CWA bags to boomerang around Miles

We've all been there. Ducking over to the shops after work to pick up a few things.

GOING GREEN: Condamine-Arubial QCWA members donate hand-crafted 'Boomerang Bags' to two Miles stores. Picture: Contributed

WE'VE all been there: Ducked to the shops after work to pick up a few groceries.

We jump out of the car, dash inside, then realise something - our bags.

The plastic bag ban has been in place for more than four months but still, old habits die hard.

But all is not lost for Miles residents, as the Condamine-Arubial QCWA members turn their sewing skills to create Boomerang Bags.

The concept is a good one: Using recycled materials to create reuseable bags to give to others, as an alternative to plastic bags.

The branch members have made dozens of Boomerang Bags using discarded fabric which would have otherwise gone to landfill.

Secretary Alison Topp said the group heard about the initiative on the radio and decided to become involved, with six women from the branch dedicating their time to crafting dozens of bags.

"It was like an assembly line,” Mrs Topp said.

"Some of it was old curtains, some of it was from people's fabric stashes and they've just go out of fashion, or they've forgotten why they bought that in the first place, and so they were just all our local ladies' fabrics, we didn't have to go further afield.”

The bags were left at the Miles IGA and Foodworks for customers to use if they forgot their own.

Mrs Topp said the bags could be returned, or "boomeranged”, so other shoppers could use them.

"It's just if you forget your bag, you don't have to then go and use a plastic bag,” she said.

"You might like to return it if you get a chance for someone else.”

Boomerang Bags are made by community groups throughout Australia, with the motto: "Made with love, not labour...using waste, not making it.”

To find out more, visit https://boomerangbags.org.