How it began

 

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This journey started in 2018. I was making large-scale collages from second-hand natural history books when I came across an image that stopped me cold: a bird’s body decomposing, its stomach filled with plastic. It felt impossible, that in the most remote corners of the planet, animals were dying from our waste.

 

The deeper I looked, the clearer it became. Plastic pollution is everywhere - in our oceans, our soil, our food, even our bodies. What was once celebrated as a miracle material is revealing itself as a slow-moving ecological crisis.

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At first, I responded as an artist. I wrapped soft plastics around lights, embedded hard plastics in concrete. But I wanted the work to extend beyond the gallery. Inspired by community recyclers like Greenbatch and the open-source Precious Plastics network, I began building a micro-recycling initiative with a creative directive.

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Inventurous was born.

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Together, we started collecting the “problem plastics” that slip through the system — film plastic that jams machines, black plastic that scanners can’t read, mixed-material packaging. After years of experimentation, I developed a process to fuse these into a leather-like textile, combined with salvaged leather and hardware made from shredded plastic.

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That’s how Rubbish Bags began.

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Each piece is made from 95% recycled material — designed not just to be carried, but to carry a story about waste, resilience, and the possibility of change. I approach this work as a conservationist, not a capitalist. Every bag sold helps fund our nonprofit, support fair wages, and grow a community around creative reuse.

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The stakes are only increasing. In 2026, California will ban most plastic bags, yet some ( like newspaper delivery sleeves) remain exempt. On the Peninsula alone, around 20 million of these are distributed each year. Even capturing a fraction would divert millions of bags from landfill.

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It may sound strange, but my goal is to put myself out of business. The day there is no waste left to work with is the day we’ve succeeded.

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Until then, I’ll keep building, teaching, and transforming the materials of our everyday lives into something lasting and, hopefully, hopeful.

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Tara de la Garza