Good things keep happening when thousands of kind people sit down at a sewing machine. Here’s a little of what our pods have been up to lately — the awards, the telly appearances, and the quiet, brilliant everyday bagging.
Morsbags is a worldwide army of volunteers making free fabric bags to replace disposable plastic ones. Most of the action happens out in the community and across our 2,900+ pods — but here are a few recent moments worth shouting about.
Latest news
- Ghost morsbags: how many bags are out there that we have never counted?Our counter says 635,421 morsbags. We’re fairly sure that’s wrong — and wrong in the nicest possible way. Every bag on that counter was logged by a pod. That’s the deal: a pod makes bags, a podmin adds them to… Read more: Ghost morsbags: how many bags are out there that we have never counted?
- Morsbags Plastic Free Bingley on ITV NewsWe made it to ITV News last night with Julie Ramsden and Hedgehog Organics talking about Morsbags (Plastic free Bingley). Julie was nominated by us as an unsung hero for her efforts with our local Morsbags group. Our Bingley Morsbag… Read more: Morsbags Plastic Free Bingley on ITV News
- Global Good Award Bronze!Morsbags won Bronze at the Global Good Awards 2024!! Here are a few of the judges comments: “Truly community owned and demonstrated creativity” “A heartwarming initiative showcasing the power of kindness, social connection and organic, inclusive growth” Well done team!!
- Harborough Morsbags wins The King’s Award for Voluntary Service – The MBE for Volunteer GroupsCongratulations! Absolutely incredible achievement!!
- We get lots of lovely emails asking for more info on morsbags, so here’s an overview:Morsbags are strong, reusable, recycled, unique bags made from textiles otherwise destined for landfill and given away for free to replace plastic bags. Over 500,000 morsbags (potentially replacing over 273 million plastic bags) have been made by volunteers in nearly… Read more: We get lots of lovely emails asking for more info on morsbags, so here’s an overview:
- Frogglin’s Brilliant Video
Highlights
Bingley pod on ITV News
Our brilliant Plastic Free Bingley ladies made it onto ITV News, with Julie Ramsden nominated as an unsung hero for everything she does for the local group. Between them the Bingley baggers have now handmade over ten thousand morsbags — all free, all lovely quality, all sewn from donated fabric and gifted to people in their community.
Every morsbag saves around 500 plastic bags over its life. That’s roughly five million fewer plastic bags from one pod alone, and tonnes of material rescued from landfill. Absolutely incredible.
A King’s Award and a Global Good gong
Two proper honours landed for the movement, and we’re still a bit giddy about both.
The King’s Award for Voluntary Service (2024)
Our Harborough Morsbags pod won The King’s Award for Voluntary Service — the highest award given to local volunteer groups across the UK, the equivalent of an MBE. A wonderful recognition of years of steady, generous bagging. Congratulations doesn’t quite cover it.
Bronze at the Global Good Awards 2024
Morsbags took home Bronze at the Global Good Awards 2024. A couple of lines from the judges that made us glow:
“Truly community owned and demonstrated creativity.”
“A heartwarming initiative showcasing the power of kindness, social connection and organic, inclusive growth.”
Well done, team — every single one of you.
Keep up with the day-to-day
Most of our news, natter and photos of freshly-finished bags happen over on our social channels and in the pods themselves. If you’d like more of the everyday stuff — pod milestones, fabric appeals, festive morsbags and all — pop over and say hello, or start making your own.