Sewing my own large garbage bag from newspaper

Plastic bags, man.  Don't get me started on plastic bags.  Oh, wait; I've started.  

Shopping?  We all know about the ideal of bringing your own bags to the grocery store.  Storing food?  Frugal zealots everywhere have washed and re-used ziplock bags, or switched to glass/ceramic containers, rather than using a bag once and tossing it in landfill-bound garbage cans.

But what about bags for those landfill-bound garbage cans?  Our city asks people to bag their trash first, instead of dumping it directly in the can.  I can understand why; bagging up trash makes it a lot easier for the haulers to get it into the truck without spilling all over the place.  Generally, the guys I watch don't pick up individual bags so much -- even sturdy bags are likely to break or poke the person carrying it if people tossed something sharp and heavy in there.  But bags make sense from a cleanliness and ease point of view, because dumping stuff out of the can into the truck is easier if it all comes out of the can in one "whoosh".  

Wherever possible, I try to use existing large bags that we already have.  Dog food bags, dry-cleaner bags double-bagged), garbage bags that some stranger left behind . . . those have all served in a pinch.  The fact that we don't put our can out at the curb very often helps a lot, since a happy consequence is that we don't need a lot of garbage bags!

But here's another option: sew a large bag out of newspaper!  Because, of course, this is exactly what you want to do with your spare time.  Right?  

And just in case you were racking your brain, wondering how to make large garbage bags from newsprint, I've got the directions all ready for you.  

Here's what you need: 12 sheets of newspaper (or 18, for an extra sturdy bag), thread, a sewing machine.  Steps 1-3 help you make one giant sheet of newspaper "fabric"; steps 4 and 5 turn this large sheet into a giant bag.

Step 1:
Prepare 6 panels (either 2 or 3 pieces of newspaper thick).  To make it easier to feed these through the sewing machine, I rolled up all but the final inch or so and clipped them with clothespins. 

Step 2: 

Sew pairs of panels together, so you get two long strips, each of them three panels long.  I sewed them flat, so the seams don't stick out, as in the picture below.  That is, you'll be sewing through either 4 or 6 pieces of newspaper.

Here you see a longish strip (the wind blew part of it over, so it looks shorter), above another finished strip that I haven't unclipped yet so both edges are still rolled up.

Step 3:

Sew those two strips together to make one large 2x3 piece of "newspaper fabric".    This completes the first part (making the "fabric"); the next two steps make this into a bag.

Step 4: 

Fold this large thing in half so that it's 1.5 panels wide and 2 panels high.    Sew along the bottom and one side (leaving the top open, because obviously we want this bag to have an opening on the top!)

Step 5:  

(Optional) Roll the top edge of the bag over.  This keeps the bag open, making it easier to toss stuff in.  Also, you can "scrunch" the bottom corners of the bag, so that the bag can stand on its own, or so that it fits into the garbage can more easily.

Voila!  Now you have an awesome plastic-free garbage bag!

Questions you might ask:

Won't it break if it gets wet?

I don't know.  We compost our food waste, so our trash is really dry.  But this bag sits in the garbage can anyway, so I'm not sure that breakage would be a problem generally . . .  ???  Let's just say I myself haven't had any problems, but your results might vary, depending.

Now that you've made a few of these, would you change anything about the pattern?

Yes.  I'd make the bags 3.5x2 instead of 3x2.  

How long does this take?  

My first one took me about 20 minutes, which included hunting for newspaper and taking photos.   If you don't sew "flat", but instead sew "good sides together" -- even though newspapers don't have good sides, I'm pretty sure regular sewing people know what I mean --, it'd be even faster and easier to sew.

Isn't it funny, in this particular context, that a person who sews could be called a "sewer"?

Yes.