As all this rubbish flows all throughout our oceans, it is sometimes eaten by tiny creatures who’re then eaten by bigger creatures. Further up the food chain it goes until larger birds, fish plus other animals literally die from ingestion of chemical compounds that are not present within Eco Bags. This is often where non environmentally friendly bags wind up after the blow away from us. Therefore whereas we might not be anywhere near the sea, we can be impacting it in our daily life.

People are starting to try and do things to prevent these enormous garbage patches in our oceans. As for instance, Karin Schollin at reports that Electrolux, the Swedish vaccuum maker, is aiming to literally try and is holding an art event to help increase public understanding of what’s going with these garbage islands.

Several solutions are being employed and several more can help. We do not need to be specialists or activists to do something as small as switch to eco or purchase products with less to throw away. Everyone is just one human being, Reusable Grocery Bags but while we begin to accumulate an increasing number of individuals taking action to end this madness, we can transform the future we’re looking at nowadays.

As you can see, the garbage gyres within the 7 oceans are beyond disturbing. People are taking action in huge ways, though, although the greatest part is that we can all do something to make an impact. That is how we can change the world just through our daily choices in life.

It turns out that Earth’s oceans have what are known as gyres, currents which stream across the planet. Previously, numerous plants and animals in our seas relied on these to travel through the world’s marine ecosystems. Today, however, these systems are stuffed with garbage. Even Wikipedia shows that the Pacific Trash Vortex is not a fabrication of our imagination. There are actually huge quantities of plastics, Reusable Shopping Bags toxic chemical substances and several other non biodegradable man made materials floating in the earth’s seas these days.

The good news is that BYOB momentum is growing rapidly in 2010.  If you haven’t heard yet, the California legislature has proposed a bill; AB 1998 (to be voted on by the Senate in August), which would ban single-use bags sold in supermarkets, drugstores, convenience, and liquor stores and take full effect by 2013.  Even “The Governator”, Arnold Schwarzenegger, said that he would sign the bill if it makes it to his desk.   This would be a gigantic victory for all friends of the environment to have the most populated state, in the 3rd largest country in the world, to put a ban on single-use plastic bags. Considering that China first cracked down on plastic bags in 2008 and Ireland legislative efforts to reduce plastic bag usage began in 2002, it is so wonderful to hear that California lawmakers have brought this bill to the table.

In the USA, cities from San Francisco to Los Angeles to Washington DC have passed or enacted laws that either tax consumers for the use of plastic bags or ban them altogether, but California would be the first US state to take action if this bill were to pass.  Believe it or not, even legislators from the state of Texas have proposed legislation that would add a 7-cent tax per single-use bag.   It’s so exciting that there’s a possibility that both Texas and California could soon have laws in place to fight the plastic bag epidemic.  Efforts by individuals and governments to reduce large-scale use of disposable shopping bags is a great way to motivate people and spread the word about the positive benefits of eco friendly reusable bags.

Plastic bags can take up to 1000 years to biodegrade completely, and before that it just breaks down in to smaller and smaller toxic pieces that end up in our food, water, and soil. Biodegradable bags are a great alternative, once discarded in landfill sites, the exposure to sunlight, oxygen and heat will convert these bags into water, carbon dioxide, mineral salt and biomass. Like a fallen leaf, it will disappear over time and leave NO HARMFUL RESIDUE in the soil.  Plastic bags end up in our landfills and often get tangled and cause permanent damage in waste management machinery. Millions if not billions of other bags end up as urban litter and usually find their way in to rivers, lakes, streams, and the ocean.  Animals, especially marine animals, get entangled in plastic bags, and/or ingest them and often suffocate or starve to death.

So the solution brings us back to BYOB, which is incredibly easy. Just remember to use eco friendly reusable shopping bags or wholesale recycled bags, or reuse an old bag, period. Be sure to keep extra reusable bags in the trunk of your car or in your backpack, because you’ll want to make sure they are accessible when you need them.  You can also give them to your friends as a reminder to BYOB.  Of course, always remember to recycle whenever the opportunity presents itself, recycling is always a victory for the environment.  Adopting a BYOB habit in our individual lives and businesses is really the best way to ensure we are truly part of the solution rather than the problem.  Now is the time to go out and lead by example.

An estimated 100 billion plastic shopping bags are consumed each year in the USA, according to the Wall-Street Journal.  Most plastic bags end up in landfills and the rest often end up in rivers, ponds, lakes, streams or in the sea, where animals can ingest or become entangled in them.  Considering how many shopping bags are consumed and wasted each year, the time is now to spread the word about the positive benefits of eco-friendly reusable shopping bags.  After all, most of us want to give back to our families, friends and communities as often as possible.

