We initially considered using vegan or recycled leather for the trims, but after much research and advice we came to the conclusion that responsibly-sourced leather was the best material as the alternatives we found contain high-levels of polyurethane. This is the first time this has been done. To create a weather-resistant durable finish, we then coat the fabric in recycled PVB, a product which is extracted from old car windshields. These pellets are melted into fibres that are then spun and woven to create the fabric. The plastic bottles are first sorted, shredded, washed and then turned into pellets. The woven fabric used to make I Am A Plastic Bag is woven from a yarn created from plastic bottles, an example of modern craftsmanship. Sainsbury’s cut the number of bags they gave away by 58% in the 2 years that followed the campaign, giving out 312 million fewer bags in 2009 than in 2007 and saving 13,200 tonnes of virgin plastic over two years. In 2010, after the project, his figure dropped to 6.1 billion. The British Retail Consortium estimated that in 2006, before the I’m Not a Plastic Bag project, the UK used 10.6 billion plastic bags.

After thousands of people queued to purchase the tote from Sainsburys (80,000 on launch day), the project garnered huge press coverage globally, ignited the debate around the use of plastic bags and contributed to the eventual decision to charge for plastic bags in the UK.

The I’m Not A Plastic Bag tote was designed by Anya in 2007 as part of a collaborative project with Antidote and global social change movement We Are What We Do (now known as Shift).

It has taken over two years to develop the I Am A Plastic Bag collection, but the journey started over ten years ago when we launched the collection’s predecessor: I’m Not A Plastic Bag.

Anya hindmarch postbox bag