Choosing Reusable Shopping Bags Wisely

I recently read an interesting post from the Wall Street Journal
by Ellen Gamerman called "An Inconvenient Bag"

Below is an excerpt from this post.

"The green giveaway of the moment -- the reusable shopping bag -- is a case study in how tricky it is to make products environmentally friendly.
It's manufactured in China, shipped thousands of miles overseas, made with plastic and could take years to decompose. It's also the hot "green" giveaway of the moment: the reusable shopping bag.The bags usually are printed with environmental slogans as well as corporate logos and pitched as earth-friendly substitutes for the billions of disposable plastic bags that wind up in landfills every year."

This article goes on to state that actually these bags create a much larger problem, as they are free so usually still end up in the landfill where they actually take longer to decompose than the regular disposable bags. In my opinion it is another clear example where large corporations take a good idea and turn it into a nightmare. What they do is tout themselves as doing something good and green while serving up cheap advertising, customer loyalty (people hesitate to shop at Wal-Mart with their Publix shopping bag), and still promoting mass produced in China products. I recently had a friend compare my bags to the .99 cent ones she bought at one of her favorite corporate stores which flanked their logo. She seemed surprised that I was not offering my bags up for retail at a similar price even though, she knows I am a small business using cottage industry, employing local artists, and practicing fair trade.
I really want to encourage people to think about what it means when you buy a .99 cent shopping bag displaying a corporate logo. Using reusable shopping bags is a great step in aiding the environment but lets take it one step further and think about where they are produced, how they are produced and by what materials.
There are a lot of great reusable shopping bags out there by small businesses for under 15.00.
Mine are unique and can be found at http://www.kozykarma.com/. There are also sites under names like eco bags, eco sak and many others to choose from.

The Spur of the Moment Shopping Bag

I really want to explain the difference between my shopping bag and others on the market.

My shopping bag isn't really designed for those large weekly shops, although a few of them can certainly do the trick as they are the same size as all the others out there.

My theory is that change is difficult, so start slow and painless. That's why this shopping bag zips up into itself into a wallet size pouch. You merely keep this in your purse all the time. So, voila, every time you make an impromptu stop in the market for a couple of items, in the convenience store, in the pharmacy, the book store, anywhere you drop in on the spur of the moment, you have this bag with you.

How many times a week do you make a spur of the moment stop? How many times to you go in the store and realize your shopping bags are on the floorboard of the van or car? This is just a easy fix and feels so great at the checkout counter when you actually have your shopping bag in your purse. Buy one and give it a try. I know you'll be glad you did.

Just go to www.kozykarma.com to have a look at all our different designs.

Corporate Honesty

I have been working on a reusable shopping bag for the last couple of months. During this process I have done lots of research on plastic bags and also on the replacement of those with reusable ones. It's amazing at how the vast majority of companies out there are replacing
disposable plastic with reusable plastic. And also with all this talk of fair trade, how many companies are producing these reusable plastic bags in China which has the poorest human rights rating in the world. It does seem that old habits are hard to break. I have realized how difficult it is to make a 100% green product. Those who claim to really need to take a close look at themselves. I've noticed even those making reusable plastic bags and manufacturing in China are making some pretty outrageous claims as to how "green" they are and how "fair trade" they are. I'm using only cottage industry and cotton for my bags. However, at this time it is not organic cotton as price is a factor. I realize my limitations. We can only try our best to do all
we do with integrity and honesty. I wish some of the bigger corporations would try a little harder to be realistic and honest about their manufacturing processes.

The purpose of this blog is to post all interesting information I find about things people are doing to move forward in a "green" direction and how we are all working together to create a healthier earth.