The group held a birthday celebration in the Lithgow Library on Friday, June 21 where the group brought their sewing machines down so residents could see first hand what the group does.

Lithgow Boomerang Bags coordinator Carol Stevens said it was a day for residents to learn about the group as well as the 'evils' of single use plastic.

"We just want to get that conversation started about not using plastic," she said.

The group which meets at Lithgow Information and Neighbourhood Centre every Friday has an average of five to 10 members who turn up each week.

"We are a small but solid group," she said.

Over the last 12 months the group has held stalls at Cooerwull fete, Hoskins Re-expo and Ironfest.

"We have also visited the Girl Guides, which we would love to do again, we want to do more with the schools within the community," she said.

Since each bag takes around one hour to make, the volunteers recently celebrated 1000 volunteer hours when they successfully completed their 1000th bag.

"It is a great little group, it has a really nice social aspect as well, as you are able to connect with people, it gives you that feeling of purpose and since it is for a good cause you feel really useful," she said.

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Group member Debbie Bailey has been a part of the group since it first began 12 months ago.

"I had just moved back to Lithgow and I love to sew and do things for the environment so I decided to join," she said.

Debbie said she didn't know anyone in the group but they have all become like family now.

"There is something for everyone, you don't need to know how to sew to be apart of the group," she said.

With the bags in such high demand the group is hoping to get more volunteers to join their small group.

"We just can't sew the bags fast enough for the high demand of them, so if we can get more sewers that would be incredible," she said.

"It is just a really good group to get involved in, and you don't always get that."

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