Hopetoun man Bruce Alfard has stitched reusable tote bags for his entire community

In a bid to reduce the use of plastic bags, a Hopetoun man has stitched more than 4000 reusable totes for his community.

Bruce Alfard brought Bruce’s Bags to fruition before the plastic bag ban came into play to reduce single-use plastic.

Now retired, Mr Alfard said this was his way to give back to society.

“I started off by giving everyone in town three bags and it has gone from there,” he said.

The bags have been stitched from discarded clothing, curtains and cloth.

Mr Alfard said he had now taken to cheap materials from Spotlight after exhausting locals’ unwanted items.

“I go to all the op shops I come across and look for material to reuse and repurpose,” he said. “I waste about 0.05 per cent of material because I just sew all the scrap pieces together and make another bag.

“In fact they are my most popular — the ones with all the different colours.”

He said shade cloth had also been used to create a bag for beach clean-ups and fishing competitions.

“Last year I made a heap of sturdy bags so when people registered for the annual fishing competition, they got a bag with floats on them,” he said. “Any rubbish that fell overboard would float.”

Bags are available from the Community Resource Centre.