Waste is wealth: bags made from recycled materials a hit

A shop owner on Alibaba's e-commerce platform Taobao found moneymaking opportunities with used woven bags. And by repurposing them into backpacks, wallets and handbags with his own designs, the 26-year-old man could earn 100,000 yuan each month.

As a design major in college, A Zu was inspired to try making handcrafted items using discarded woven bags. Now, his online shop could sell more than 200 of these items on a monthly basis, with prices starting at 40 yuan per piece.

A Zu's daily work is to find samples of different woven bags at the dump, and he said that only those with good-looking or distinctive patterns could be selected as materials for the final products. Usually, after collecting these samples, he will go to refuse reclamation stores to purchase woven bags with a similar pattern as the samples.

From design to finished product, A Zu spent one year to solve difficulties, such as waterproofing as well as wear and tear. When his first product was put on sale, both the design and quality met buyers’ essential requirements.

A Zu said that initially, he made these bags just for fun. As sales went up, he also found recognition and affirmation from customers for his use of recycled woven bags.