Don’t have a reusable bag to go with your reusable FilterForGood bottle yet? Then get some of the greenest reusable totes — FREE — from Green Bag Lady!**

You may have already heard of Green Bag Lady, a.k.a. Teresa VH-Granath, who makes bags from upcycled and sustainable fabrics then gives them away FREE to people who pledge to use her bag instead of disposable paper or plastic ones. Her generous work’s been featured on CNN and many other news outlets — and lots of blogs, since many happy bag recipients blog about their unexpected eco-gift.

Shelly at Vegetarian Foodie,** for example, got bag #879, and blogged “Green Bag Lady I celebrate your creativity and generosity!” And I too have seen Green Bag Lady’s generosity at work — when she donated 20 bags for the Blogger Beach Cleanup** a couple weeks ago. Many volunteers got to go home with a free, unique reusable tote — including my co-event planner Sara Bayles of The Daily Ocean,** who’s showing off her totes in the photo.

Green Bag Lady’s also inspired many eco-thinking DIYers to make their own bags too! Many crafters have been inspired to become green bag ladies themselves, creating not just bags for personal use but to give out to others in their community:

>> Andrea Pender** sent out an email asking for fabric remnants — and got a lot of responses! Now, she’s creating bags out of that fabric to give to her clients.

>> Melissa of Melissa’s Ramblings** got an old sewing machine out to create her green lady bags. Says she after creating a tote: “It was pretty simple even for someone who hasn’t sewn in ages.”

Want your own Green Lady Bag? You can enter the frequent drawings on Green Bag Lady’s site to win one — or make one yourself by using this pattern** and watching this instructional video.** Upcycling whatever unused fabric you’ve got on hand — whether it’s old curtains or a skirt you no longer wear — will keep perfectly good cloth out of the landfills while reducing disposable trash too.

Image via The Daily Ocean

**You are leaving the FilterForGood Web site. The Brita Products® Company is not responsible for the content or data collection of that independent site.