Green Options

Back to my office, where so much of my daily life seems to take place these days. This great bag is just one of the cool green products I’ve gotten to review that has been useful in making my work routine more interesting.

I’ve been using The Better Bag as my brief case since I got it a few weeks ago. It works great, but I feel better about the story behind the bag.

There’s always a story . . .

It is always exciting to make a new, fun discovery in the eco world and my latest is Amy Butler Design.  Amy designs fabric, patterns, stationery and other Midwest modern accessories for you and your home.  Actually, she has been doing this for some time and has graced many magazines and websites.  But upon further investigation, you really could get yourself lost in her world.

This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of Proforma Simonetta Freelance, an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy (see proformagreen.com). John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.

Clif Jordan - Regional Manager (South West) for Gemline - was at the Proforma regional meeting in Dallas last week showing a few of the 2009 Green Living items from the Gemline product line.

Here is a short video on the Recycled All-Sport [...]

This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of Proforma Simonetta Freelance, an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy (see proformagreen.com). John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.

Debco has likely the most jute bags available from a domestic supplier. Andrew Green of Debco was at this year’s Proforma regional meeting in Dallas showing off a number of their bags, including the E4732 Jute Tote, E4542 Basic Jute Tote, E6708 Laminated [...]

As we predicted, it seems 2009 is becoming the year of the great green push in our industry. Leeds is again up front with a number of functional and stylist additions to their Owl line of 51% & 100% recycled material bags, portfolios and totes (see certificate from Leeds website).

Well in that respect it seems I was wrong. There are a number of nonwoven bags from manufactures like Jetline and Hit Promotional Products that are recyclable. These bags have a recycle rating of 5 and number 5 plastics can be recycled through some local curbside programs.

Gemline - one of our favorite manufacturers - has launched what they are calling their GREEN LIVING WEBSITE at www.gemline.com/gemline.web/living-green.

I’m proud to be evolving into quite the eco-bag lady! I have amassed an amazing collection of various earth-friendly bags - canvas, bioplastic and organic cotton totes for shopping; a wonderfully useful computer bag made of recycled plastic bottles; and a couple of great purses that make a fashion statement while keeping all kinds of materials out of our landfills.

There are so many reasons to NOT use plastic or even paper bag for shopping and to adopt a few reusable bags to handle most shopping needs. There are also great reasons to buy some of these great funky stylish accessory bags that are made from recycled materials - keeping more non-biodegradable materials out of landfills.

The Eco-Bag Lady’s Picks for Best Eco-Bags of 2008

What is the power of zero? It is a dedication to creating a sustainably made product that generates zero manufacturing waste and is fully recyclable. It is also one of the guiding principles that drives Rickshaw Bagworks, a progressive company that just opened its new store in San Francisco.

This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy (see proformagreen.com). John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.

Debco is now producing color versions of the econo natural 4oz shopping tote. The colors available are black, red, green, lime green, navy, and pink.

The econo tote is very popular with Econpreneurist as the price of these units -$2.11- for the natural color tote places them in range of the popular non-woven shopping bags that are becoming ubiquitous in grocery stores.

Why the popularity? Because organic cotton - any cotton - is biodegradable while most non-woven poly bags are not.

So this post was going to be about me being so excited that Debco is now offering their econo natural 4oz shopping tote in colors, wonderful colors.

According to Debco their overseas supplier uses Azo free dyes on all their bags color bags.  This dye is supposedly eco-friendly and non-hazardous, but they have not conducted any lab tests to confirm this 100%.  However Debco has volunteered to have it done for any client that requests it.

But that is not what I am going to write about.

Apparently - and I don’t know if it is because these guys are based in Canada - Debco is making a distinction between bags made from 100% natural cotton and their organic cotton bags. A distinction I have not seen before.

Okay, first of all I have to point out that while my colleague, Rodney Pate is a phenomenal photographer and artist, this may be his one and only flawed photo . . . I’m not svelt, but I swear I’m not that fat!

But of course, it is really all about the bag . . . that part of the photo actually works extremely well.

I’m loving this bag that came from EcoBags.com (psssst, they’re having a sale!). It has become my de facto brief case that I stuff with all the various things I think I can’t live without during my long days at work.

This bag has a slightly sexy green message, which always makes life a little more interesting. But, what’s really interesting about this bag is that it is made from recycled cotton and it is not unreasonably priced @ $14.99.

Find this bag and others like it . . .