Reusable Bags News

If you’re looking for a way to rescue the planet, why don’t you consider promotional reusable grocery bags or reusable green bags? A lot of people use plastic bags instead of paper bags today, but those bags all end up inside the landfills. They simply get thrown away, since people don’t see the purpose of them. Sure, many people end up recycling them or reusing them in some way, but many people just perceive them as trash the moment they get their groceries home and unpacked. You don’t have to be one of those people who contributes to landfills as a result of throwing away plastic bags.

Receiving reusable bio bags is straightforward, and so is using them. Largely, they’re wonderful to have around, but there are a few concerns that you’ll have to take into account. One of those is health.

If you’re reusing bags, you’re inserting belongings into them, taking them out, and inserting new things in the next time. The microorganisms from one using can hang around until the next using, which sometimes can put many people at risk. In other words, if you use the bag to carry uncooked meat home, and then use it on your subsequent shopping trip to carry produce home, you could contaminate that produce accidentally.

You don’t need that kind of incident to happen, obviously, so bags should be cleaned regularly. It is also a good idea to have separate bags which you use for specific things, in order that the chance of cross-contamination is narrowed. It may be a bit less convenient remembering what bag is for what sorts of items and ensuring that your groceries get packed appropriately in resuable shopping bags, however food poisoning would be even more bothersome. Don’t take that chance when you can easily evade it. It is possible to label the bags for which you use, or get them in several colors – green for produce, red for meat, etc. Utilize whatever color grouping or other system that works for you.

There are several pros to reusable green bags. As long as you’re vigilant with the sanitation of them, use them for a long time without needing to buy more. You will be keeping disposable bags out of the landfills, and you’ll be saving your grocery store money, also, which can help keep costs down. That’s excellent news for you, and for everybody else who shops there. Plastic bags are a serious expenditure for stores that use them, since they go through so many each and every day. At the time when fewer of them are used, everyone wins – including Mother Earth.

Now that consumers are doing their part to protect the planet, ecological green bags and eco reusable bagsare becoming an established replacement for disposable plastic shopping bags. But, a recent study has shown some of these reusable alternatives could contain unacceptable levels of lead in them.

Recent experiments conducted on bags by independent laboratories at the Publix University of South Florida showed some of the go green reusable bags or green tote bags had lead levels of 194 parts per million. Though this is below the government stipulation of 300 parts per million for most products, it exceeds the stipulated level for children’s products, which is only 100 parts per million.

Tests conducted within one other marketing area for Wegmans grocery stores in five states across the East coast showed concerning quantities of 799 parts per million, substantially higher than the previously mentioned stipulation of 300 parts per million. These bags were removed from the outlets and are no longer being sold. After these results were revealed, more companies surveyed their bags, grocery bagswith many containing less lead, while others exceeded satisfactory amounts.

These results cause shoppers to be concerned, should they or shouldn’t they use the bags? According to experts, the harm is not caused by the |grocery bags reusable properties at the food market, but derives from what transpires when these items are ultimately discarded. At that point, the lead runs the risk of polluting the ground. Since the lead in the bag isn’t the type that can leach easily into food, they still constitute a more suitable option than the plastic bags which most people discard and which clutter landfills.

All round the globe, folks are waking up to the truth that the environment of the planet we live in is being negatively effected through the economic activities that just a century ago seemed routine. We are stopping to consider, as consumers, what we could do to try and resolve the problems the globe faces as one. This is bringing businesses to the forefront as entities that will take charge of the way they function and try and do good for the world with their business procedures. Let’s take a look at some ideas that are effective for patrons and companies alike and find out a few options for taking your business to the next level of eco friendliness.

The public inside the United States has made it obvious that they would like to preserve the environment in sensible ways. Gone are the days when this would have appeared like a trifle because today the research exists to show us that Earth’s environment is definitely negatively effected by many of the worldwide economic activities we participate in. Located in the state of Maryland, The Washington Post (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-breaking-news/maryland/maryland-highway-officials-hav.html) reports how the area authorities have decided to go green with public restrooms, incorporating better design such as floors heated by geothermal means plus much more ecologically aware way of lighting, as well.

In combination with what government is bringing about, consumers are making ecologically friendly decisions on their own – even over the holidays. A current commentary by Benjamin Rothfeder of the Half Moon Bay Patch (http://halfmoonbay.patch.com/articles/tips-for-an-eco-friendly-christmas-tree) demonstrates how many people are celebrating Christmas with live, renewable Christmas trees instead of plastic trees. This just goes to show that when given an opportunity, consumers want to do the proper thing and avoid damaging environmental pollutants such as petroleum based plastics that can take so many years to break down inside the average landfill.

