Irene, 2011 ABAN graduate, holds a 'Blessing Bag.'

A Ban Against Neglect (ABAN) is a nonprofit based on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, N.C., and Accra, Ghana. This organization recycles used plastic bags into products such as purses and bracelets.

Pure water in Ghana is mainly distributed through these plastic bags, which are discarded after use. About 60 tons of plastic waste are discarded on the streets of Accra daily. The products created by ABAN are sold to support a two-year program for marginalized young women in Ghana.

ABAN’s two-year program provides young Ghanaian women with basic schooling in math and English, as well as vocational and entrepreneurial skills. The women also receive social services and health counseling. The program graduated its first class of six women in July 2012. There are currently 20 young women participating in the program.

ABAN products are handmade by the women in its two-year program, as well as local tailors and seamstresses. The purses are made from used plastic water bags and hand-dyed batik fabric. Bracelets are made from recycled paper and glass beads. The proceeds from product sales fund the school-based program. The products are sold in places such as Whole Foods in Durham, Cameron's and Foster's Market in Chapel Hill. 

One of the founders, Callie Brauel, is a University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill alumna. She studied abroad at the University of Ghana in 2008, where she noticed that women on the street did not have a way to create a sustainable income.

Brauel and the two other co-founders, Rebecca Brandt and Emmanuel Quarmyne, began working with women living on the street to create products out of the plastic waste. Callie returned to UNC-CH and won the Stedman Social Entrepreneurship Award at the 2010 Carolina Challenge, which granted her $15,000 to formally start ABAN.