We make junk precious. We help women start a cottage industry by turning plastic food packet waste into gorgeous fashion hand bags.

We make and sell handbags made from recycled packaging

The Junk Wave crafts and sells, online, one of a kind handbags made from recycled food packaging: chip, lolly, ice-cream, chocolate, pasta, rice, etc. Our material comes from street and beach clean-ups and from friends and family who collect for us. Every piece of plastic used in the bags is saved from entering landfill or ocean. Each bag represents a huge environmental saving and is a metaphor of ethics and social justice for everyone and everything under the sky.

A self-funded community project of empowerment and up-skilling, Megan Bayliss of The Junk Wave works with groups of women, many Indigenous and many with barriers to full participation in community life, to produce beautiful designer bags that sell the world over.

The Junk Wave is a business with a sustainable 3P (People, Planet and Profit) business model. We are fair and we believe in helping others. To this end, the money from bag sales divides between the women artisans and the organisations that host bag making workshops. But most importantly, part of the sale of the bag supports other community programs that look after people in their own communities and the social and physical environment of those people.

Our bags are story bags: they contain stories of sharing and healing and come with the love of the women who developed new life and social skills while making them. Woven while the women talk among themselves, each bag carries the stories of the weavers: sad, happy, curious, frustrated, empowered, scary, bold, cultural and interesting.

Your bag comes with a card made from recycled materials, signed and briefly storied by the artisans. Your bag also comes with our collective wish for you to make the world a better place. But wait…there’s more…just as this program value adds to the women artisans who weave the bags we value add to our bags. Your bag will come with  special little value added gift made by the weavers: a little something to help you be even more different and special than you already are.

Buy a purse for a curse: help build pathways out of poverty for Australian women. Get yourself a good feeling from helping a grass-roots and self-funded community project, a drop dead gorgeous fashion bag AND a surprise gift to wear and show off.

Buy our bags here and help an Australian woman develop her own cottage industry, her pathway out of poverty, through recycled craft skills today.

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The Junk Wave is on a Mission

The Junk Wave makes junk precious.

Through intentional teaching and teachable moments, we spread our recycling passion to protect oceans and landfill from toxic household waste so that tomorrow’s children can experience a healthy and safe, animal rich, environment. [Continue Reading]

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Turn packets into gorgeous handbags

It is Cairns turn to hold a master class for turning household plastic waste (like chip and biscuit packets) into gorgeous fashion hand bags.

So simple once you know the techniques, save hundreds of dollars. Craft your own designer handbag: one of a kind and very trendy.

Everywhere I go, I am stopped by random people and asked,”Where did you get that beautiful hand bag from?”

If you are like me, you will relish in the delight of replying, “I made it myself.” [Continue Reading]

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