturdy beautiful grocery shopping bag! It seems like I'd need a heavy duty sewing machine if I were to make one myself.
Hi chaps - I'd love to see a project with those horrible plastic nets that lemons and onions come in from the supermarket
You're great, been following you for a long time - keep it up x
We tried using them in a project like this before, but they didn’t fuse with anything frustratingly. We’ll certainly keep trying though
@@BrothersMake Perhaps the mesh bags could be used as an interleave layer for reinforcement/strength, and if stretched out, the other bag material may 'melt' into the open spaces of the mesh. Just a thought - I may go and experiment with this myself and let you know!
Nice idea! Like a reinforcing mesh
@@BrothersMake Thanks for the reply - there's 2 types, there's the 'solid' plastic mesh for onions and the 'multi-fibre' ones for lemons etc. do you know type of plastic they each are? I'm sure there must be something we can do with them?
Sew the bottom of the bag sides making one long piece. Fold it together. Fold up the bottom two inches to make a 4 in bottom. See down both sides over the fold. Flip it right side out and sew along the bottom edge. It will make a nice bag that stands up and you don’t have to cut out those little squares. No waste.
I'm getting a heat press to try out this project at home, I plan on using the many soft plastic bags and mailers amazon has been sending me.
I have a farmfoods freezer bag from 2020, it still holds up incredibly well, very sturdy bag for £1
Here's a revolutionary idea: BUY ONE GOOD BACKPACK AND USE IT INSTEAD OF BAGS. Been doing so for more than 3 decades - still using the same backpack.
Not bad advice! But I guess a backpack isn’t always convenient for people. I’ve had mine for almost 20 years myself :)
Backpack for grocery shopping?
@@gallardoranch5129 Sure. It's so much more convenient than carrying the bags in your hand. And there is no other way, for example, when shopping on a bicycle that has no luggage rack.
My grocery store banned backpacks because of shoplifting, if I try to walk in with a bag the security guard makes me put it in the office and I can't get it back until after buying my stuff. Fry's was the first but now more and more stores are not allowing backpacks in the store. They don't care that I take the bus or that I was coming from a class, all backpack carriers are potential shoplifters so they went zero tolerance.
@@-desertpackrat Yeah, that sucks. The few zero tolerance shops in my area at least have lockers. Here's a tip: Watch closely what the security guard is doing. Does he let women with (big) handbags in? What about the granny with her trolley? If yes, ask the manager why these potential shoplifters get treated differently. Ask him if he has heard of this little thing called "equal rights". Or ask yourself how much you really need to go to this shop...
Over here every shop sells very cheap “reusable” super thick not at all degradable bags that people end up throwing out with rubbish. Id rather plastic stayed super thin at least creates less garbage. Cotton bags on the other hand aren’t very bun liner friendly so people end up donating them at worst. Eventually 1-2 bags is all you need for daily needs which is gonna pay for it’s emissions within a year, while they could last a decade and are infinitely reparable if desired while still staying biodegradable
A great job, thank you, I'll sure try it some day! Discovered your channel from France.
Best video yet!!! Now we know the truth about bags thanks to you.
Great job guys 🔥
Awesome idea. Judging from many of the reusable cotton bags that I have used...the thread/sewing is your weakest link, not the handle like most of my bags. I eventually put more than I should by weight or size into my bags. These will take it. Thank you. The thread will probably be the first thing to let go.
First of all, love what you guys do.
You said that it's a tarp like material at the end of the video. And now I'm thinking that it would be awesome if you could make a tarp out of recycled plastic.
