Green Options » biodegradable bags

The Helpful and Cool Clean Green Garmento: Be Fantastic ~ Use Less Plastic

Lucille Chi — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:45:09 +0000

Next time you’re off to your favorite local non-toxic cleaner like SF Green Clean, bring the Green Garmento with you!

Some of the benefits of using this Eco Drycleaning Bag include:

a “hanging hamper” to collect your clothes that need cleaning
a transformer from a hanger to a handy duffel bag for transporting your clothing to be cleaned.
a hanging garment bag for you to take your cleaning home in.

Sexy Footwear in Black and Ready for All Occasions: Classic, Clubby and Casual Shoes

Lucille Chi — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 20:58:08 +0000

Casual ~ For fifteen bucks the “Cushee” flip-flops in black, go with everything and are truly comfy! The pair contains no animal byproducts or even regular animal products as they are vegan friendly and veggie friendly. They are constructed of hemp webbing uppers, and recycled rubber outsoles for durability. These Cushees also have 100% post consumer paper pulp foot forms and ship in biodegradable bags… “dig it, bury it, buh-bye”
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Chicago Restaurant Co-op Expands Use of Eco-Friendly Takeout Containers

Jason Phillip — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 22:09:22 +0000

So you’ve made the switch to reusable shopping bags, and you’re feeling pretty good about being able to answer the eternal grocery store question of “paper or plastic?” with a hearty “Neither!” But when you’re not doing the cooking at home, you probably don’t get a choice about avoiding much of the plastic packaging that keeps your food warm and safe on its journey from the restaurant to your home.

If you’ve ever felt a pang of guilt about how much garbage is created when ordering takeout, you’ve got good reason. All those disposable containers and plastic bags made from petroleum create an environmental impact that goes on long after you’ve enjoyed the last of your Pad Thai leftovers. According to one report cited on Treehugger, over 1 million plastic bags are consumed in this country every minute. How many of those bags wind up in landfills after one use or, worse, end up wreaking havoc on marine life in the world’s oceans, is difficult to calculate. But it’s a trend that has been on a troubling upswing for a long time.

To address this problem, an increasing number of restaurants and other food service providers have started to switch from petroleum-based plastic take-out items to compostable products made from renewable resources, such as corn (PLA) and sugar cane fiber (bagasse). One of the major barriers that restaurants face when switching to such bio-based containers, however, is a painful difference in cost.

For example, restaurateur Dan Rosenthal who runs casual-Italian minichain Sopraffina Marketcaffe in Chicago found that he would pay a heavy price to replace the 400,000 non-biodegradable plastic bags he went through each year. The switch would entail 7 cents more per bag, for a total of $28,000 every year.

Trellis Earth Creates Sturdy BioBags

Kelli Best-Oliver — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 13:05:54 +0000

By implementing easy green practices like composting and recycling, my husband and I quit taking huge bags of trash out to the dumpster in the alley a long time ago. We had a stockpile of evil plastic grocery bags that we used for the bathroom and kitchen trash, but we quit getting our groceries in plastic bags a long time ago. When the stockpile ran out, we needed a green alternative to buying trash bags.

For a while, we used a brand of corn-based trash bags purchased at our local green general store, but, truth be told, they were flimsy and couldn’t hold much weight, even when I double-bagged. When I used the smaller kind to line the compost mini-bin under the sink, I found myself a bag that broke down a little too quickly, leaving me with a bio-mess.

It was a catch-22 when Portland’s Trellis Earth sent me a sample pack of their corn-based biodegradable bags to review. Simply put, this bag blows the other bag I was using out of the water. It comes in a variety of sizes, from small enough for a few pieces of fruit to 33-gallon commercial trash bags, and it’s remarkably sturdy–so much so that I easily carried out the entire contents of my cat’s litter box to the dumpster with no stretching or straining on the part of the bag. In fact, I’d test the strength of their 33-gallon bags against any traditional plastic trash bag. They also have a shopping-bag with handles, identical in size and shape
to the pesky plastic bags you see blowing in the wind for businesses to use in lieu of traditional petroleum-based bags.

What’s the catch? It’s not widely-available in consumer-sized quantities. Trellis Earth only markets its biodegradable bags, take-out containers, and cutlery in bulk quantities, making them a viable options to businesses and resellers, but their resell base seems limited. Minor catch #2: although the bags are compostable (they’re breaking down just fine in my backyard pile), the company’s FAQ warns that the bags aren’t great for building soil.

How can you get your hands on some Trellis Earth bags? You could buy in bulk (it’s not inconceivable if you are used to buying large quantities of things) Ask your local green store to stock up by giving them Trellis Earth’s website, which will get them in touch with the company. They can resell you bags, or they could purchase shopping bags for use in their store. Either way, you’re putting less plastic in landfills.