A collection of colorful plastic film pieces.

From Plastic to Placemats

Turn discarded plastic bags into sturdy, artistic, useful products that hold value and are unlikely to be thrown away.

Supplies: 

  • Lots of thin, filmy plastics (think bread bags or newspaper delivery bags). 
    • Look for:
      • Plain, clear bags, and
      • Bags that have cool patterns or words. 
    • Avoid: 
      • Grocery store and produce bags (these are too thin)
      • Materials that are dirty, greasy, or smelly
      • Plastics that still have a useful purpose and don’t need to be discarded yet.
A pile of clear and colorful film plastics.
Once you start looking, you'll find lots of clean, interesting plastic films you can collect for this project (Credit: NOAA).
  • Iron and iron-safe surface, like an ironing pad or ironing board (Note: Be sure you have enough adults or older students to facilitate this tool.)
  • Parchment paper
  • Scissors or straight cutter

Steps: 

The final material is made up from two layers - one thicker layer for your background (I used clear plastic film), and one thin layer for any decorative touches, like pictures, patterns, or words.

  1. Place a large piece of parchment paper on the ironing board.
  2. Set up your base layer with a stack of 6 pieces of thin, clear plastic on top of the parchment paper.
Three plastic bags stacked to make six layers of thin plastic film.
If you are using bags instead of single sheets, you can stack three bags to make your six layers (Credit: NOAA).
  1. Cover this layer with another large sheet of parchment paper. All of your plastic should be between the parchment paper, so your iron is only touching the parchment paper, not the plastic directly.
  2. Apply a constantly-moving medium-hot iron to the top of the parchment paper to melt the plastic together. The plastic may shrink somewhat. If the plastic does not melt, increase the heat setting on the iron.
The process of ironing the base layer of plastic film.
Make sure your plastic is completely covered by parchment paper, and does not touch your iron (Credit: NOAA). 
  1. Add colors and shapes on top of the sturdy base panel. 
  2. Cover the entire panel with a piece of clear plastic. This step is not always necessary, but this extra layer of clear plastic serves three functions: a) it keeps the little pieces of plastic in place as you move your materials from your work space to the ironing board, b) some colorful plastics are actually painted and smear when heated, and the extra plastic helps minimize that smearing, and c) the extra layer of plastic adds strength to the material.
Colored pieces of plastic cut apart and then arranged on the base layer.
You'll find lots of interesting colors, patterns, and letters in many of the plastics you collect (Credit: NOAA).
  1. Make another “parchment sandwich” with your decorated panel - Place the project on a piece of parchment paper, and cover it with another piece of parchment paper. All of your plastic should be between the parchment paper, so your iron is only touching the parchment paper, not the plastic directly.
  2. Apply a constantly-moving medium-hot iron to the top of the parchment paper to melt the plastic together. The plastic may shrink somewhat.
  3. Repeat as necessary if you want to add more decoration. You may not need more clear plastic (step #6) if you are only adding a few new details.
  4. To keep the project flat, place the warm project from the ironing board between two flat boards to cool.
  5. Cut into desired shapes for use! (Triangle flags for pennant, circles for coasters, large rectangles for placemats, etc.)

This project was adapted from Oregon Sea Grant’s Marine Debris STEAMSS Curriculum. 

A silvery plastic wallet with business cards inside.
You can turn your plastic project into something useful, like this business card holder! (Credit: NOAA).
 

For citation purposes, unless otherwise noted, this article was authored by the NOAA Marine Debris Program.

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