CSV Action, the UK’s biggest charitable community broadcasting network has been stunned by the level of response received to an appeal to the public to make their own bags. The campaign is in response to the damage caused to wildlife by discarded bags and chimes with recent attempts by supermarkets to cut down on plastic.

“Morsbags” is a project thought up by a woman called  Claire Morsman, 31, who found a dead seabird with its legs trapped in a plastic bag on a beach in Devon a couple of years ago. She now lives on a barge in West London and is incensed by the number of plastic bags that float by. She suddenly realised that an answer to the problem of plastic bags lay in the unwanted sewing machine that her great-aunt had kindly left her. Despite her lack of sewing know how, she begged her mum to design a simple bag that anyone could run up from old material, and convinced her fiancé to make a website overnight so that everyone could join in and make their own bags.

On April 6th 2002 a dead Minke whale was washed up in Normandy with a stomach full of plastic bags. Turtles mistake plastic bags for jellyfish and eat them and die. Plastic bags are serial killers. They are ingested by one animal, which dies and then decomposes around it, after which the bag floats off to find another victim.

A recent appeal overseen by the CSV Action Network on BBC local radio has seen hundreds of people downloading the pattern to create their own cloth bag.

The morsbags aim to get people together socially to make reusable cloth bags out of old material, and then use and distribute them amongst friends and colleagues so that collectively we can reduce the number of plastic bags we use. The bags are reusable, recycled, fun and easy to make.

Claire Morsman said: “Once people have made a morsbag, they realise how addictive it is and how proud they are of their creations! Even the recipients of the free morsbags feel more attached to a unique cloth bag than a flimsy plastic one and if people get into the daily habit of carrying cloth bags, we can save 1000’s of animals, birds and fish”

Since CSV started to broadcast information on the campaign via BBC local radio, it has received requests for hundreds of downloads for the bag pattern. Jennifer Bartram from volunteering charity CSV Action said: “We have been stunned by the response of people wanting to do something practical and positive to cut down on plastic. The campaign shows the power of one person to spur many more into positive action.”

How can you help? Log on to www.morsbags.com and register a pod. You can be an individual/ a couple or a group; all you need is a sewing machine, some space and some material as the bag instructions are on the site.

Further press information: Jason Tanner, CSV Press Office on 020 7812 0038 / 07941 433598

Notes for Editors

1. CSV (Community Service Volunteers) creates opportunities for people to take an active part in the life of their communities through volunteering, training and community action. Last year 227,000 people gave 5 million hours of their time as volunteers through CSV. CSV trains 12,705 people of all ages. www.csv.org.uk