Michael Luke shows an area rug made out of plastic bags. He also makes personal mats for homeless individuals.
Michael Luke has found a way to recycle plastic bags and help his fellow man at the same time.
The Kittanning native crochets the plastic bags into small throw rugs or mats large enough to keep someone dry as the sleep, whether camping or a homeless person.
“It’s made out of plastic bags that are crocheted,” he explains.
“You put your bags in loops. You take the bottom seam off and you cut loops. You loop them like we used to do with the old double-length pot holders. You keep looping them together. You wind them around the inside roll of aluminum foil or paper towels to make like a skein. You just keep putting the skeins in there connecting them together. The loops will go over-top of the next bag once you loop them up.”
Luke said it takes approximately one week for him to create a small throw rug.
“I make them bigger than that. It can take me up to four weeks to make a six-foot-long by 36-inch wide sleep mat. I give the sleep mats to the Salvation Army for the homeless and they give them out.”
Luke said his current project is made mostly from paper bags from Sprankles supermarket.