Even large business operations such as financial institutions are getting into the eco friendly act. In Rockville, Maryland, the PR Newswire (http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mt-bank-opens-new-eco-friendly-branch-in-rockville-111800764.html) reports that regional M&T Bank is doing what it is able to to design ecologically sound banks that consumers will certainly prefer. By trying to adhere to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design principles established from the United States government, this bank is only one of numerous modern buildings that are being constructed with reduced energy usage in mind.

For your own company, getting with the green times is easier than you would possibly believe. With wholesale reusable bags being so easy for many businesses to offer, it is possible to showcase your cooperation for environmentally sound routines in a simple, cost effective manner. The green custom bags that bear a business logo could be a great conversation topic for patrons, explaining how your business cares about the ecosystem and is doing what it can in promoting sound practices. These along with other eco promotional items are an extremely smart idea for the company that wants to take advantage of consumer appreciation for the environment.

As you can see, companies all over are taking steps to create a better world and consumers have a strong interest in what they are doing. At all levels, people are becoming more aware and better attuned to sensible solutions for environmentally sound economics.

In case you had not already heard, the state of Florida has a rather strange occurrence taking place. A local landfill is sinking into the Earth and, as a result, toxins are expected to leak into the local water supply. This is just one example of how our overflowing landfills are racking up the points against us as we continue to consume and discard, rather than embrace more fully the concept of recycling and reusing. We’ll take a look at the situation in Florida and discuss just how it illustrates the potential for landfills worldwide to end up being real nightmares of an ecological sort.

According to a recent report from WUSF http://www.wusf.usf.edu/news/2010/12/16/sinkhole_under_landfill_is_growing), the radio station for the University of South Florida, it appears that a sinkhole is opening in beneath a landfill that serves Hillsborough County about 20 miles away from Tampa, Florida. While the authorities continue to try and figure out what to do about this problem, it looks like a terrifying one, to say the least. Official measurements say the sinkhole is as deep as a 4 story building is tall. Literal tons of garbage from Tampa Bay area households has already fallen into the hole.

What is a major cause for concern is the fact that leachate could very well begin to leak down into the local water supplies. Leachate is a substance that is a fluid containing unwanted chemical elements, according to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leachate). This type of toxic fluid seeping into the area’s wells is definitely bad news for the drinking water in this part of the Tampa area, but it is also a potential signal of a larger scale problem.

Tampa, Florida is certainly not the only soft soil area in the world where all the tons of human compiled garbage could fall through the earth and directly into the water supply. While solid waste is usually thought of as easier to manage than some other types of human produced pollution, once it begins to break down into leachate, the situation changes. Items like detergent containers and typical plastic shopping bags contain petroleum based chemicals we do not want in our drinking water.

While it is definitely difficult to singlehandedly take on the impact of an entire landfill, these waste disposal areas are all comprised of garbage from many people. That means each of us plays a role in how quickly they are filled. Such choices as using recycled shopping bags instead of typical plastic bags may seem small, but when you consider the way things add up, it has a huge impact. When we choose to recycle by using green shopping bags instead of opting for traditional bags, we are putting a foot forward for a cleaner world.

So while a sinkhole may not open in the Earth beneath a landfill near you any time soon, rest assured that if we take no action similar events are likely to continue happening worldwide. This is why it is not just Florida facing this problem – we all play a role in making daily decisions that impact the planet.

If you’re looking for a way to save the planet, why not consider reusable green bags? Most people use plastic bags instead of paper bags today, but those bags all end up in the landfills. They just get thrown away, because people don’t see the purpose of them. Sure, some people end up recycling them or reusing them in some way, but most people just see them as garbage as soon as they get their groceries home and unpacked. You don’t have to be one of those people who contributes to landfills by throwing away plastic bags.

Getting recycled grocery bags is easy, and so is using them. Overall, they’re great to have around, but there are some issues that you’ll need to consider. One of those is health. If you’re reusing bags, you’re putting things into them, taking them out, and putting other things in the next time. The germs from one using can hang around until the next using, which can put some people at risk. In other words, if you use the bag to carry uncooked meat home, and then use it on your next shopping trip to carry produce home, you could contaminate that produce accidentally.

