The bags have landed

In 2017 two motivated local women, Carolyn Irwin and Amanda Ritchie, introduced the Boomerang Bag model to Martinborough.  The community embraced the concept, donating fabric and countless sewing hours to create a wonderful array of over 1700 colourful bags for locals and visitors to use as an alternative to single use plastic bags.

After seeing enough piles of fabric, sewing bees and screen printing going between both Carolyn & Amanda’s homes, husbands got together and suggested the project be taken to the next level.  In late 2017, Boomerang Bags reached out to the community and within two weeks $23,000 was raised to import ten thousand, 100% organic, fair-trade certified cotton bags from India.

After a much anticipated wait, The Martinborough Bag has now landed!  And, with the arrival of these bags came the announcement that Pain & Kershaw will no longer provide single use plastic bags to their customers from 1st July.

Pain and Kershaw has been a supporter of Boomerang Bags from its inception in Martinborough, with bulk of the 1700 Boomerang Bags being used by its customers. Seeing first hand the benefits of reusable bags, Owner Operator Conor Kershaw was happy to be a key sponsor of of The Martinborough Bag.

The Martinborough Bag has a limited aesthetic value with simple thank you to the sponsors and a clear message to the users that these bags stay in Martinborough. The colourful Boomerang Bags have been successful in raising awareness of plastic bag use and that there are always more environmentally friendly alternatives.

“There really is no excuse to expect a plastic bag while shopping. There are plenty of alternatives, like a reusable bag, hand bag, back pack or even just carrying your few items. It just takes a bit of thought and awareness.” says Amanda

The Martinborough Bag will be delivered to each house in Martinborough urban area. If one bag is not enough, there will be bags available for $1 each, which funds will then go towards other environmental projects in our village.

Getting the bags out is the next mission. Do you want to pitch in? We need a few extra helping hands to help to pack up bags ready for delivery, or to be part of your street’s ‘bag gang’.  If you are interested in helping out in any way, please email martinboroughboomerangbags@gmail.com