Designer bags created from single-use plastic bags discarded from stores and companies that want to join the circular economy. The bags are produced by hand by women in social and/or economic vulnerability, causing in turn, a positive impact on society, in addition to the environmental one.

◇ Objective:To revalue plastic bags by obtaining a product with a life cycle 100 times longer than the original Obtain a 100% recyclable multipurpose bag since at the end of its useful life it is conceived under the parameters of eco-design.

◇ Deadlines: Entrepreneurial initiative born in December 2021.

◇ Expected impacts: In the MARIA bag, 40 plastic handle bags are used* (*usual in greengrocers, bakeries or bazaars and taken only for reference). In the LOLA bag, 16 plastic handle bags are used. In the MAITE headphone bag, 2 plastic handle bags are used. AIXA bottle holder uses 4 plastic handle bags. In the ARIA cell phone holder, 3 plastic handle bags are used and, finally, in the ARIEL solid shampoo bag, 2 plastic handle bags are used. We have currently converted around 2,000 discarded plastic handle bags into multi-purpose bags.

◇  Partners: Cátedra Unesco Forum Universidad y Patrimonio Cultural; Oceanart Project; Collab and Las Naves (Ajuntament de València); Re_ by Barbara León; Upcyclick; The Platform.

We see sustainability from the people. If we do not create awareness we will not be able to create impact because in the end we are the people who decide where we are going. Today in Spain we still use 144 bags a year per person, and that’s almost 7 billion bags a year. The bags we use for our handbags, in the best case scenario, would have ended up in the yellow garbage can to be recycled.

At VORAMAR fanplastic we collect them and convert them into utilitarian products using manual techniques. With this we not only do not generate carbon footprint but we also avoid the carbon footprint that would be generated by waste treatment plants, since the recycling rate of a plastic bag is currently only 20%.

Single-use plastic bags that would otherwise float in our seas and oceans become the dreaded microplastics that end up in our food chain. From an environmental point of view, it is estimated that the use of a plastic bag is between 10 and 15 minutes. In contrast, it takes an average of 400 years to decompose and less than 20% of plastic is recycled. At VORAMAR fanplastic, we transform a single-use item into a complement for life and for future generations. In this way, we go beyond recycling, proposing a circular economy model that seeks to create a more sustainable and shared city. In addition, the bags are created by communities of women from peripheral neighborhoods of the city of Valencia, promoting social contact, generating network and fighting against unwanted loneliness. As the Australian writer Irina Dunn said, “if you can’t beat your enemy, join him”.