My Funky Bags: Manly retailer creates funky bags from recycled plastic waste
A dream to start a creative business that also helped save the environment has led to a northern beaches’ entrepreneur opening a shop that sells bags made from recycled plastic water bottles.
Manly
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A unique shop that sells bags, backpacks and clutches made from recycled plastic water bottles has thrown open its doors on the northern beaches.
My Funky Bags is the brainchild of former corporate high flyer Molly Linton, who wanted to create a business that was fun, eco-friendly and helped support communities and female workers in Asia.
The old plastic bottles are collected on the Indonesian island of Java, transformed locally into plastic strips which are then handwoven, using traditional bamboo weaving skills, into a wide range of bags, designed by Ms Linton.
They are now on the shelves — and online — in her shop on Darley Rd, Manly, opposite Manly Village Public School.
Ms Linton said instead of the discarded bottles ending up in landfill, their re-use meant that about 300 people were now earning money either collecting the bottles, processing them into plastic strips and then weaving them into a wide variety of bags.
With her husband Eren, Ms Linton, who had high level sales and marketing roles with firms including Virgin International, Microsoft and Christian Dior, had been working in Bangkok when she decided she wanted to “do something creative” while making a contribution to saving the environment.
After months touring through Asia in 2018, the couple came across a woman weaving baskets from the thin plastic straps used to secure shipping pallets, boxes and parcels.
“I said to my husband ‘there’s something in that, making baskets out of rubbish’,” she said.
“We got involved with a small Javanese waste recycling company. They create the plastic strips, from the water bottles and their lids, in 100m strips.”
The bags are either made from the tough plastic bottle tops or the bottles themselves, which are made from a lighter plastic.
Each of the bigger bags take about five hours to be hand woven. There is no machinery, glue or stitching involved.
“This is a circular economy story,” Ms Linton said.
“We’re taking a product that would normally have gone into landfill, or our oceans, and re-purposing it into something that will last forever.
“These bags will never break. They are just so strong.”
Ms Linton, who lives in Manly, said not only can they be used as classic beach bags, but customers use them for picnics, to carry firewood, put dirty shoes into at the front door, grocery shopping as well as for dog toys and leads.
“And they are perfect for boating and yachting,” she said.
My Funky Bags in Manly, which opened in July 27, is Ms Linton’s first shop in Sydney. She first sold the bags in pop-up shops in England in 2018 before opening two permanent outlets on the Isle of Wight and setting up online sales.
“In 2021, I was selling 10,000 bags a year,” she said.
The couple decided to move to Australia, where Ms Linton was born, after Covid affected the business.
For more info on My Funky Bags click here.
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