You don’t want that kind of thing to happen, of course, so bags should be cleaned frequently. It’s also a good idea to have separate bags that you use for certain things, so that the risk of cross-contamination is lessened. It can be a little bit less convenient remembering what bag is for what kinds of items and making sure that your groceries get packed correctly, but food poisoning would be even more inconvenient. Don’t take that chance when you can easily avoid it. You can label the bags that you use, or get them in different colors – green for produce, red for meat, etc. Use whatever color combination or other system works for you.

There are many pros to eco friendly reusable shopping bags. As long as you’re careful with the cleanliness of them, you can use them for a long time without needing to buy more. You’ll be keeping disposable bags out of the landfills, and you’ll be saving your grocery store money, too, which can help keep prices down. That’s good news for you, and for everyone else who shops there. Plastic bags are a major expense for stores that use them, because they go through so many each and every day. When fewer of them are used, everyone wins – including Mother Earth.

One of the easiest things to do when you’re at the grocery store is to let that person who’s bagging the groceries stuff them all into flimsy, plastic bags. Those bags are purchased by the thousands by stores, and they’re used all over the place. There have been many efforts to ban these kinds of bags, but so far nothing has been done to stop them from being used in almost everything from a mom-and-pop shop to the largest of retail giants. Stores like them because they’re cheap and they’re easy to deal with. Customers like them because they’re convenient and disposable.

Even though they’re designed to be thrown away, though, you can help out the environment by recycling them instead. Don’t assume that you can’t recycle them. You can put them in with the plastic that you recycle on your regular rounds, or you can put them in the recycling bins that a lot of the larger stores have created just for that purpose. Some people also reuse them for trash, cat litter, yard debris, and other things, so the bags get used again. If they’re used that way, though, the ultimately get thrown in the garbage – which isn’t helping the planet out in any way.

It’s much better to actually recycle the bags properly, so that they can stay out of landfills. Plastic takes many years to biodegrade, and the more bags show up in the landfills the more the planet struggles. Even if you’re not that interested in starting up a recycling regimen for the plastic, glass, and paper that you use every day, you can still pay close attention to the bags that you’re handed when you shop. When you get home, pile all the bags up and stuff them into one bag. Put them back in the car, and drop them off the next time you go shopping.

That way it won’t be inconvenient for you, you won’t have to go someplace special to turn the bags in, and you won’t have bags accumulating everywhere. Many people don’t recycle because they don’t want the hassle, but making sure that plastic bags get recycled doesn’t have to be difficult. Another excellent option for reducing plastic bag waste is by using reusable green bags otherwise known as eco friendly reusable shopping bags. These convenient items can go a long way. You can make it very simple and easy to handle, and you can get your family involved so you don’t feel like you’re the only one who’s dealing with the work of making sure plastic bags find their way into the hands of those who will recycle them.

If you want to help the environment, you should consider recycling – but that’s not the only thing you can do. Growing your own food, living off the grid, and similar actions are great ways to protect the planet. It’s important, but there aren’t very many people who take it seriously just yet. If you’re one of the people who really want to do something good for the planet but you just aren’t sure how to get started, there are a few things you can consider.

First, recycling really is important. Don’t just recycle the plastic, paper, and glass that you use in your home, though. You should also have a compost pile for your garden and lawn, and you should be recycling all of those plastic bags that the bagger stuffs your groceries into at the market. Most of those markets have containers to put those bags in, so just return them to the store (and the container) the next time you go shopping. You’ll be doing your part of the recycling before you know it, and it’s really not that difficult. It also doesn’t take up much time, so don’t worry about that. Also remember to use green bags and eco friendly shopping bags when shopping. This can make a huge difference and eliminate the need to recycle so much in the first place

There are a lot of cleaners and household products today that are specifically designed to protect the environment from harm. You won’t need to worry about what kinds of chemicals your family and your pets are ingesting, and you won’t have to be afraid that you’re getting chemicals into the drinking water when you rinse them down the drain.

By using safe cleaning alternatives, you can do your part to protect the environment and you’ll still be keeping a nice, clean house for your friends and family to enjoy. It won’t change the world, but it won’t do it any harm, either.

While you’re recycling and creating a compost pile, you can use that compost for a garden. Growing your own food really isn’t that difficult. You just need to find out what grows well in your part of the country and determine when you need to plant it so you can get a great harvest. You’ll also want to make sure that you’re protecting your garden with some type of fencing so that rabbits and other small animals don’t get in and eat everything. You don’t have to use pesticides that can hurt the environment and the produce, either, because there are plenty of natural alternatives to keep your garden healthy so you can enjoy its bounty.

