Over the past five years, 21 talented women have helped upcycle almost 200 000 bread bags, equivalent to nearly ten baby elephants’ worth of plastic. What began in 2021 with a crochet hook, a pile of bread bags, and a healthy curiosity has grown into an inspiring community initiative.
Re.Bag.Re.Use founder, Regine le Roux, shares: “Every bread bag repurposed represents a second chance, an opportunity to create something functional, beautiful and long-lasting.” These include bags, containers, mats, hats, home décor items and gifts. Everything is done by hand, from cutting the plastic and crocheting the products to sewing on the labels. Every stitch represents creativity, patience and care, giving a disposable plastic bag a beautiful and functional second life.
A percentage of every sale is donated to the Neighbourhood Old Age Home (NOAH) and the SPCA.
Where was your business when you entered the Challenge – and how have things evolved?
Re.Bag.Re.Use was still in its early innovation phase when we entered the Challenge in 2023. We had proven that discarded bread bags could be transformed into functional, beautiful products, but we were still experimenting with designs, techniques and processes.
Since then, our thinking has broadened. We have expanded into repurposing T-shirts, off-cut fabrics, VHS and audio cassette tapes, continually looking for new ways to give waste a second life.
The business has grown in both scale and impact. We have created meaningful earning opportunities for our growing community of cutters and crocheters; and we have started sharing our skills through crochet workshops, helping others discover that waste can become something useful. In addition to the plastic bags, we have diverted from landfill more than 1 000 VHS and audio cassette tapes.
We have completed exciting collaborative projects, including the V&A Waterfront’s dancing skirts installation and the oversized OBN shopping trolley. We have picked up many awards, affirming the impact of our work (you can see the list of them here).
Every Re.Bag.Re.Use product tells a story of environmental and social impact. We love changing people’s perceptions. One of our favourite moments is watching someone pick up one of our bags at a market, admire it, and then do a double take when we tell them it’s made from bread bags. That moment of surprise almost always turns into curiosity, conversation and, hopefully, a different way of thinking about waste.
Another highlight has been seeing people who have never crocheted before arrive at one of our workshops convinced they “aren’t creative”, only to leave a few hours later proudly carrying something they’ve made themselves from discarded plastic.
What’s next for you?
We want to grow our Re.Bag.Re.Use communities across South Africa so that more people can benefit, both environmentally and economically.
Alongside this, we will continue experimenting with new waste streams, expanding our workshop offering, developing corporate collaborations, and creating products that challenge how people think about waste.
Any advice you’d give to businesses thinking about applying?
Apply! Even if you don’t win, the application process encourages you to reflect on your business, celebrate how far you’ve come, and think about where you’re heading next. That reflection alone is incredibly valuable, and you never know what opportunities may come from putting your story out there.
SOLVE involvement beyond the Challenge:
Signed Rebag Reuse up as a V&A vendor as part of our procurement database, and placed orders for gifts in engagements that celebrate circularity.