Adopting a BYOB strategy in our individual shopping habits is a simple way to do just that.  If we can raise awareness at this time, the positive impact for the environment is incalculable for 2010 and well into the future.  Several cities have already made gradual but significant progress in promoting the use of eco friendly reusable bags in recent years.  Motivating consumers with plastic and paper bag bans, discounts at the register for reusable bag usage and tax motivations are a few to speak of.

Right here in America, the San Jose City Council recently passed one of the nation’s strictest bans on plastic and paper shopping bags.   This is a big victory for the Bay Area, which has 1 million plastic bags per year accumulating in and along the San Francisco Bay.  San Jose becomes the latest bay area city to enact some type of ban on disposable shopping bags; others include San Francisco and Palo Alto. Tracy Seipel of the San Jose Mercury News reported that it was actually ONE man who really jump-started the ban, another great example of the power of one person.  Here’s a an excerpt:

“While visiting his sister-in-law in Taipei, (Kansen) Chu (elected to San Jose city council in 2007) went grocery shopping and was surprised to get charged for plastic grocery bags. The next day, he brought his own cloth bags back to the store.  “I guess the question,” said Chu, “was, ‘Why not San Jose?’ ” He began a conversation with the city’s environmental services staff, which later moved to council committee discussions.

Save the Bay’s 4th annual report on the most garbage-strewn sites in the region further demonstrates the need for BYOB.  The 50-year-old environmental advocacy group focused on 10 specific bay-area sites where almost 15,000 plastic bags were retrieved in one day last year in their report.   Here’s an excerpt of an article in the San Francisco Chronicle by Kelly Zito.

According to (Save the Bay’s) research, Californians use about 19 billion plastic bags each year, 3.8 million in the Bay Area. The average use time for the bags – made using about 12 million barrels of oil each year in the United States – is about 12 minutes. In addition to the hundreds of years it can take for a plastic bag to decompose in a landfill, the bags also force downtime when fed into traditional recycling equipment. Typically, the bags get wound into conveyor belts or gears and must be cut out by hand.

Ten US cities have banned plastic bags so far, five within the past year. Even Mexico City enacted a ban on plastic shopping bags, which went into effect in August.  The city of 20 million now faces the realities of effective enforcement, which is not easy when the Mexico City Chamber of Commerce estimates there are 35,000 vendors in Mexico City’s downtown area alone.

Bans on plastic bags aren’t the only effective way to reduce harmful waste caused by disposable bags.  PlasTaxes, which tax consumers at the register for using plastic bags when shopping, were first introduced by the Irish.  John Roach of National Geographic reported in 2008 on the worldwide momentum that’s been building since Ireland instituted a PlasTax in 2003.  The Irish showed they could reduce plastic bag consumption by 90% or more.   Momentum is growing across the world, particularly in America.  From Washington, DC to Edmonds, WA to North Pole, AK, communities and governments are spurring an international trend to reduce the harmful environmental effects of disposable shopping bags.  In the great state of Hawaii, the legislature is currently considering a bill to ban single-use plastic bags (SUP), or to establish a small fee to use SUP bags.

Even major retail stores like Target and CVS Pharmacy are taking action by enacting discounts at the register for customers who choose to BYOB or just carry-out their items without a bag.  For the naysayers, it’s convenient to ignore recent momentum in reducing disposable bag waste.  But to some, the wide-spread adoption of eco-friendly reusable bags is inevitable.   Look at the way smoking is becoming taboo in America.  Indoor smoking bans have caught on like wild-fire.  In the same way, who is to say the use of disposable bags won’t become taboo at some point in the (hopefully near) future?  The use of eco-friendly reusable grocery bags is definitely gaining steam.  Our individual choices to bring our reusable bags can go a lot farther than we think.  That’s what BYOB is all about.

Of course, plastic and paper bags should be recycled and it’s important to remember most large retailers including Albertsons and Wal-Mart will recycle plastic bags for you (just need to bring them your accumulated stash).  That being said, a BYOB shopping strategy can make your life so much easier because there is no longer a need to accumulate that cupboard full of plastic bags or figure out what and when to do something about it.  Keeping a few non woven bags in your car or backpack is a good way to ensure you have them when needed. So give back this holiday season by remembering to BYOB!   Whether it be at a convenience store, the mall, or while grocery shopping, we can make a difference for the environment and help raise awareness one transaction at a time.  In the fight to eliminate disposable shopping bag waste, 2010 is our moment.   Have a great rest of the year!

