As we close the books on 2009, we want to take this opportunity to thank all of you that helped with our mission to reduce the consumption of plastic bags in 2009 - together we eliminated the need for tens of thousands of disposable plastic bags!

We hope that 2010 is even more successful and that we all continue to see more and more people begin to use reusable shopping bags for all of their shopping needs (not just groceries).

For those of you that use reusable bags who are looking to take your grocery shopping to the next level of "green" in 2010, we a simple, yet effective suggestion:  Pay attention to the packaging of the products that you buy.

When you're looking at packaging for groceries, look for those that do the best job of minimizing waste - after all, the packaging for most of the foods we buy is either thrown away or recycled.  Ideally, we should all be buying items that are packaged in recyclable materials.  For example:

• Milk and Juice - Plastic milk jugs are recyclable.  However, food-contaminated paper products cannot be recycled.  This includes wax coated cardboard milk and juice cartons.  Opt for plastic milk and juice jugs when you can or canned juices.
• Pasta - Most pasta aisles in grocery stores have pastas that are packaged in either plastic bags (bad) or cardboard boxes.  The plastic bags are not recyclable.  An added advantage of the cardboard packaging is that it does a better job of protecting your noodles from breaking on the trip home.
• Vegetables - The plastic bags that frozen vegetables come in are not recyclable.  When possible, purchase your vegetables fresh (and use a reusable produce bag to transport them instead of a plastic one) or buy canned veggies since the cans are recyclable.

There are countless other examples that you will notice if you keep these things in mind next time your cruising the aisles at your local grocer.  Simply ask yourself, "Is what I'm putting in my shopping cart also able to go in my recycling bin?"  If not, see if you can find a better alternative.

Like most eco-conscious choices, these are relatively minor changes that you may have to make from your usual behavior, but the combined impact that we can all have by making these easy changes is huge.

All of us at Reusable Bags Depot would like you wish you all a happy and healthy 2010!  Happy New Year!

Photo Credit:  Bob Jagendorf

The holiday season is fast approaching and with it comes a big jump in the number of trips that we all have to make to grocery stores, malls, and other shopping centers. A recent report released in Australia shows that 9 out of 10 shoppers are now using reusable shopping bags for their shopping and based on personal observations, the numbers appear to be increasing here in the US.

However, we all know that the holidays provide some unique shopping experiences - times when a quick stop at the store on the way home from work is necessary to get some last minute supplies for a party you are hosting or when you happen to be out and stumble upon a perfect gift for a loved on. This kind of unplanned shopping often results in the use of a disposable plastic bag.

Our foldable bags pack small and are perfect for keeping in a purse or pocket for use on unplanned trips to the store

Our foldable reusable bags and ChicoBag rePETe bags offer the ideal solution. Both bags are extremely lightweight and pack down in to small stuff sacks, allowing you to put them in your purse and completely forget that they are there until you find yourself on one of those unplanned shopping trips. If you don't carry a purse, don't worry - they're small enough to put in a coat pocket or glove box in your car without getting in the way either.

So as you're out shopping this holiday season, whether it's preparing for a Thanksgiving feast or shopping for gifts, keep the health of our planet in mind and don't forget your reusable bags. We can hope that by this time next year, the US won't be too far behind Australia in terms of the percentage of shoppers that regularly use reusable bags.

Another big problem in terms of our environment that the holiday season presents is the extra waste that we all generate. I think we've all been there in years past - the day after a party or holiday celebration where we take the trash out and ask ourselves "Where did all this extra trash come from?" According to the recycling center at Stanford University, Americans throw away 25% more waste during the holiday period between Thanksgiving and New Years. This adds up to about 25 tons of additional garbage.

To help do your part, here are a few things you can do:

• Limit your use of wrapping paper. Instead, use things like reusable gift bags. If every American family were to wrap just 3 presents this holiday season in reusable materials, we could save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields! If you must wrap gifts, opt for paper made from recycled material and make sure you recycle the paper that does get used.
• Recycle everything you can! If you throw a party, make sure everyone that attends knows where to put empty bottles and cans to be recycled and remember that most packaging for gifts can be recycled.
• Encourage eco-friendly living with the gifts you give. Some people simply are not aware of the stress we are putting on our environment every day. If you know someone like that, buy them a book that may help convince them to make some changes or take it a step further and buy them some sort of reusable product.

