500 billion shopping bags are consumed worldwide per year.  They are lightweight, cheap and convenient to the user, but have a number of detrimental effects. They diminish the natural beauty of the environment, cause the death of marine mammals and birds, and occupy limited landfill space.

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It is of increasing importance that new applications for reusing plastic shopping bag waste are developed. This thesis investigates a reusable function for plastic shopping bags in the field of geotechnical engineering, as a soil reinforcement material.