Recycled Plastic Bag Mandalas- Green Week Project

Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide… that's over one million plastic bags used per minute! Roughly 80% of those bags are used in North America and Western Europe and sadly, less than 5% of plastic grocery bags are recycled in the U.S. Most end up in landfills or as litter that finds its way to our oceans, where they take up to 1,000 years to break down. This plastic directly threatens our environment, particularly the lives and health of marine mammals and sea birds. In fact, at least 267 different species are known to have suffered from entanglement or ingestion of plastic marine debris. 

          It is SO important that we make sure that bags that are consumed are recycled, reused or repurposed and kept out of our environment. The artist Virginia Fleck does just that, creating site-specific, ecologically conscious artwork made exclusively of recycled plastic bags. She has been commissioned for several high-profile, green building projects including the U.S. Embassy in Rwanda and Whole Foods World Head Quarters in Austin, TX. Fleck fuses colorful plastic bags to create large scale mandalas. A mandala (Sanskrit for “circle”) is a sacred, symbolic diagram, used as a meditational aid in Buddhism and Hinduism, and they are often constructed with an intention of planetary healing and are used in peace ceremonies. Because of the mandala’s meditative and healing properties in the east, the argument could be made that art from one person's promotional products (that would end up in a landfill) has a healing effect on the environment.

          During Calvert’s Green Week, 6^th and 7^th graders used irons to fuse over 300 recycled plastic bags together. When four bags are trimmed, layed flat and ironed together, they form a thicker piece of plastic “fabric” that can be used in a variety of creative ways (we followed this tutorial). Inspired by Virginia Fleck, we cut our fused bag material into triangles and pieced them together to create the eight beautiful mandalas on that are now on display in the Atrium. They are about 3.5'-4' across and are suspended above the lunch tables and in the Atrium hallway. We spent four periods on Thursday and one on Friday just fusing bags. Friday's classes cut the material and assembled the mandalas. 

I put out a call for bags and the faculty raided the heaps under their kitchen sink to donate them!

You have to cut the thick bottom seams and handle from the shopping bags first so they can be opened completely. 

7th graders cutting the triangles

  Mandalas on Display (a bit tricky to photograph):

Getting ready for this project, I learned a LOT of really scary facts about plastic bags and their impact on the environment. While I have never considered myself to be very "earthy," you better believe I am now a woman on a mission after doing this- I will NEVER use a plastic bag again without thinking twice and vow to only use reusable bags when grocery shopping in the future. Hopefully the kids who did this art project will encourage their families do the same in their homes and in the future!!