Finally, all of us here at Reusable Bags Depot would like to be among the first to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful holiday season!

Yesterday I made my weekly trip to the local grocery store and was pleasantly surprised to see more people walking in and out of the store with reusable grocery bags. The transition is gradual, but it's becoming more evident that the days of plastic bags being the preferred means for transporting groceries are limited. The environmental benefits of reusable bags over plastic is widely discussed, but I rarely hear about how they make shopping easier. To be more specific - they carry quite a bit more than plastic bags and are easier to carry.

However, many people (including the baggers at my local grocer), don't take full advantage of this. The limited carrying capacity of plastic bags and their disposable nature has led to the development of some bad habits that are hard to break. I know that 5 reusable shopping bags are generally enough to carry everything I'll buy on a given trip to the store, because when it comes to packing, I know I can get at least twice the capacity of plastic. Here are a few guidelines for filling reusable bags at your grocer.

1. Don't bag the big stuff - I remember when I was growing up and would have to unload the groceries from Mom's trunk every week - the gallons of milk that she bought were always in plastic bags, despite the fact they they had handles and were pretty easy to carry on their own. Things that have handles on them or are big enough to carry on their own simply don't need to be in a bag, do they?
2. Reusable grocery bags carry 2-3 times more - Plastic bags are weak, fairly small, and have short handles that make them awkward to carry when they're completely full. Reusable bags are just the opposite - they're big, strong, and have longer handles that make them easy to carry. 2 liter bottles of soda are a good example. A plastic bag will carry two of them and nothing more. Reusable bags can easily carry 4 of them, and will probably still have room for some smaller items.
3. General "bag packing strategies" still apply - you just have more space to work with. Heavy items go on the bottom. Similar items should be packed together (our insulated reusable bags are great for carrying cold & frozen foods home or to the cabin). Standing boxes up maximizes the available space in the bag. And so on…

Next time you're at the store and you see the bagger reaching for plastic bags because they think your bags are full, keep these things in mind, and don't be afraid to give the bagger some help.

Also, if you have some bag packing tips that others might find useful, please share them!

Telluride, CO was one of the 31 towns that helped eliminate the need for over 5 million plastic bags

On September 1, 2009, the first Ski Towns Reusable Bags Challenge came to an end. The results were announced early this week, and the town of Basalt, Colorado was declared the winner. Basalt will receive $10,000 worth of solar panels from Alpine Bank and PCL Construction to use on a local school.

The contest, organized by the Colorado Association of Ski Towns (CAST), began on March 1 with the overall goal of increasing the use of reusable shopping bags and raising more awareness about the negative impacts that plastic bags have. A total of 31 ski towns took part in the challenge, the majority of which are located in Colorado.

Results were calculated on a per capita basis over the six month period and every town that finished in the top 3 reported saving over 40 plastic bags per person by shopping with reusable bags.

In total, CAST estimates that the 31 towns that participated in the challenge eliminated the consumption of over 5 million single-use plastic bags in a 6 month period.

Sources: Vail Daily, Summit Daily News, The Durango Telegraph, Photo Credit: J. Stephen Conn

On August 18, Seattle Voters will vote on the proposed plastic bag tax

On August 18, 2009, the city of Seattle will attempt to be the next major city in the US to take political measures to reduce the consumption of disposable plastic bags. Last year, Mayor Greg Nickels proposed a 20-cent plastic bag tax that would be charged to consumers who used plastic bags supplied by the store. Customers that bring their own bags, whether they be old plastic bags or reusable shopping bags, would not be charged any tax. The idea is that people will be adverse to paying the tax and will begin to bring their own bags, which will reduce the city's consumption of plastic bags in the long run.

