BOOMERANG Bags are back in business after months of pause due to COVID-19.

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Julie Sims, Coordinator at Boomerang Bags Hawks Nest Tea Gardens, said that group members have still been hard at work crafting their usual bags – in addition to masks.

“We haven’t been able to have a sewing bee for five months, but in that time, our volunteers have still been hard at it creating from home.”

The group hasn’t been able to attend markets since March 2020, but have recently been able to start selling bags and masks at sewing bees again on the second Saturday of every month at Tea Gardens Hotel.

“Our first one back was incredibly busy with sales,” said Ms Sims.

“We can also be contacted through our Facebook page to arrange collection from our homes which has also been working well.”

Since COVID-19 restrictions were introduced, volunteers have managed to make nearly 600 bags and several hundred masks, each available for $2.

The group originally sourced their materials from local op shops but has since received generous donations from the community.

“It’s amazing how much beautiful fabric people have stored in their cupboards,” Ms Sims said.

“We even had a wedding dress donated – the lace made lovely produce bags.”

The group has had an active role in helping to reduce single-use plastics in the local communities, including eliminating plastic bags at meat raffles and launching a buyback scheme to remove plastic straws from cafes.

“Once we started having the conversation within our community about how to reduce plastic usage so many people got on board,” said Ms Sims.

“It’s with this community support that I hope we can achieve a plastic-free future.”

By Ashley CHRYSLER