Green Team hosts eco-friendly bag-making event

On Dec. 5, the Green Team hosted a pizza lunch for students to learn how to make their own tote bags from discarded t-shirts. About 40 students showed up to learn how to make the bags and to eat pizza. Students were given t-shirts that were left over from past school events and were taught how to turn them into tote bags. 

“I came to this event because I was bored, to be honest, and I thought it might be interesting,” said Liron Maks, a freshman. “Personally, I think plastic bags are not as helpful as reusable bags anyway, so it’s a plus.” 

Plastic bags are harmful, but so are cotton tote bags. According to a 2018 study from the Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark a cotton bag should be used at least 7,100 times to make it a truly environmentally friendly alternative to a conventional plastic bag. That same study found that a person would have to use an organic cotton bag 20,000 times to offset its overall impact of production. 

Mr. Adam Zaid, Green Team advisor, explained that this event was “a great thing to do with t-shirts that would end up in the landfill and it makes a difference.” 

Student opinions on the t-shirt tote bags were mixed.

“I think I would use this bag, I like the colors,” said Yassin Essa, a freshman. “I think some kids my age would use this bag.”

Sophomore Gigi Tang wasn’t so sure. “I wanted food and I am a member of Bin Cops, which is why I came to this event,” she said. “Maybe some people would use the DIY tote bags, but probably not much.”

“I would use the bag in case of an emergency,” said senior Sayeed Alam. “I think climate change is very detrimental towards the environment and we should take appropriate measures to limit the amount of plastic use.”

According to a 2021 assessment by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), plastic pollution in oceans and other bodies of water continues to grow sharply and could more than double by 2030.

“I am pretty concerned about climate change and plastic bags, especially because it is really bad now. We should try to shed more light on the importance of this issue,” said Adrian Rahman, a junior.

Sophomore Lior Poler, a member of the Green Team, expressed his passion for fighting climate change and saw this event as a success. “I think they might use [the t-shirt tote bags]. It really depends, like if they go to the grocery store on their own or something, that like shows what they use [and it] can be an advantage to use the reusable tote bags.”

“I care about trying to make the world an eco-friendly place,” said junior Santiago Martinez Giraldo and member of Green Team. “I think about climate change and it makes me worry, but I have so many other things to worry about in my daily life I just forget.”