What is the big deal when it comes to disposable shopping bags?  You may have heard in the news over the last several years that we need to think twice about using plastic and paper grocery bags.  But why?  Why should you go out of your way to avoid using disposables, and start using eco friendly reusable or recycled grocery bags?  Before buying into any movement or cause, it is important to know exactly how your actions will make a positive impact on the environment and our world.  Today, we will go over some key environmental issues and problems associated with disposable shopping bag usage.

The Environmental Literacy Council does a great job of explaining the negative effects of both plastic and paper disposable bags at EnviroLiteracy.Org.  Let’s start with the environmental impact of manufacturing plastic and paper bags in the first place.  Plastic bags are produced using oil, and so the environmental consequences of production includes everything from extracting the oil, to the separation of products in the refining process, to the plastic manufacturing process, and the energy used and emissions created to distribute the bags to retailers.  So in reality, the production of plastic bags (caused by our demand as consumers) is a contributing factor to our dependence on oil.  Paper bags, are of course made from trees and contribute to worldwide deforestation and reduction of habitats all over the earth.  Also, the amount of energy used to manufacture and distribute paper bags and the carbon emissions created even exceeds that of plastic bags.  The truth is that neither paper nor plastic bags are a healthy product for our environment, especially compared to eco friendly reusable shopping bags.

Of course, as you likely know, another major issue with disposable bags is the widespread pollution and litter problem, especially associated with plastic bags.  Plastic bags have evolved to become the “modern tumbleweed”.  They show up everywhere and often end up in ponds, streams, rivers, lakes and in the ocean.  While researching this article I came across some startling information at 5gyres.Org, which educates people regarding the 5 gyres in our world’s oceans.  Here’s an excerpt:  “At sea floating plastics are swept up into slow moving currents.  These currents are called ‘gyres’.  Our Oceans are dynamic systems…. made up of complex networks of currents… Large systems of these currents, coupled with wind and the earth’s rotation, create ‘gyres’, massive, slow rotating whirlpools in which plastic trash can accumulate.”  The most famous of these is the North Pacific Gyre, which has also been called the “great pacific garbage patch”, has been researched the most and is an accumulation of trash and plastic estimated by many to be twice the size of Texas.  What most people don’t know is that there are actually 5 gyres spread throughout our world’s oceans where trash, and especially plastic is accumulating at a fast rate.  One of the scariest parts about all this is that marine animals often ingest this waste floating in the sea and suffocate or starve to death as a result or then WE humans turn around and eat these fish (and the plastic).  By using biodegradable bags, as opposed to disposable paper or plastic bags, our individual actions contribute to the solution rather than the problem.

The environmental crisis our world finds itself in today demands that we take action.  As you can plainly see, the widespread use of disposable shopping bags contributes to major environmental problems that are not going away.  We must change our individual habits by remembering to use eco shopping bags and/or reusable green bags every chance we get.  When we take a stand against the widespread pollution problem caused by disposable shopping bags, we are creating a healthier world one decision at a time.

It is that special time of year again. The Earth’s birthday, well we don’t know that for sure. So lets call it the Earth’s re-birthday, Earth Day 2010. In honor of our planet and her precious finite resources, Factory Direct Promos is proud to announce the release of new attractive eco promotional products for businesses. These crafty eco promotional items such as custom printed reusable bags made of non-woven polypropylene material or RPET recycled material, business cards made completely of seed paper, and PLA corn products are an excellent way for a business to promote their brand, message and environmental awareness amongst their potential customer base at trade shows and conferences.

Factory Direct Promos, owned and operated by Jason Tunick, based out of Coral Springs Florida has been streamlining custom eco bags and promotional products at wholesale prices to businesses since 2003. Jason has a background in advertising and marketing platforms for companies and has always been an ambassador for the environment and protecting vital ecosystems from overflowing landfills and litter throughout our streams and rivers. He entered the business-to-business realm to motivate companies to effectively drive both their brand and raise interest in taking a stand for improving the ways we handle waste in our society. Here’s Jason’s take on businesses being eco leaders for America:

“I believe that by interacting with hundreds to thousands of businesses we can reach millions. The consumer must understand that we have a duty to this planet and it cannot be taken for granted. My efforts to help companies promote their brand with eco friendly products is making a small difference, but it is a million small differences that lead to one gigantic positive outcome for all people on this planet. I hope to leave our mark by lightening our carbon foot print on the Earth and establishing a mecca for all generations to come.”