That measure was quickly passed by the Seattle City Council but was met with opposition from opponents, who received $1.4 million dollars in funding from the plastics industry. The majority of the funds came from the American Chemistry Council who's members include major oil companies and plastic bag manufacturers. Of course, this opposition is to be expected as these companies stand to lose a lot of money if the tax is passed.

The opposition has been successful in forcing the issue to be decided by the general public in the vote scheduled for August 18.

Government involvement in the plastic bag issue is nothing new (for more info see our previous post). In every case, plastic bag taxes have been successful in reducing the consumption of plastic bags. Although I'm sure you are familiar with the negative issues associated with the use of plastic bags, let me remind you of a few:

• 90 percent of all grocery bags used are plastic, which contributes to about 5 trillion plastic bags being used each year worldwide.
• The average American family accumulates 50 plastic bags in one month of grocery shopping
• Plastic bags can take up to 1,000 years to degrade in landfills
• Plastic bags that don't make it to landfills end up in waterways and as litter throughout the world
• The United Nations Environmental Program estimates that each square kilometer of the ocean contains over 13,000 pieces of plastic. This posionous material is then eaten by sea life and birds who ingest the toxic chemicals. As a result, those same chemicals are now working their way in to the human food chain
• Each year, millions of fish, birds, and mammals die as a result of consuming plastic directly from plastic bags or from consuming microscopic pieces of plastic that may have come from plastic bags
• The production of 1 billion plastic bags requires the consumption of 12 million barrels of oil. Carry that ratio out over the estimated 5 trillion plastic bags that the world consumes, and you're talking about 600 million barrels of oil used each year just to produce plastic bags

Our Reusable Shopping Bags are the ideal alternative to plastic

We can't do anything to un-do the damage that has already been done, but that does not mean that we can't make changes for the future. Opponents of the plastic bag tax use a variety of tactics to try to convince people that the tax will be ineffective or will be unfair to low-income families. History has shown that similar anti-plastic bag campaigns can be successful in reducing plastic bag consumption. Of course, these same people also fail to recognize that they're already paying for the use of plastic bags. Do they think grocers get plastic bags for free? Of course not. They simply cover their costs for the plastic bags by adding a little more to the price of the foods they sell (which is also why a number of grocery stores offer a refund to customers who bring their own bags).

Claiming that the plastic bag tax is unfair to low income families is equally transparent. When you consider that every reusable shopping bag can carry 2 to 3 times as much as a plastic bag and can be used for years before needed to be replaced, some simple math will show you that it will actually be cheaper for consumers to purchase reusable bags than to continue paying for plastic bags. Incidentally, the same argument can be made regardless of a plastic bag tax, so long as you shop at a grocery store that provides a refund for bringing your own bags - in the three years that I've been using reusable shopping bags, I've gotten more in refunds from grocery stores than I spent on the initial investment.

For more information about the Seattle Plastic Bag Tax campaign, you can visit the Green Bag Campaign website. If you aren't a resident of Seattle but want to voice your opposition to plastic bags, you can sign the petition to eliminate the use of plastic bags at Target stores throughout the country.

Of course, here at Reusable Bags Depot, we strongly encourage the use of reusable grocery bags, like our organic cotton bags in favor of disposable plastic bags. We hope that the voters in Seattle on August 18th echo our opinion.

Please share your opinion (pro or con) on plastic bag taxes and/or government measures aimed at reducing plastic bag use below. We'd love to hear from you and get some conversation started about an issue that will likely be in the news in many more cities, states, and countries in the future.

I received an email from a friend yesterday asking about my plans for Labor Day weekend which brought me to the realization that, unfortunately, the summer is nearing its end.  The end of the summer is associated with the beginning of a new school year in many households, so I'd like to take a moment to discuss a few ways that students and parents can be more environmentally friendly this year as it relates to school.

It's almost that time...back to school. This year, take some steps to be a bit greener by following these tips

First, look for opportunities to buy school supplies made from recycled products (i.e. notebook paper) or to reuse supplies from previous years.  For example, binders and folders that were used last year are likely fully capable of serving the same purpose this year.  Additionally, most college student probably already know about the financial benefits to purchasing used text books, but have you considered that used books are also a more eco-friendly alternative?

