Getting Crafty with Plastic Bags...

.

According to some estimates, between 500 billion and a trillion

plastic grocery bags are used globally each year..

There has been recently, in Europe, at least, a concerted effort by many individuals

and some foodstores to ban plastic bags.

Certainly an excellent move for the environment -

.

If, like me, you've well and truly kicked the plastic habit, chances are you may still

have a few floating around the place...

What better idea than to, either recycle these yourself, or, give them away

to help those a great deal less fortunate than ourselves,

particularly women with young children..?

My great friend, French fashion designer, Delphine Kohler

(see Mme Figaro press article)

runs a non-profit making association

les Filles du Facteur

(associated to NGOs in West Africa)

and one of their many, many activities is the recycling of plastic bags...

.

The income generated from the sale of products, both online and offline, is used

mainly for community educational projects both in the Paris

innercity suburbs and in * Burkina Faso...

.

Plastic bags can be deposited directly, or sent to:

(la Maison des Associations du 3ième arrondissement)

Filles du Facteur,

5 rue Perrée
75003 Paris

.

Clockwise from top: Bouquet of flowers in a vase, a penny purse,

floormats in black and multicoloured with flowered edging...

Portrait de Delphine Kohler,

à lire sur

lefigaro.fr madame

.

A djellabah crocheted from black plastic bags

.

Bathmat nearing completion

.

Balls of plastic bags cut into strips ready to crochet

.

Lady at work in Burkina Faso

.

Ladies at work in Paris

Pour tout savoir sur les Filles du Facteur, c'est
ici

Le premier Bidon

"Recycle le sac plastic"

est à la mairie du 3èm arrondissement de Paris (depuis le 9 février) pour

Les Filles du Facteur....

Les sacs récupérés sont découpés et crochetés par des femmes en difficulté

en banlieue parisienne et au Burkina Faso.

.

Elles fabriquent des objets en vente sur

ICI

.

envoyez ou déposez vos sacs plastique :
(la Maison des Associations du 3ième arrondissement)

Filles du Facteur,
5 rue Perrée

75003 Paris
.

merci de faire passer l'info
.

* Delphine is currently in West Africa, and, only last week, she visited the local orphanage

to donate money on behalf of the association to cover babyfood costs...

.

****Initiative génial au Niger :

Bâtir des routes avec des sacs plastiques: un autre exemple de recyclage

du "sachet" plastique au Niger, où Stéphane Blais

témoigne de la transformation au moindre cout du sac plastique

en pavé pour les routes..!

source de cette info.

Down Memory Lane...

.

"La fortune tient moins aux possessions accumulées

qu'à la capacité de vivre avec peu"

Mike Horn,

Objectif : pôle nord de nuit, 2007

Images: Baileys Home and Garden

.

"Fortune is less about accumulated possesions

than the capacity to live with little"

Mike Horn,
Objective : north pole by night, 2007

.

Most days I feel like I'm still in my 20's, if not my late teens,

so, being reminded that I am now more than 20 years past my 21st birthday

somehow comes as a bit of a shock - plus, by the end of the month

I'll be another year older..!

Anyway, what I'm leading to, is, that

it doesn't seem that long ago that I was an undergraduate,

house-sharing in London with a group of great friends from around the world.

It was seeing the storage boxes and baskets above, the other day on the

Baileys Home and Garden

website that brought back vivid memories of the rather "original"

interior decoration we created.

Made up, mostly, of a collection of hand-me-down bric à brac and zillions of

wine boxes, trunks and wicker baskets of all sizes and shapes

for storage - none of which we paid much for as we were impercunious, to say the least,

and much preferred to spend the little money we had on books, travel and

entertainment..!

Something old, something new...

.

Je n'attache pas une grande importance aux objets,

Je les aime, je les chine avec passion,

je les utilise, les mets en scène et puis

parfois je les offre...

.

Country Living

Cependant, certains
me suivent au gré de mes déménagements...
ils sont là ,
j'aime les retrouver...
..