There are many ways for a business to promote their brand with Factory Direct Promos; anything from recycled paper pens to reusable stainless steel water bottles. Amongst the new eco product lines are the 100% biodegradable corn products, often referred to as PLA, an acronym for polylactic acid, which is a strong polymer that biodegrades completely within 30-45 days. Another interesting product is seed paper, made completely of seeded woven material. When these seed cards are discarded they break apart and plant in the soil. Within two weeks a sprout will break ground and a flower is born, what a provocative idea! This versatile seed paper can be used for business cards, greeting cards, promotional flyers, CD cases and much more all custom printed with company logo and message. Jason also recently introduced a line of Grow Green Kits, desk plants or herbs that simply need water to germinate and sprout. His featured lines of reusable stainless steel water bottles are a perfect way to everlastingly promote a business’ brand and be a part of the solution to the plastic bottle waste issue.

eco custom promotional trade show bags

The core competency of Factory Direct Promos has always been eco friendly wholesale reusable bags and RPET recycled custom bags. Jason is able to keep a very small turnaround time on the custom imprinted logo bags, delivering within 60 days and in stock wholesale reusable bags are shipped in as little as one week. The recycled PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) material is made from 85% used plastic water bottles. Through a process of heating and shredding the bottle is grained into fine strings of material which are then woven into the recycled bags. Yes, that is correct, the plastic bottle waste is transformed into a recycled and reusable bag. These promotional trade show bags are durable and can then be custom imprinted with company logo, message and colors. This is an extraordinary alternative to plastic trade show bags, which when handed out are typically discarded within 24 hours and add to our waste issues. So for a company to hand out reusable bags is a win-win for the business and the environment. The bag is kept for an extensive period of time, keeping the brand alive in the consumer’s mind and is not thrown away to pile up in a landfill somewhere.

Factory Direct Promos is now making an asserted effort to help spread the word in online eco forums, blogs and social networks. By creating and maintaining an  eco blog resource full of updated reusable bags news and information on recycling, plastic waste, and other green issues, Factory Direct Promos is directly engaging the world-wide eco friendly community like never before. Jason’s team writes original articles on the issues green-minded people care about, and portraits of other interesting eco-minded companies and organizations detailing their perspective on methods for a greener planet. This reusable bag blog is the medium to create an active eco community online and tighten the fabric of the web to motivate more discussion and debate on which direction we should move as a people to solidify our planet for the future. So on this Earth Day 2010, the first of the new decade, Jason is reaffirming his oath to the environment and his leadership in the B2B market to help companies promote their brand, environmental awareness, and their inherited responsibility to our planet and future generations.

About FactoryDirectPromos.com
Factory Direct Promos Inc was founded by Jason Tunick in 1996. Located in Sunny South Florida, Factory Direct promos, Inc. is a direct manufacturer of Eco Friendly Promotional Products imported direct from his exclusive factories overseas. The website features over 100 eco products such as reusable and recycled bags, stainless steel water bottles, recycled lanyards, organic t-shirts, corn pens, seed paper bookmarks, seed paper shapes, recycled baseball caps and more. Jason Tunick’s twelve year commitment to finding and using renewable resources in his design, development and manufacturing of environmentally friendly premium products, makes his Eco Life product line a pioneer in the eco movement.

I’d like to welcome Ian and the Hand Weaving Company to our eco community. They are based in Mid Wales, United Kingdom and manufacture hand weaving equipment which can be used for recycling plastic bags, old fabrics and yarns, making useful everyday objects. Their products include weaving sticks, peg looms, corkwork bobbins and lucets provide everything the hand weaver could possibly need. All their products are hand crafted in their own workshops.

Many schools and youth groups find our simple weaving equipment a wonderful antidote to the technology which surrounds us today. Our peg looms, weaving sticks and corkwork bobbins are used with great enthusiasm by students of all ages. Our experience tells us that those coping with learning difficulties also benefit considerably.

Research proves that your pulse rate slows and your blood pressure lowers when you weave or knit. This is why many therapy groups, day centres and other similar organisations are frequently amazed and delighted at how rewarding students find their newly acquired skill. A sense of achievement is attained in a very short space of time aiding speedy recovery.

Peg loom weaving is a great tool when it comes to recycling. Use oddments of wool, strips of fabric, unspun fleece, plastic bags – almost anything. It’s only the bounds of your imagination that will stop you!

So now that you know more about them, visit their website to check out their custom hand crafted product lines to utilize in your home, help yourself while helping the planet, a beautiful symbiosis!