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Trashy Art
by Sarah Elle
March 9th 2011
Trashy Bags goes beyond its factory at Dworzulu, and this time it has a new project: Trashy Art. I spent the morning at Kisseman, Accra, under a mango tree in a muddy school compound with a couple of teachers and too many kids, painting. Or, rather, teaching kids to paint.

It’s easy for 7 and 10 year-olds who haven’t had the chance to use paints or brushes before to get really, really excited (“Prince, don’t smash the paint brush, now, use it gently…”), and the challenge of teaching is    
Trashy Bags sews the student artwork into change purses, which are then sold to benefit the schools. In the case of the school in Kisseman (the Global Ghana Youth Network), proceeds go to fund a breakfast program for the kids; in others, it goes to pay for children’s school fees. For more information, please see www.africanartstands.wordpress.com.
The project is a lot of fun—for the kids, the volunteers, and especially me. Children love the chance to create art, and art supplies are usually too expensive for local schools to buy.

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Trashy Messenger Bag - recycled plastic shoulder bag Copyright Tommaso Galli - 2009. From the showroom of Trashy Bags - making bags from recycled plastic

This is Anas. Now meet the rest of the workers...

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Fantastic in Plastic Copyright Tommaso Galli - 2009 Copyright Paula Barron - 2009. Modelling recycled plastic messenger bag in California

Trashy Bags is a social enterprise based in Accra, Ghana that makes recycled eco-friendly bags and gifts from plastic trash.

We employ over sixty local people to collect, clean and stitch plastic trash in the form of sachets that have been previously used to contain drinking water and other drinks, into fashionable and useful bags and other products.  Plastic sachets have become a big problem across Africa because of the lack of recycling initiatives and waste management infrastructure.

Trashy Bags is leading the way in sustainable development in Africa in the area of plastic recycling and we have collected and recycled approximately 20 million plastic sachets since we started in 2007. Every month nearly 200,000 plastic sachets are being collected and brought to Trashy Bags by a network of people who are obtaining an income from their efforts.

We make over 350 different variations of 23 standard lines of product.  Our product list includes laptop bags, messenger bags, tote bags, vanity cases, backpacks, sports holdalls, purses, hats, wallets, water bottle holders and shopping bags for everyday use.  We make designer products which have been designed in-house by our own workers and given names that are unique to our range. These include Sankofa, Mama Africa, Moonlight, Home Sweet Home, Fish Bag and Obaapa.  

even bigger because some of the students’ understanding of English is rudimentary. (“What color is this?…no, not yellow, blue, and this? yes! yellow! Now, if you mix yellow, here, and blue, here, what color does it make…?”) Luckily, their teacher, Sylvester, and another volunteer are helping me doll out paint and give the kids the material to paint on: reclaimed water sachets.
Trashy Bags is coordinating with a dozen Ghanaian elementary schools (with the help of local after school arts and creativity organization, Child’s Cry Foundation International) to bring art, environmental education, and funding to kids across the Greater Accra and Akosombo regions.            

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Fantastic in Plastic is a fun documentary film about a very special day at Trashy Bags.  It was produced for the Environmental Film Festival of Accra and was premiered on June 6th 2010

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