Second, you can take some steps to make the typical "brown bag" lunch a little more green.  For starters, beginning to use a reusable lunch bag and reusable sandwich wrap in place of paper and plastic bags can eliminate the need for thousands of paper and plastic bags throughout a child's school years (you can see my related blog post about my experience with our reusable lunch bags and sandwich wraps here).  Not only can this help the environment, but it will save you some money in the long run as well.

Additionally, when you shop for foods to include in lunches, try to find organic and/or locally grown foods.  Organically grown foods are grown in a manner that is much more environmentally friendly (they're also healthier) and locally grown foods are preferable because they generate less pollution during their transport to the store or market.  Finally, make lunches this year a bit healthier and greener by including more whole fruits and vegetables.  The health benefits of eating more fruits and veggies are obvious, but the environmental impact comes in the form of less energy and water required for their production as they are not processed.  Of course, we also encourage you to use reusable grocery bags when you shop.

Third, look for opportunities to be eco-friendly when going to school.  Set up a carpool with other families in the neighborhood or walk or bike to school a few days a week.

In the end, these small, simple steps that we can all take can add up to have a significant impact.  If you have other ideas for green steps that families can take this school year, please share them below.  We'd love to hear from you…

The use of reusable grocery bags has exploded over the past few years, and for good reason. Growing concerns about the negative environmental impact of plastic bags has led many consumers to opt for the use of reusable bags. Reusable bags help prevent the pollution and litter that plastic bags produce which has been shown to contribute to the death of thousands of wild animals every year, as well as numerous other problems. The concerns about plastic bags have recently led to several cities, towns, and even countries to begin taxing or banning their use.

However, if you've followed the news of late, you may be aware of a study that was recently released that pointed to some potential health concerns that reusable bags may present. While the study's findings may be seen as interesting to some, the truth is that the study does nothing to demonstrate that plastic bags are better to use than reusable bags. If you're unsure what I'm talking about, the study I'm referring to was published by a Canadian association and concluded that reusable grocery bags could potentially contribute to contamination of foods that are carried in them, as they provide an environment where bacteria could potentially grow. It is also worth noting that the study was funded by a committee of the Canadian Plastics Industry Association.

So the question is left - does this study actually tell us something we didn't already know? The truth is that it doesn't. And, the study does nothing to say that reusable bags, in and of themselves, are bad. It simply says that the bags, like any other material, can get dirty or contaminated. It doesn't say that using reusable bags will necessarily contaminate your food, nor does it say that they shouldn't be used. It merely points to something that some consumers don't think about very often - these bags could potentially be a place in which bacteria grows…if they aren't kept clean.

In fact, I would argue that, despite the fact that this study was funded by the plastics industry, it actually helps the reusable bag movement by educating consumers even more. Reusable grocery bags are no different than other things that come in contact with our food - our counter tops, cutting boards, utensils, and so on. We all know the importance of keeping those things clean to help prevent contaminating our food, and our shopping bags are no different, which is why we carry a wide selection of washable reusable shopping bags.

When you're being environmentally conscious and using your reusable bags, keep the following in mind:

Keep your bags clean. Wash or disinfect them on a regular basis, just like you do with all the things in your kitchen that you use to prep and cook your food. If you ever notice that your steaks have leaked some juice that is on your bag, wash it before its next use.

If possible, bag meats, fish, poultry, fruits, and veggies separately. Our reusable produce bags are great for keeping fruits and veggies away from products like meats that can leak juices on to them.

Reusable produce bags keep fruits and veggies separate from foods that could leak

Bag all items that could potentially leak in a separate reusable bag. Things like meats that can leak juices, eggs, condiments, etc. should be carried in their own bag.

Finally, regardless of what you use to carry food home from the grocery store, clean your foods before eating them. It never ceases to amaze me how many people will eat an apple without rinsing it off first.

Another way to think about this issue is in terms of the things that we use every day to eat our food - plates, cups, forks, knives, spoons, etc. If not cleaned, they can also lead to food contamination. Does that mean that all of us are going to stop using them in favor of disposable plastic utensils? I didn't think so.

