Reusable Shopping Bag Madness in Australia
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 04.17.06
Our poor long suffering Tips Editor keeps sending me tips about some ‘clever’ Australian reusable shopping bag concept. And I don’t find time to post them. Largely because I feel the whole issue has gone off the rails. Yes, Australia consumes around 7 billion disposable bags each year. I abhor it. But now it appears we are headed down a new slippery slope. Everyone, governments included, seem to be offering their own line of reusable shopping bag. There is now even a website, Bagman, that lists, at last count, 17 different suppliers of the things. And it still doesn’t include the likes of EcoEzi and EcoSilk, which sell a similar story. Many, though not all, of these bags are made from nylon, polyester or polypropylene, which will to be with us for the same 500 years, as the very plastic bags they are to suppose replace.
The other day I also saw well meaning folk giving away plastic perspex key tags, which are intended to remind people to take their reusable bags with them, when they go shopping! Don’t get me wrong, ‘reuse’ is brilliant, (my day job is running a reuse centre), but we don’t need to buy a raft of new fossil fuel derived bags just to carry home the groceries. Use an existing day pack, a shoulder pack, a duffle bag, etc. Yeh, really reuse. Or ask the store for some of those hundreds of cardboard boxes the goods arrived in initially. And bear in mind there is little environmental gain in using any sort of reusable bag for carrying groceries, if you’ve arrived at the check-out, laden with a basket or trolley filled with fruit and veggies all bagged individually in plastic. It’s not new, innovative reusable shopping bags we need, it’s living thoughtfully.
We’ve covered the ‘Paper or Plastic?’ debate many times before. And how, sick of the inaction by everyone, a small town in Tasmania was galvanised into dropping plastic shopping bags entirely. And soon this spread into a movement all around the country. That at least has been a good thing.
Hey, I have one of these bags and it's made of non-woven polypropylene. I've done some searching but can't figure out quite where they are recyclable (they claim to be) or what their environmental impact is (to manufacture or trash).
I always liked that Costco just threw the stuff you bought there into the shipping boxes. Makes a lot more sense to me.
No reason the grocery stores couldn't do the same thing.
I am the designer of the ecoezi shopping system and also a shop assistant.
The store where I work offers boxes, free, as an alternative to plastic bags, but often there are not enough to go around, we also offer paper bags as an alternative to the plastic, but at a cost, but I have found if people forget their bags or do not have enough bags to carry their shopping, they have no qualms in using the plastic bags available for free.
We designed the ecoezi shopping system because I found many people forgot their shopping bags when they came to shop, this could be for a number of reasons, but I believe the main one is because most of the reusable bags available are not compact, or convenient to store in a place where you would remember to take them when you shop.
Our design offers 10 strong, compact, machine washable bags, that will last a very long time, and if this design can reduce by even a couple of percent the amount of single use plastic bags used, we are taking a step in the right direction.
Plastic is everywhere!, it is not only used for plastic bags, and reducing the amount of plastic is the aim.
Hi! Our names are Bora and Kelsey.
We are doing a grade 10 project to promote sustainability.
We came to a conclusion that plastic grocery bags are one of the top garbage contributors that aren't necessary.
Beyond getting a mark for our project we became very concerned and aware of this problem; Our plan is to hand out as many reusable bags as possible to grocery shoppers and continue on with encouraging people to keep using them by taking advantage of multiple media sources, which will benefit all of us.
Though, as you may have guessed we are only highschool students and cannot afford a huge fortune. We dare ask for such generosity and a bit of help to svae the environment; we hope you would be willing to donate as many reusable bags as possible, that will at least encourage all consumers to think twice about waste management.
Thank you kindly for your consideration and time.
Wishing the best for our environment, Bora and Kelsey.
You may contact us at:
babalou_148@hotmail.com
Good day!
We are an on-line offset printing company. I'd like to ask permission if I can send a formal introductory letter. I am sorry I don't mean to send a spam. I hope that I can give you a quote on anything like key rings, business cards, letterheads and other advertising materials, we will also be coming up with promotional products. Can you also give us supplier lists for the eco bags and other products which give good prices? Maybe we can add it to our suppliers' list.Please e-mail me at jojo@martinprint.com.au, we have great pricing and high quality printing, it will be a great privilege to be of service to you soon!
Have a Blessed day!
Jojo