These interest groups, including plastics manufacturers and deforesters, are irresponsibly further stoking germophobia caused by the swine flu. What they neglected to mention is that simply washing your reusable bag after it comes into contact with contaminants will avoid any and all issues. The lumber and plastics industries have resorted to fear mongering to protect their interests, and they are doing it in both an inappropriate and unethical fashion.

Reusable bags are no different than other improvements in consumer products throughout history. During the Second Industrial Revolution (1890s) terry cloth replaced linen as the primary material for bath towels. Users experienced a better, more pleasant experience all around. However, as any parent knows when they unpack their child’s summer camp luggage, towels must be washed. This has now become second nature, and most people wash and dry their towels regularly. This avoids mold, bacteria, and anything else that may be a cause for concern. Simply washing your green reusable bag after they come into contact with anything suspect will have the same effect and render the report’s concerns completely unfounded.

The benefits of reusable bags outweigh any and all concerns. Green bags are longer lasting and don’t fill landfills or destroy forests like their plastic and paper counterparts. At last count over 203 billion (nine zeroes), have been used this year. The effects of this are drastic and far reaching. First, the raw materials used in making disposable plastic bags include complex oils that can actually poison rivers and streams. Next, these plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photo degrade, which means while the molecules may get smaller and smaller they never actually leave the Earth.

The opposite is true of reusable bags. They are made from RPET fabric or non woven material, which not only use recycled raw materials, but return harmlessly to the earth when you are done with them. Jason Tunick, of Factory Direct Promos, an industry leader in reusable eco friendly bags, says, “Businesses of all sizes should switch over to reusable bags today. The environmental toll taken by one time use bags is simply too great to go unchecked. Our bags are made from recyclable materials, are long lasting, and leave a drastically smaller footprint on the Earth. Not only that, we help strengthen our customers’ marketing messages as well.” His sentiments are echoed by others in the industry.

Reusable bags aren’t just great for the environment, they make economic sense too. Business owners have found that they can actually use recycled bags to entirely replace their plastic stock. The green bags are very affordable, and leave their customers promoting their marketing message for years to come. Don’t fall prey to the confusing message being sent by the special interest groups, reusable bags are harmless, eco friendly, and the only alternative to disposable bags. Go green today!

Reusable grocery bags (also known as eco bags) have seen their popularity surge in the past few years. Celebrities from Aretha Franklin to Lindsay Lohan, and everyone in between, can be seen sporting them around town. What makes these reusable bags so great? Most importantly, the reduced environmental impact reusable bags have over disposable paper and plastic ones. Next, these bags are far more useful and customizable over disposables. Reusable grocery bags make a compelling case to vendors and merchants that still haven’t made the switch yet.

The environmental impact of opting for reusable non woven bags is the easiest to discern. According to the counter at Factory Direct, so far this year nearly 360 billion (360 with nine zeroes behind it!) have been wasted this year in the U.S. alone. These bags are filling garbage dumps, polluting rivers, streams, and waterways, and getting caught in trees at a truly alarming pace. Far too many landscapes are ruined by every present plastic bags tumbling through the air. The worst part is these bags never biodegrade (they photo degrade, meaning the molecules get smaller but never disappear. Within the disposable plastic bag niche (which should be moved away from completely) paper bags avoid much of these problems. However, they have plenty of their own.

First, we are running out of forests and jungles at an alarming pace. In 1999 alone, 14 million trees were cut down to produce paper bags for America alone. This has a two-fold effect. Not only does producing these bags produce greenhouse gases, the Earth is then less prepared to fight off these gasses due to the loss of trees. Next, according to several industry sources paper bags actually require four times the energy of plastic bags to be produced.

Paper and plastic are out and reusable bags are in. The disposable bags simply have too much of a negative environmental impact to warrant their continued use. The reusable grocery bags aren’t only better for the Earth, they are better for both users and marketers alike. A quality reusable bag can take over two years of normal use. This means that when a merchant gives one away, their customer becomes a walking, talking advertisement for a good amount of time. Since the material in eco bags is much more durable, a wider range of eye-catching colors, logos, and features can be used, making the marketing message that much stronger. Instead of having a one color logo on an ugly peach plastic bag, why not offer your customers a bright beautiful bag emblazoned with your brand? Doesn’t a custom branded nonwoven bag with 4 colors and a cell=phone holder built into the strap send a better message than seeing your brand on a plastic bag clogging a rain gutter somewhere?
Disposable bags are on the way out, and it’s for the better. All stakeholders involved, including the environment, customers, and store owners all stand to gain from the shift to reusable bags. They pollute less, last longer, and are more durable and better market companies that use them. What’s not to love? Switch to eco friendly bags today.