The benefits of reusable bags are clear and despite the knee-jerk reaction that this study may cause initially, hopefully I have helped clear the air. Reusable bags are still better than plastic bags because they offer a sustainable, environmentally friendly way to transport our food and other goods. Using one reusable bag for only one year could potentially eliminate the consumption of over 1,000 plastic bags. When you consider that, the fact that you may need to wash them every once should not be seen as a big deal.

The plastic bag problem has gotten to a point where governments are now stepping in. Around the world, several city and national governments have taken actions aimed at reducing the consumption of plastic bags by their residents and citizens. Some have gone as far as banning plastic bags, although the more common approach is to tax them.  Obviously, these governments are promoting the use of reusable bags after realizing the negative impacts that plastic bags have.

Political measures are in place in several places around the world, such as Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, England, Eritrea, France, India, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Rwanda, Singapore, Somaliland, South Africa, Taiwan, Uganda, and some of the United States.

Ireland's tax on plastic bags, commonly called the "PlasTax" is probably the most famous political action against plastic bags.  The country imposed a 22 cent tax on every single plastic bag use (originally set at 15 cents, but raised in 2007).  The result?  Since 2002, Ireland's plastic bag use has decreased by 90%, or roughly 1 billion fewer plastic bags.  Further, the proceeds from the PlasTax go towards funding environmental projects.  The overwhelming success of this program has led other cities and countries to copy the model with hopes of accomplishing the same thing.  The popularity of the reusable bag has spread to other nations in Europe to the point that it is almost normal for shoppers to bring their own bag - imagine if we could reach that point in the US!

In other parts of the world (e.g. China, South Africa, and Kenya), laws have been passed that control the thickness of plastic bags that are produced - the idea being that requiring bags to be thinner will cut down on petroleum usage and litter problems.  Some thicker plastic bags are still available, but customers wanting to use them are charged.

Plastic Bags were once such a litter problem in South Africa that they were often jokingly referred to as the South African National Flower

In 2003, the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh outlawed plastic bag production outright - imposing a potential 7 year and/or $2,000 fine on anyone caught carrying a plastic bag.  Other areas of France, England, Australia, Singapore, and Bangladesh have also outlawed plastic bags recently.

Closer to home, in March 2008 San Francisco passed a ban on plastic bags in large grocery stores and pharmacy chains.  Stores were forced to switch to paper bags and encourage their customers to use reusable shopping bags.  Other cities across the country are considering similar bans or programs aimed at reducing the consumption of disposable plastic bags. Many cities have already passed bills with plans to enact plastic bag bans or similar programs within the next 18 months.

Although these programs all sound like strides in the right direction to curb our production and consumption of disposable plastic bags, some critics argue that these programs do little to address our consumption of disposable bags in general.  After all, many of the people that can no longer use plastic bags in San Francisco are now going home with paper bags - is that necessarily better?  The point is valid, but the important part of these programs is that something is being done.  Far more plastic bags are used every year than paper bags, so it makes sense to start with them - plus paper bags are much more likely to be recycled than plastic bags.

The bottom line is that it is all good news.  The fact that governments are stepping in to address the issues around plastic bag use should tell us all something - WE NEED TO STOP USING THEM!  Whether or not you live in an area that has programs in place to discourage the use of plastic bags, you can never go wrong by bringing your own reusable shopping bag with you.  End of story.

I bring my lunch to work almost every day, and have done so for as long as I can remember… even back to grade school. I've used a variety of things to carry my lunch for the day - everything from a G.I. Joe lunch box, reusing old shopping bags that I had acquired over time…even the generic brown paper bag.  Sandwiches were transported in plastic sandwich bags or wrapped in plastic wrap.  Looking back now, I'm amazed at how much paper and plastic I've likely used over the years simply by bringing my lunch to work…and I'm not alone.

Reusable Lunch Bags - Now in Stock

Beyond the environmental and economical implications of this method, there were always the random days where I didn't have a bag for my lunch or didn't have a way to carry my sandwich to work.  Thankfully, I've solved these problems now by using a reusable lunch bag and one of our reusable sandwich wraps.

