One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia
by Miranda Paul (Author) and Elizabeth Zunon (Illustrator)
Booktalk: Plastic bags are cheap and easy to use. But what happens when a bag breaks or is no longer needed? In Njau, Gambia, people simply dropped the bags and went on their way. One plastic bag became two. Then ten. Then a hundred. The bags accumulated in ugly heaps alongside roads. Water pooled in them, bringing mosquitoes and disease. Some bags were burned, leaving behind a terrible smell. Some were buried, but they strangled gardens. They killed livestock that tried to eat them. Something had to change.
Snippet: Isatou pauses. She and Peggy have an idea. But will their friends this it is crazy? Will the idea even work?
Nervously, she explains her plan.
One friend agrees to help.
Then two.
Then five!
The women cut the bags into strips and roll them into spools of plastic thread. Before long, they teach themselves how to crochet with this thread.
It’s Nonfiction Monday!
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