Next steps for bag libraries

From the outset of this project, we knew that the idea of shopping bags you BORROW, and then BRING BACK, would take some getting used to.

All other bag libraries we've followed have had the same experience: bags are borrowed.. being brought back, less so!

(Perhaps especially with the sudden increase in 'reusable' bags being given away in a rush by companies to quickly replace their 'single use' plastic bags with (slightly) more durable alternatives, to appear to be doing the responsible thing.)

We're supper happy people love our bags, and want to keep reusing them! But the downside is that it's difficult to keep pace replacing them, so people can still access a good quality bag at times when they need them.

Due to the costs involved in making the bags (even with free materials and volunteers sewing them), and the time it takes to make them for our small pool of dedicated volunteers, we need to look at how we can continue the project in a sustainable way, to avoid burning out financially, or personally.

I've always believed that for every problem, there is a creative solution! So this is not a doom and gloom 'we cannot keep doing this' story. This is a 'pivot in direction' story.

Our Bought To Support bags are continuing to get great support from our stockists, and from people who visit the studio. The bags that we sell directly, mean that we can use the extra margin which usually goes to the stockist to help offset their costs, to offset the cost of making the Borrow and Bring Back bags... in short:

For each 'bought to support' bag we sell,
we can sponsor a 'borrow and bring' back bag!

This means we can continue to make bags which will be shared with the community, to help local organisations offer a free, quality reusable bag to their customers, where they have no other bag available.

To help keep up with demand, we will suggest to groups that they collect other reusable bags, such as the give-away ones, to add to the bag library stand. This will hopefully help to give the surplus bags lurking in draws, under chairs, and in cupboards their fair share of time in the sun shine, and avoid them being buried before their time.

This is beginning to happen at the bag library at Otago Farmers Market, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes.

We will be participating in the Autumn Harvest Festival at the Farmers Market, on the 11th May, and promoting the idea of 'buy one, donate one' - as well as giving a discount to people who trade in their 'borrow and bring back' bags for a 'bought to support bag they can keep forever with a clear conscious :)

I'm looking forward to 'releasing into the wild' some of our bags made by our busy volunteers, and meeting market goers to share the ideas behind the bag library; of shared community resources, local solutions and using practical skills to care for one another.