Now I come to work everyday with my lunch in one of our large reusable lunch bags, and I'm a big fan of it.

The bag is made from a durable, washable cotton that shows no signs of wear after 6 months of use.  It's plenty big to carry all kinds of lunches, and the Velcro-like closure up top keeps everything in one place.  I've carried everything from a simple sandwich, fruit, chips, and yogurt lunch to all the fixings I need to make a fresh salad, baked potato, peanut butter and banana sandwich (my favorite), or similar lunch that tastes that much better when all the ingredients don't sit around, together, for hours.  The bag also has a useful carrying handle that comes in handy on days when my hands are full with other things - like evenings after I stop at the grocery store on the way home and have my hands full with my reusable grocery bags.

The reusable sandwich wrap is equally as impressive.  It's simple, yet effective.

Reusable Sandwich Wraps - New Styles Available

I've put sandwiches in there that I didn't think would fit - certainly sandwiches that wouldn't have fit in the average plastic sandwich baggie - with no problem.  It cleans easily - usually just a quick wipe with a damp cloth or a quick rinse in the sink, and the durability of the material and Velcro-like closure do not appear to be an issue after months of use.  However, my favorite part about the sandwich wrap is the "place mat" that it turns in to when you open it - plenty big to catch all my crumbs and mess that I used to have to clean up every day after lunch.  Now, all I have to do is fold the wrap back up and rinse it off when I get home.  It also makes a great, sanitary "prep" area on those days where I bring a bunch of fresh ingredients that I put together at the office.

If you think about it, the average full-time employee in the US works about 50 weeks a year, 5 days a week.  That's 250 days a year.  Let's say they don't bring their lunch EVERY day, but most days - 90% of the time, for example.  So, they bring a lunch to work 225 days out of the year.  For those using my old method, or the "traditional" brown paper bag/sandwich in a plastic baggie, you're looking at roughly 450 paper and/or plastic bags used by that person every year (figuring one bag to carry the lunch and at least one plastic bag to carry a sandwich, veggies, chips, etc.).  Carry that number out over a 20 year career, and you're talking about 11,250 bags over the career of that person.  That's over 11,000 paper and plastic bags that can be avoided, and should be.

Or, consider kids that bring their lunch to school every day from grade school through high school - 12 years.  All those bags add up…to the point that it isn't too far out of question to assume that a family with one working adult and two children, all of who bring their lunch from home every day, could use over 30,000 bags just to bring their lunches with them every day.

If you're like me and enjoy bringing your own lunch to work, I strongly encourage you to consider a more eco-friendly way to do so.  A growing number of people are beginning to use reusable bags for their shopping and are adopting more "green" living strategies in their homes and daily life, but many of us (like me) fail to think about the things we do, literally every day, that can easily be more eco-friendly.

It is truly amazing how much of an impact we can make while we do one of American's favorite activities - shopping. Of course, we encourage people to use reusable grocery bags, but that is only one of the many things you can do during your weekly trip to the store to be an eco-conscious shopper.

Look for items that use minimal packaging or use packaging made from recycled materials. In either case, try to buy products that come packaged in materials that are recyclable. This helps cut down the amount of waste that we generate as well as reduce our consumption of raw materials and energy.

Additionally, shopping for locally grown and/or organic foods is a more eco-friendly approach.

Locally grown foods don't have to be transported as far to get to the market. This means less fuel is consumed and less pollution is generated in bringing the items to the store. Most locally grown foods are also organic, meaning they are raised and harvested without the use of pesticides or other harmful chemicals. By purchasing these foods over commercially grown foods, you support farming methods that are better for our planet in the long run. There are some other side benefits of purchasing locally grown and/or organic foods that are not necessarily environmentally focused, but are good nonetheless. Supporting local farmers directly impacts your local economy and locally grown foods are usually fresher, which translates to food that tastes better and lasts longer.

Please support our fight on unnecessary plastic and continue to take your reusable shopping bags with you every time you shop.