By Lucy P., Editor-in-Chief & Leah R., Associate Editor
Detroit activist Eradajere Oleita and her team are working together to turn empty chip bags into sleeping bags. The Chip Bag project began in December to help homeless people through the cold winter. Oleita explained the process in which her team repurposes the chip bags. “Foil lined chip bags are insulated, waterproof, and lightweight. The chip bags will then be sealed together and lined with foam to provide cushioned insulated sleeping bags to help the less fortunate living outside to live [through] the Michigan winter,” Oleita said on her website. Each sleeping bag uses 150 chip bags and takes about 4 hours to make. So far, Oleita has collected about 3,300 chip bags and made 3 sleeping bags. Her goal is to create 60 sleeping bags to donate to homeless people around Detroit. Oleita discussed her inspiration for starting the Chip Bag Project. “I’ve just been doing a lot of work around the city of Detroit, trying to get more people to talk about the connections between environmental justice and social justice, and really pushing on the topic of environmental racism,” Oleita said in an interview with Hour Detroit. Oleita’s team has faced a lot of challenges from not getting enough donations to not getting enough help. To overcome these setbacks, she kept promoting and sharing about the project on social media. Chip bags, candy wrappers, and other plastic bags are accepted at in-person dropoff locations and by mail, along with clothing items like coats and hats. Volunteers can sign-up on her website to sort and create sleeping bags. Oleita explained her intention for the Chip Bag Project. “The hope of this project is to impact an underserved, under-resourced community,” Oleita said.
3 Comments
sofia
3/25/2021 09:41:29 am
This is really cool!!
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Delia
3/25/2021 09:45:11 am
I really liked this article I can tell it was well thought out.
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Aiden H.
3/25/2021 09:45:56 am
This is one of the most interesting articles I read. The idea of chip bags confused me for a bit, but the explanation helped me understand.
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