Awesome way to use bags again and always you do make something incredible . If more people thought like ya'll we wouldn't need too many landfills because most everything can be recycled . For the home person they need more ways to reuse or recycle in order for it to make a real change . 90 % of most people's garbage gets buried , thrown out on an abandoned road or tossed in our oceans . Thanks, brothers, for helping make a change :)
Thanks for watching! Appreciate the comment 🤙🏽
RE: degradability of plastic bags; Being across the pond as it were, you’ve probably never seen a plastic bag sitting in the hot sun for a couple of months. After sitting in the sun, a plastic sack becomes very brittle and breaks apart when touched. Having lived in the American southwest for many decades, I have, unfortunately, seen many instances of plastic sacks clogging chain-link fences, scrub brush, pinion trees and any other barrier to prevent them from being blown away. One summer in the hot desert sun will disintegrate a plastic bag. Plastic buried in a landfill won’t break down or disintegrate as fast. I don’t know exactly what your average cloud cover is offhand but would suggest that as an experiment, you leave a plastic bag on the dashboard of your car and see how fast it disintegrates. Alternatively, tape a plastic sack to a board, (or between two wire racks) and leave it on the back porch or other location which gets lots of sunlight.
Leaving it on your dashboard would make it degrade quicker anyway due to the heat through the glass.
But here in the UK the weather doesn't usually get very hot. We occasionally get a 38c (100.4°F) day once in a while but our average is usually around 9C- 18C (48°F - 64°f). I think it would last a lot longer here. But your suggestions are great for places that are lucky enough to get heat :)
Doesn’t that create a bunch of micro plastics though?
UV radiation plays hell with plastic
@@droppedpastaofcourse, sadly plastic doesn't just dissapear.
Plus emissions @@droppedpasta
This is excellent! I've been working on plastic bag recycling at home with my iron, but I always run into the problem of the sheets not lying flat and getting warped in unpredictable ways. Once I have the space I'm gonna look into getting a used t-shirt press!
Once you have ironed them, try putting a thin layer of plastic on them, and then place a book on the outer protective layer.
A heavy weight after each press really helps!
I am confused - why did you/they not just leave it as one big rectangle folded in half (so no bottom seam needed)? I would have double sewn the seams (but maybe I am jsut a very traditional sewer).
Because this way we have a little more structure to the bag and it has a wider bottom to hold larger items
@@BrothersMake thank you! hmm I have to figure out why the corner cut-outs procedure would not work unless there was a seam at the bottom.....
LCA’s all show that the “single use” plastic carrier is by far the best option for the environment.
I just find everything you do so incredible. My best friend bought me glasses and your comb and I love them xx
Awesome! So glad you like them :)
I reuse my thick plastic bags, but we recently found a ton of plastic bags we can iron together for stuff like this. Paper bags suck, it's always the paper ones that break in those broken grocery bag gags. I only buy the genuine reusable ones if they're good quality. Plastic lasts forever, we might as well use the same plastic bags forever.
CONSIDER HEMP CANVAS or lighter weight for veg bags.
Much better carbon, biodegradable and 20 times stronger
I love all junk crafts. These brothers are awesome. Thank you for your channel ❤❤
Love yous guys 🙏, and all the work you do 👏👏👏. 😎
I think the more important metric of durability is how well the item is made. There are a wide range of "reusable" cheap bags out there that die after about 10 uses, where as most canvas type cloth bags will hold up to decades of constant use and can even be laundered, and if they ever do wear down, they can be patched or used in other projects.
Being able to launder a bag is important. For bags that need a quick wipe, we could just use thick plastic.
Another factor upcycling. We'll probably never want to use plastic for clothing, so turning denim clothes into washable bags is a good way to go.
An interesting thing is being able to dispose of any kind of single use bag. I've seen cloth bags be used for take out food. They were used once and then thrown away. That should have gone to a facility for sorting.
You can always un-knot knots on plastic bags...take the edge, curl it like you would curl a strand of your hair (you know, when you're playing with your hair unconsciously?) and when its a harder twist, push it in towards the knot :)
electric griddle and wood top works great as well
Greetings from Russia, thanks for the positive videos.
Well done as always lads I think it's a really cool idea and looked awesome, do you think this this is something that would find it's way into the BM online shop??
Also my offer still stands that when either of you take a holiday I'd step in as honorary brother 😆
Can't wait till the next video but for now I'll just wait to get involved in a comment war with the trolls lol
Thanks Davey G! And we were actually talking about this the other day funnily enough. I think they'd be hard to produce at scale with our setup, but we'd definitely consider making small runs of them and putting them up for sale. Ah, we should have called you - certainly could have done with your help this week!
