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Let Recycled Bags Help Your Business

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reusable-bagsIn an era when recycling is a popular approach to keeping the environment healthy, there are things your business can do to benefit from the movement.

Many of your customers are eco-conscious and when you use recycled bags, they gain a perception that you are doing your part to promote something they believe in. It’s a small eco-friendly step that earns you bragging rights. A small news release can spread the word that you are doing your bit to keep things green.

There is a lot of talk about saving the planet, but it isn’t always translated into action. The use of recycled paper products is a tangible sign of actions that speak louder than words. Putting up a sign or two pointing out your commitment is okay.

You can expand the effect by cooperating with groups that have the same tree-saving objectives in mind. Offer to help sponsor or participate in festivals or other events in your area that focus on environmental issues. There are national efforts as well, such as the Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million promotions that focus on books and other publications printed on recycled paper. Research the possibilities in your particular business arena.

Recognition of particular efforts can encourage conservation. The Aveda Environmental Award is presented to publishers that specialize in sustainable publishing. Local awards such as Environmental Excellence Achievement recognition, as presented by the Evansville Water and Sewer Utility and Environmental Management Corp. of Evansville, Ill., could be a pattern for an effort in your own area.

Reusable fabric bags are promoted as one environmentally friendly approach to packaging, but they are more expensive than recycled paper products. The recycled paper achieves the same eco-friendly impact without the greater cost.

Keep an eye on the competition. If they are taking steps to be green, you need to keep up. Using recycled paper for packaging should be only a first step toward building an environment-conscious business. Develop products and policies that keep you in the forefront of the effort. As word gets out that you are serious about making your business good for the environment, it is possible you’ll see the bottom line positively affected. In today’s atmosphere, people who are genuinely serious about the issue will recommend you to like-minded friends.

A comprehensive environmental strategy may begin with recycled bags, but it certainly should not end there.

California Bans One Time Use Plastic Bags

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Only 9 percent of the total plastic waste generated in 2012 was recovered for recycling.
Only 9 percent of the total plastic waste generated in 2012 was recovered for recycling.
It appears to be coming. In California it’s already here. With plastic bags clogging waste facilities and waterways in America, it seemed inevitable that governments would begin to take steps to reduce this form of pollution. Time to consider buying sturdier, reusable shopping bags for your purchases.

Recently, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill that prohibits large grocery stores and drugstores in that state from giving customers their purchases in single use bags. The bill becomes effective in July 2015. The following year, smaller grocery stores and convenience stores will be have to comply with the new law.

The legislation also offers a compensation to the stores by allowing them to charge a 10-cent fee for reusable or paper bags. The statewide legislation built on actions taken by more than 100 towns and cities in California, including Los Angeles and SanFrancisco that already had bans in place. Their regulations, if adopted before Sept. 1, 2014, will be protected by a grandfathering clause built into the state law. Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island are also considering banning the plastic bags.

“We’re the first to ban these bags and we won’t be the last,” Brown said in a statement. The companies that produce the single-use bags fought the legislation, saying it will result in job losses.

But Brown pointed to the enormous costs of trying to manage the litter produced by the bags. Millions of dollars are spent every year by recycling facilities and landfills that are threatened to be buried under the debris, he said.

With the handwriting on the wall, many consumers already are buying sturdier bags that can be reused for a long time.

Bag The Plastic Bags. Go With Reusable Bags

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"For California, the overall cost to protect our waters from litter is roughly $428 million each year--with between 8% to 25% attributable to plastic bags alone according to clean up data from San Jose and Los Angeles County."
“For California, the overall cost to protect our waters from litter is roughly $428 million each year–with between 8% to 25% attributable to plastic bags alone according to clean up data from San Jose and Los Angeles County.” From Californians Against Waste
It’s happening more and more. Governments are watching the plastic pile up in their waste facilities and looking for options. California legislators have backed a ban on plastic bags, pending a signing by Gov. Jerry Brown by Sept. 30. Other municipalities and states are considering similar steps.

The trend has already been picked up by hard-core environmentalists, who are aware of companies that produce reusable shopping bags. It isn’t uncommon to see shoppers pack up their goods in a durable cloth bag before heading home.

Hawaii’s Maui County has made it illegal for stores to package purchases in plastic. Despite opposition from those who make the bags, the movement is gathering strength. Reusable cloth shopping bags are being recommended as an eco-sensible option. Looking for suitable compromise, some are suggesting a ban on plastic bags coupled with financial incentives for the bag producers to retool to produce heavier bags that would save the landfills.

The problem is enormous. More than 10 billion plastic bags are used in California every year, advocates associated with Californians Against Waste estimate. The group supports the California legislation to bar the use of plastic bags in commerce. In the coast state, there is concern that the bags get into the ocean, with potential harm to aquatic life.

Cathy Browne, general manager of Crown Poly, sees the problem from a different perspective. A strict ban on plastic bags without a compensating solution would result in heavy layoffs in businesses such as hers.

The California legislation didn’t slide easily through the process. There was heavy lobbying on both sides of the issue. A first version sponsored by State Sen. Alex Padilla, failed by three votes. Padilla has stubbornly kept the issue alive. “Single-use plastic bags not only litter our beaches, but also our mountains, our deserts and our rivers, steams and lakes,” he declared.

After close defeats, Padilla was able to align some of California’s bag-makers by offering the re-tooling option. Out-of-state manufacturers continued to campaign against his measure.

But the anti-plastic contingent seems to be gathering strength in other locations as well. It appears inevitable that reusable bags of cloth or other durable materials will be on the shoppers’ horizon before long.

About BowsNBags.com

The BowsNBags blog presents retail store owners with resources that will be helpful to them in growing their businesses. From suggesting conferences to attend to finding the best sources for their products, we cover a wide range of simple, helpful tips and suggestions for your retail store operations. On our store front at BowsNBags, we provide our customers with all the supplies they will need to wrap packages for customers, to provide shopping bags for customer and to provide retail gift … Read More

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