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April 2019
VOLUME 1 | NO. 9
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Local women make blankets for the needy out of
reycled plastic
BY REN WHEELING
Staff Writer
Turn on the news channel and there is story after story
of how plastic waste is damaging the Earth. There is an
area of just garbage in the ocean called the Great Pacifi c
Garbage Patch, which measures about 617,800 square
miles and contains an island of trash that is roughly the
size of Texas. Turtles are being found with plastic straws
in their nose or plastic six-pack rings around their neck.
The world is swimming in plastic.
Many people try to help mitigate this issue by re-
cycling, reusing containers, or even by refusing to use
plastic at all, but there are many other ways to help save
the Earth from this plastic invasion that aren’t as well
known.
Linda Telecky of Winsted and Andrea Koeppe of
Howard Lake have found a way to turn plastic into
something positive.
Working with Weaving Love MN, Telecky and Ko-
eppe collect used plastic grocery bags, and use their ar-
Linda Telecky demonstrated how plastic bags are pre-
pared to be made into “yarn” for making blankets.
PHOTO BY REN WHEELING
tistic abilities to make blankets for the needy
from them. They hand the fi nished products
over to Weaving Love, which then donates them
to homeless shelters throughout Minnesota. The
company has also partnered with various peo-
ple to send the blankets to Haiti or to veterans.
The two work together very well. Koeppe
cuts down the bags and ties them into “balls of
yarn,” also known as plarn (plastic yarn), and
Telecky crochetes them into large, strong blan-
kets.
“It started out as kind of a mission project
through First Presbyterian Church in Howard
Lake, and we’ve all seen just how this Earth is
choking on plastic,” Koeppe said. “I’ve heard of
groups all over the country doing these things.
It just seemed like such a wonderful, fun proj-
ect, and it’s so vital.”
Telecky and Koeppe collect plastic bags
mainly through drives at various churches, but
they have also received them through other
means.
“If I don’t go to Bible study one day, I will
fi nd them outside my door,” Telecky said. “Peo-
ple just drop them off here. We have to watch
them, otherwise we will get overwhelmed with
all these bags.”
Their main goal is to keep the plastic bags out
of the ocean and out of the trees. “At least I am
contributing somehow,” Telecky said. “There’s
not much I can do, but it makes my heart feel
good.”
A lot of effort goes into these projects. Ac-
cording to some reports, it takes about 500 to
700 bags to make a three-foot-by-six-foot blan- Andrea Koeppe and Linda Telecky create blankets for the needy
ket. Telecky estimated that one blanket takes her using only recycled plastic bags.
PHOTO BY REN WHEELING
about two weeks if she puts all of her energy into
it. If not, it can take a lot longer.
In the future, Telecky and Koeppe hope to speed up aren’t quite ready to expand just yet, but they hope that
this process and increase effi ciency by teaching others by sharing what they do with the community, they can
how it is done and having multiple hands to help. They inspire others to take action to help the environment.
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