Only 2-weeks until the next one pal. So until then, continue doing what you do best - we always enjoy reading your comments 😅
I'm late to the party (always) but am wondering about the handles. I'm wondering why you didn't overlap the white handles while you were laying them on the already- fused black trash bags. It seems like it would have been stronger than having spaces that were only fused trash bag between the spaces that included the old handles. Does that make any sense? 🙃 I would love to try making these. Thanks for showing us how! 🙋🏽♀️
Very nice 👍 love the way you guys made that so awesome !
Well done🎉
Thanks!
I am having so much fun making these!! I did have a few questions for Kev! What sewing needle do you use on your sewing machine for this thick plastic?
i love it. i don't have a tshirt press but would love to try this
Nice bag 👍 from me. I was going to make these myself well done guys
Thanks so much 😊
youtube on the guy making new bags they cut heat together weave on machine cut sew handles really neat o
Hi, we are in bali and want to make a table top out of plastic bags for a restaurant we frequent. We are hoping that if we can make it using simple tools and methods, the other locals will follow our example. We leave bali in about 3 months, so hope to hear from you soon.
That bag looks like it could carry 5 wine bottles and be perfectly fine
ive ben here since 4 likes on the vid very early actually good job you the 2 brothers and the rest of the team
Thanks for getting here so early! Glad you enjoyed it 🤙🏼
@@BrothersMake no problem you all
Idea! Turning hdpe into perler or fuseable beads for art projects! Ive been looking online for some and cant find any
Can you guys shred the plastic bags using the shredder machine you have? Or does that only work for harder plastics?
Only for harder I’m afraid. The bags get caught round the teeth
Brilliant show. Thank you
Thanks for watching!
Well done brothers, you've done it again! It's great to see you highlighting the fact you need to look deeper into the total cost of the carbon footprint rather then at face value. This project would also be great to include plastic mailing bags, as I never know what to do with them. Also do you think bubble wrap would work as 'filler' material?
I think plastic mailing bags would work just fine. We’ll see if we can incorporate some into a future project. Bubble wrap is an interesting one as well. We’ll for sure test that out
Great video and information! That poor Elegoo Saturn unloved on the shelf though 😢 3:36
It’s an Elegoo Mars that was gifted to us, but we haven’t found a use for yet
@@BrothersMake oh man those things keep on going though (I run a 3D printing business). If you pick up an ABS like resin you’ll be surprised the small and robust parts you could make with it. I know it’s not plastic recycling but for anything detailed or prototyping it’s a fantastic tool
Next step might be to try and design a bag "What don't need no Kev". Heatseal the edges with the tshirt press. Might require two longer rectangles that overlap somehow - dunno? Jus thinkin out loud. It's a lovely bag you've made!!
Thank you! A ‘Kevless’ bag is a good idea! We’ll experiment
sew i was busy with some computer work thought of this could the bags b use for set comes of any kind ?????????????????????
You guys rock!
Hey, I know I am late to the party on finding your channel, I am curious as to whether your laminated plastic bags would be proficient for a shower curtain. Is it flexible enough and waterproof enough to keep as long term solution for not needing to buy a plastic sheet?
You could probably reduce the amount of time it takes to cut open the bags by mounting a simple razor blade in a jig. If you design something similar to how fabric is guided into a sewing machine, you could just pull the bags through the blade.
That’s not a bad idea at all!
Iam from sudan and I love you
Thank you!
I like this and am going to try my hand at making the process continuous. We get inundated with this fake plastic "woven fabric" (PLA fibers) bags and I think it would be pretty cool to turn them into actual grocery bags people can use more or less indefinitely and I or any other maker could patch almost indefinitely
Definitely give it a go! It would be great to see another persons take on our bag 🤙🏽
You should make a vest out of one of those.
I have a question, please . What's the boiling point of plastic, and how can you make plastic with a silver colour and with a cooper colour .
Great video. Thanks for saving our planet. Will the new T-shirt press replace the old Panini press? It seems to be much larger. ❤❤❤
It only heats on one side, so does work for our other plastic projects but it can be a lot slower. So the panini press isn’t going anywhere :)
@@BrothersMake Ah good to know! 🙏🙏🙏❤️
Where did you get the weight pad you used?
