Green Options » eco-friendly bags

XS Project :: One Persons Trash Is Anothers Treasure.

Emma Pezzack — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:00:41 +0000

Here’s the problem: 80,000 tons of flexible plastic packaging are manufactured each year in Indonesia and for every one ton of manufacturing, there’s thirty tons of waste. The average timespan of a single-use drink container packaged in flexible plastic is only 4 seconds. Because there are no safe disposal methods for flexible plastic, it may accumulate and then sit in a landfill forever. And because there are no traditional recycling techniques for this type of plastic it has little resale market value. Rather than allow this flexible plastic to become potential toxic waste by clogging landfills and waterways, The XSProject Foundation acquires the plastic from trash pickers before it piles up in toxic landfills.

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T.O.T.E. by Urban Junket: Your Laptop’s New BFF

Terri Bly — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:57:01 +0000

Business Travel. Nothing about it implies fashionable or fun. For me, it has always meant carting around either a drab grey laptop backpack for long trips or my utilitarian, generic black laptop-friendly briefcase for shorter stints. Sexy.

So when these new Laptop bags from Minneapolis-based Urban Junket arrived at our Ecotique/Nature of Beauty shop yesterday, my heart did a little dance of joy. Dost mine eyes deceive me? Could someone have actually designed a laptop bag that is sturdy, stylish and eco-friendly?! I rubbed my eyes to make sure the sleek black bag wasn’t just a sleep-deprived hallucination, and when I opened them again, Emily was pulling out the same bag but in a gorgeous ruby red. I quickly shoved her aside and grabbed the red bag like I was at one of those designer wedding dress sample sales you hear about, and took off, shouting “Mine! Mine!”

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Take Plastic Bag Bans a Step Further

Amanda Peterka — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 20:42:54 +0000

China. The UK. Ireland. Germany. Australia. San Francisco. Malibu. The list of countries and cities eliminating or considering banning plastic bags continues to grow. Some prohibit them all together, while others charge a fee to carry away groceries in that plastic that often finds its way to landfills.

Along with the plastic bag bans and growing concern over their lack of decomposition, grocery and all-purpose stores like Wal-Mart have offered shoppers a new choice: eco-friendly bags that can be used over and over again. The bags are usually symbolically green and can be seen around the entrances of most major stores. You can also probably find even more eco bags in the accessories sections of stores, sporting earth-friendly phrases. I have one myself, from my mom, telling everyone to “give green a chance.”

This does imply that shoppers are switching over to the reusable bags (though I rarely do see anyone here in the United States refusing plastic in check-out lines or bringing his own).

But how I see it is that there is absolutely no need for the cheap green bags to replace plastic bags.

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The Feel Good Gift of the Season: Recycled Plastic Purses

Terri Bly — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 05:44:33 +0000

In case you haven’t noticed, I try to avoid writing only about things going on in the world of cosmetics and beauty products. In particular, I try to avoid blatently promoting my business, The Nature of Beauty. This is because I am passionate about all things eco-friendly, or I wouldn’t have started the business in the first place.

However, today I am making an exception because I really want to share with you our exclusive holiday offering. And it’s not even really about The NOB. It’s about my other passion: helping women in third-world countries establish businesses.

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From Tractors to Runway Passchal Recycled Handbags

Courtney Carlisle — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:08:59 +0000

Passchal is the first-ever eco-luxury accessory line created from recycled tractor tire inner tubes, and it is fabulous. Created by Angela Greene and Ken Kobrick, an innovator (who doesn’t carry a purse at all) and ex-welder, the operation started in a 900 sq ft home in Virginia and has gained a lot of traction since its 2004 launch.

Passchal collects inner tubes from VA, Ohio and GA tractors, which then undergo a rigorous but environmentally friendly, multi-day cleaning process before being crafted into bags. To date, Passchal has recycled approximately 20 tons of inner tubes creating their line of bags.

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