What does Subaru do with their leftover airbag fabric?

Being eco-friendly is a huge deal in the automotive industry, and it often goes well beyond simply making vehicles as fuel efficient as possible. While reaching zero emissions is often the goal for a lot of companies, there are plenty of other ways that automakers can make a positive impact in the environment. For example, do you know what Subaru does with their leftover airbag fabric? They upcycle these leftovers to make reusable bags.

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Naturally, making something like an airbag is going to lead to a lot of leftover product. Instead of letting this leftover fabric go to a landfill or come to some other environmentally compromising end, Subaru and Toyoda Gosei – the company that manufactures airbags for Subaru – have teamed up on this new eco-friendly project. They save this fabric from a regrettable conclusion by instead upcycling it into fashionable bags called the “Subaru x Re-S Upcycled Marche Bag.”

The resulting product is a durable bag that provides resistance to both heat and water. The bag stands 21.7 inches tall, 13.4 in. wide and 4.7 in. deep. Before using it, the bag can even be folded down to a square that fits inside your pocket. Not only do these bags save the extra airbag fabric, but they also reduce the necessity for using plastic shopping bags as they’re a reusable alternative. For just $20 USD, they’re an affordable way for you to help make a positive impact on the environment.

What is upcycling?

This process that sees these leftovers turned into a secondary product is known as upcycling. Similar to recycling, it’s an eco-friendly alternative to letting things become waste. It’s the act of reusing something to create a product of a higher quality than the original. These bags from Subaru and Toyota Gosei are just one example of upcycled products. There are all kinds of other examples, on a similar scale to this one and on much smaller scales as well.

Some of the best and most prevalent examples of upcycling include life hacks, like taking the cardboard toilet paper roll and using it to organize the cables behind your entertainment stand. On the other hand, more grandiose examples include creating furniture from objects you might otherwise throw away, like building a shelf out of an old bicycle.