Bro, well made cotton bags are generational (i use one that was my grandmother's) . No plastic comes close. Even the best eventually become brittle and unusable, especially in the sun.
Mmmm, can you put the chip bag on the outside of this bag and make it look cute plus wirh the foil make it like a cooler bag?
I'm sad that you don't sell these bags on your shop 😢
Is there any danger from fumes while they're being heated?
Nope! We have a whole video on fume safety if you want to check it out
Brothers, I thought that different plastic had to be melted at different temperatures. So is it still safe to use the press on several kinds of plastic at the same time?
There are all LDPE bags
Thanks for the info, brothers!@@BrothersMake
But if you find a cotton bag in the resale shop then why not? You aren't ASKING for it to be made, it is already made.
Worst bag I've ever had, I don't even know what it was made of but it blew me away:
It sat in my spare room holding some stuff for a period of time. One day, I went in to tidy old stuff away, grabbed the bag and it turned to dust in my hand. In the time it'd been sitting there, the molecular structure had completely broken down, and yet it still stayed in it's shape, as if nothing was wrong, frozen in time.... until the moment I grabbed it and it just turned to dust.
Can anyone explain this to me?!?!?
Do you sell these bags? I'd love to purchase a few.
It's a bag full of bags.
First comme bro how to make plastick ice pick
Thanks for watching! And that's a great shout 👏
WHY ARENT WE FUNDING THIS!
I think this is an awesome project and a good way to reuse the plastic already made into disposable bags, but I do think the math was a but misleading here. When you consider all the individual bags used in making this one, the carbon footprint goes up A LOT and I don't think the reusability of the bag is much better than a cotton one (which is also repairable and reusable as material for a new bag).
Great idea... but if you are gonna do any math, you should do all of it before claiming the plastic bag is the "best."
Yes that’s fair, you’d have to factor in the multiple bags used. However, if these bags were all destined for landfill and this provides a new use for them, then essentially we have sequestered the carbon. I do agree that cotton bags are repairable, but possibly not as accessibly. All good points though!
@@BrothersMake I agree, it's a great way to extend the life cycle of the plastic and seems surprisingly easy. Thanks for showing us the process.
Please work out a way to cover exercise books with recycled plastic?! I've looked for ages, trying to find someone who has done this, but alas.... nothing yet.
I like to make rain coats out of plastic bags for the homeless
Something is wrong with the audio. I feel like you were trying to remove a lot of background noise and it cut into the speech making it sound degraded.
make a backpack out of plastic, it will be interesting)
It would be!
Hello, he is very handsome, I send you a loving heart ❤
💚♻️
i make and sell totes from oversized used T-shirts. is it bad? No ❤️
💖💖💖💖
Guys, the information you provided in the start of the video concerning carbon footprint is entirely misleading, and I get the feeling it isn't your genuine information. Did you get that from somewhere else? It sounds like oil company shenanigans. Each category has an entirely different set of criteria for measuring how much carbon is produced. For plastic, you only start counting carbon at the factory, but for cotton you started counting at the farm. The data is skewed in the direction of plastic. If it were more honest it would consider the entire carbon footprint, starting at the source. Cotton and paper actually trap carbon during the growing phase. Plastic comes from oil and not only does it not trap carbon, but it introduces new carbon into our reality, making more available for pollution. Not to mention the destruction of the earth required to get the oil, the pollution and human rights violations involved and the general shit nature of the oil industry. I understand that this truth doesn't get people excited about recycling plastic bags, but don't be misleading for the sake of profit or attention.
Otherwise though, your videos are great. Thanks for teaching us stuff.
Is your electricity bill astronomical?
Not even slightly
@@BrothersMake that's good then. I'd love to be doing this kind of thing. I've got a reasonable sized garage and really like the idea of doing something worthwhile like you're doing. You guys are ace
We started up in a single garage and built from there. Go get it!
Can you make ashtray from plastic?
Open embers and plastic aren’t a great combo!
yall turned a bag into a bag...
You got it!
