Did you know there’s a way to save the environment and help homeless people at the same time?

One highschooler figured out how. Shelby Tillema from Lakewood High School was inspired by a group of women who call themselves “Bev’s Bag Brigade.” These women create “plarn” mats for the Volunteers of America and have been active since 2009.

“Plarn” refers to a plastic yarn that is spun from plastic grocery bags. These women crochet the yarn into warm mats which are distributed to homeless people in the U.S.A. These women manage to produce hundreds of plarn sleeping mats and keep hundreds of shopping bags out of the landfill.

The plastic bags used to make plarn are extremely harmful to the environment. About 100 billion plastic bags are used annually and they will take 500 years to degrade in a landfill. Marine animals such as turtles mistake these bags as food and end up choking on them while trying to eat dinner.

Making plarn mats is an excellent way to keep these bags away from landfills and away from oceanic critters.

The club.

Shelby decided that she wanted to start a similar club in her own high school. She was impressed by the multi-function purpose of creating these sleeping mats. The women of Bev’s Bag Brigade managed to reduce waste AND help homeless people stay warm. It was incredible.

Shelby and her club met after school to make use of plastic bags that were destined for the landfill. The process started by creating the plarn.

“You take recycled plastic grocery bags or just any plastic bagsg and you cut them into strips, and ou tie those strips together and that makes this thing called plarn, plastic bag yarn,” Shelby Tillema shared to JPS_TV.

After creating the plarn, club members started crocheting them into sleeping mats. These sleeping mats are useful for a variety of reasons. They are durable, water-resistant, and surprisingly soft.

The after-school club hands over their mats to the Jeffco Action Center where they are distributed to the local homeless population.

Pretty impressive for highschoolers, huh?

These students understand the importance of saving the environment and helping those in need. These sleeping mats make a big difference to those who live on the streets. They do wonders for keeping them warm, dry and comfortable.

Shelby says she hopes that her club has inspired other local schools to join the plarn-fun.

“It’d be awesome if other Jeffco schools imitated this idea,” Shelby shared.

No one said that you had to be in high school to help…

Anyone can make plarn sleeping mats to help their local population. The plarn is free and you could make some new friends while learning how to crochet or knit. On top of that, you’d be reducing waste and helping the environment.

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Source: JPS-TV, Center for Biological Diversity, Denver7