Crochet
Sleeping mats for homeless people from reused plastic
I used to volunteer with a local homelessness organisation and posted an article to their Facebook group at the end of 2019 about how to crochet sleeping mats for homeless people out of reused plastic. The post received a couple of lovely responses. One was from a person who had been having a go at making the sleeping mats. The other was from Carol, someone I used to volunteer with, offering to teach how to make them. I decided to take up the offer for the new year...
Zen crochet
Baristocats cafe is a progressive family-run business. They were the second business in town to sign up to the Refill scheme and a drop-off point for 'recycling' crisp packets for the Air Ambulance scheme. So, in January 2020, we met for crocheting lessons at Baristocats.
Crocheting, it turns out, is a relaxing way to spend time, a welcome break from worrying about environmental collapse and mass extinction. After a couple of hours, two of us, both beginners, were very pleased to have learnt a simple crochet stitch. Carol kindly offered to continue the lessons so we did so, moving to the newly reopened Baker's Cafe in the Railway Village. Weekly events stemmed from there, attracting people from all over Swindon to get in touch and involved.
Acrylic wool
Carol kindly provided newcomers a crochet hook and acrylic wool. The question arose, what is acrylic? I didn't know so went away and did some research. Acrylic is consituted from acrylic acid, which is made from the oxidation of propylene. Propylene is a byproduct of the production of ethylene and gasoline. So, acrylic is derived from fossil fuels, contributing to climate change; not good. But it gets worse. Acrylic wool is made from acrylonitrile aka vinyl cyanide, a known carcinogen and mutagen. Acrylic also has negative impacts for the environment and for the health of those who manufacture it.So why does acrylic continue to be produced and sold? How many people are aware that this fabric could seriously damage their health, potentially causing death? How many people are aware of the myriad of environmental problems caused by using such a material? Why aren't governments protecting us? The Chem Trust campaigns for such protection from the UK government. Their work makes clear that there are many serious problems associated with synthetic chemicals.
So, what are alternatives to acrylic?
- This set of 3 articles on Sustainable Fabrics, 'The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly' rates fabrics in terms of sustainability and ethics.
- Wild Fibres has interesting information about natural fibres.
Plastic crochet
Crocheting with acrylic wool is fairly manageable after some practise. Plastic crocheting is a different story. We first cut off the top and bottom seams. We cut the plastic into strips about 2 inches wide which forms loops. We then tie these loops together et voila! We have been using 'thickish' plastic bags. The constitution of them differs which makes it difficult to maintain a consistent tension. The plastic stretches to varying degrees. These factors make crocheting with this type of reused plastic more difficult than standard threads. It is a cumbersome, slow process.
Once we start on the prototype sleeping mat, it becomes apparent quite how much plarn we are going to need. We need a lot. We have been collecting loads of carrier bags, taken ages to cut, loop and tie the plarn and it makes a quarter of a sleeping mat! When we were kids, my brother and I started digging a hole to Australia. At the rate of crocheting we were going, it felt like we would complete the hole before we completed the sleeping mats. More help required...
How many plastic bags does it take to make a sleeping mat?
People kept mentioning Sainsbury's as somewhere where plastic bags are collected for 'recycling'. So, I went to the local Sainsbury's store. Having explained what the bags were for, the staff were happy for me to sort through them. What I found highlights, for me, the ineptitude of plastic recycling. There were all kinds of bags in here made from all kinds of materials. Some still had bits of food in, some had once contained fish! Urgh! People who feel like they are doing their bit by recycling but many, I think, don't realise the harm of supporting such a system. Toxic waste does not just disappear once out of sight. I came away with very few usable bags.
I have the pleasure of volunteering with Prospect Hospice. Many charity shops are considerate around reuse; reusing plastic bags from donations, as an example. With this in mind, I approached the shop where I volunteer. They also had a box of plastic bags for 'recycling'. These ones were clean, thankfully. A donation in the tin and it felt like a nice exchange had taken place; positive results from positive, caring actions.
Sustainable crochet hooks
Larger hooks were needed to crochet plastic, so we would need to source some non-plastic crochet hooks. How hard could that be? Discussing this with Carol, she ordered some (without telling me) from the very unsustainable Amazon. I have wondered if the name Amazon is literal, the company hacking down bits of rainforest to send through the post? Anyway, months later and Carol is still waiting for her 'bit of rainforest' to be delivered. So, I went looking myself.
Members of the Knit and Knatter group in Moredon told me that crochet hooks needed to be light and of decent thickness to grip, to avoid repetetive injury. So, a crochet hook made from bamboo would seem to fit the remit of sustainable and light. Or would it? Looking through the bamboo crochet hooks for sale in Sewcraft, they were all packaged in thick plastic. It was the same story at the other shops that I tried. What point is an environmentally sustainable product if it comes wrapped in plastic? With a mounting workload, events looming and the only other choice to cancel, I bought two size 15 plastic crochet hooks! A horrible feeling of concession eventually gave way to feelings of positivity. I would bring these messages to a larger audience and help make vital changes.
This experience brings up some interesting questions:
- Why do bamboo crochet hooks need to come from the other side of the planet when bamboo can be grown in this country? The answer to this lies in inequality, in neo-liberal policies that destroyed manufacturing in countries such as England, making it cheaper to buy from countries such as China. It has allowed large national and multi-national businesses to thrive at the expense of people, animals and environment. What does cheap mean? Often it means that workers and suppliers are treated poorly, that the environment is polluted and damaged, and animals mistreated and abused. Ethical Consumer is a helpful website for those of us seeking to support a happier, more equal and sustainable planet, all connected aspects.
- Why do bamboo crochet hooks need to be wrapped in plastic? Transportation may be one issue. Companies want to ensure that products aren't damaged during transit. Again, why are goods having to unnecessarily travel so far? Marketing may be another factor. The use of carbon black is a good example of marketing / profit motives put before health. It is used as a pigment for plastic pacakaging. Derived from fossil fuels and classified as possibly carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, it is not a healthy substance to use. Optical scanners used to sort waste are not to able to scan the carbon black which means that plastic containing the substance would not be 'recycled'. Yet companies continue to use carbon black. Profit over people.
Hope for a world without homelessness
The crocheting, like a lot of things, is on hold. There is hope that we may not need to make sleeping mats for homeless people at all. When lockdown first happened, homeless people were put up for free. The question that is now being asked by many is, why can't that continue?