I guarantee I know exactly why people are careless with these bags, and it all boils down to recycling, and any money you get for them
For the price of the items rhat are put in those bags it's not worth just giving those bags away for free When so many people are hurting financially, and they need money . We shouldn't keep giving away our recyclables when we paid good money for the groceries and stuff that goes in our recyclables . That right there is why I'd rather put my recyclables in the trash, because you know you're only going to keep and reaching these recycling companies that don't want to pay for your stuff. You can work your hardest to collect recyclables, and all you get is peanuts for all that hard work be charging storage fees for storing recyclables on your property For the time it takes to collect enough to recycle . The sad truth is you drop off the recyclables and they just take them before paying you and then they decide how much they want to give you. When you get paid for recycling, it's usually not much unless you've got some big ticket items. That's why some people who used to recycle no longer do. One friend was collecting cans and then quit because it just didn't pay. I think they were also helping Someone else who was also collecting cans , but there comes a time to just toss them in the trash when you realize it It ain't worth it . I guarantee if I was in the of someone collect everyday recyclables, I'm not giving one single can if recycling centers aren't willing to pay . We need to treat them just like any place that won't give us the merchandise if we're not willing to pay the price. If those recycling centers aren't willing to pay the asking price, they don't get it . When you go to a store and you see a price on something and you're not willing to pay that price, you don't get that item . The same rule should be for those recycling centers . We need to set a reasonable price for storage, The items that go into those bags and the cost of transportation along with what we had to go through to get to that store and then back home. We need to crack down on these recycling centers and start setting prices and boundaries , even if it means switching to reusable containers
Switching to reusable containers hits recycling centers in the pocketbook, but it's up to us to have stuff handy that we're willing to use and actually remember to take them to the stores with us. Some stores actually have a reward for bringing your own bag, which is what I personally would opt for. This is why you should actually be prepared before leaving for the store and don't just stop off at the store on a whim. Remember, it's the people keeping those recycling centers open and we can just as easily shut them down by just not using them. One time years ago I had a foot problem and needed the help of a bicycle that later needed repair. I was trying to collect enough recyclables to raise enough money to be able to cover that repair. Despite everything I collected, all I got was a dollar and a penny . Thank God the bike shop that was around back then Was understanding and actually ended up giving me a bike because mine needed far more work than I could afford and he knew I needed something right then . This was an emergency thing, so I ended up riding home on a bike spare bike he had handy and trading mine in. My foot problem eventually cleared up on its own, but it took a while. What I learned from what I went through during one of my lowest times is that recycling centers just don't pay. Then sometime years later there was another friend saving cans for money and Then sometime years later there was another friend saving cans for money and I guess recycling paid better over in a neighboring town . You're actually best to just not save those plastics either, and to just put them in with the rest of the trash. It wouldn't even be a bad idea if you're walking by and just Bring home some recyclables and put them in with your trash, because you know those recycling centers who pick up your recyclables off the curb will never pay you. I guarantee recyclers who are hurting financially now would probably not have been hurting financially all along
If recycling centers paid fair in consideration for what we have to go through and the prices we pay for the stuff that goes in those bags, more people would probably want to recycle. We need to opt for stuff that doesn't ever need to be recycled. We must also consider bringing back repair shops such as shoe repair and repair shops that will actually repair other everyday items instead of those items landing in the landfill or at the recycling center. There used to be electronics repair shops locally back in the old days, we need to bring them back
This is the issue when you centre the issue around money. Recycling is expensive, and when compared to virgin plastic in terms of cost only, it will never win.
But just because something is expensive doesn’t mean it isn’t worth doing. The cost to the planet environmentally is more important to us. This is why we take the hit in terms of collecting, cleaning and storing out material ready for use. We could double/triple or more our profit margins if we switched to virgin plastic, but we don’t because it promotes the use of more fossil fuels.
_Reduce._
_Reuse._
_ecyce_
Not everyone has either an iron or a Tshirt press😅😅😂🤣. I’m here in Mexico trying to figure out how to repurpose all the bags I’ve collected into something useful in a world that’s not quite recycling plastic. 🥲