stitch ‘n’ beach

Stitch ‘N’ Beach began as an event to raise awareness for our “BYOB – Bring Your Own Bag” initiative with the goal to create 1000 reusable bags before the Whale Festival kick-off in March, 2017. We surpassed that goal, and continued to make reusable bags for the Tofino Co-op and Ucluelet Co-op, making it easier for customers to say no to single-use plastic checkout bags. Soon thereafter, both Co-ops joined the movement by eliminating plastic bags from their checkouts in June and October 2017!

Following this, Stitch ‘n’ Beach continued on as a program to make reusable grocery and produce bags out of donated textiles, as well as other alternatives to single-use plastics like produce bags, cutlery bags and beeswax wrap. Now, this program is evolving again, as we work to set up local textile recycling to divert a greater amount of this material from landfill. Currently, textiles make up 17% of residential waste that’s entering the West Coast Landfill, and 15% of waste entering the landfill from the industrial, commercial and institutional sectors (ICI).

In 2023, we are hoping to run Stitch N’ Beach Events monthly, so be sure to check our events calendar and watch for the next upcoming date!