Bring Your Own Bag

Plastic Bags are a hazard for the environment and most bags just end up in land fields.Did you know that our society goes through 500,000,000,000 (500 billion)plastic bags annually. That is 1 million bags per minute. And these bags, which are usually made of high density polyehylene (HDPE) remain in existence for up to 1,000 years. It would be lucky if these bags would just make it to the dump and stay put for the 1,000 year lifetime but many of them end up in the ocean killing marine animals that mistake them for food.



In Africa, because of a magnitude of windblown bags, a cottage industry has sprung up harvesting bags and using them to weave hats, and even bags.One man is making plastic poles with his collection of plastic bags.



Although plastic bag commerce is the livelyhood of many people in Uganda. Recently,there has been a ban on plastic bags in Uganda.




Many countries and American cities have started banning bags or taxing them. But what can we do to cut down on these astounding numbers. Bring your own bag! If you bring your own high quality resuable bag with you to the market or mall. One bag has the potential to eliminate an average of 1,000 plastic bags in it's lifetime!

There are many places that you can buy a reusable shopping bag that will end up paying for itself if your grocer offers a credit of $.05 cents per bag. Many stores do this, Whole Foods, and Traders Joes does this. It seems every store is offering these reusable bag usually for the reasonable price of just $1.00.

You can make your own bags from items around the house.

Check out the websites for ideas below:
http://www.morsbags.com/
http://www.wisdomofthemoon.blogspot.com/
http://tipnut.cojm/pillowcase-tote-sewing-tutorial/
http://www.curbly.com/stephee/posts/2064-Make-a-bird-seedbag-grocery-tote
http://whipup.net/2007/09/01/wallet-sized-fold-up-re-usable-shopping-bag/

Do your own research, you'll  always find new ideas that you can find on the web.


In the nextGreen Bohemian Living.I'll show you some cute bags that you can put inside your purse.

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Green in London

You don't have to be a tree hugger or grow out your arm pit hair to go green,EVERYONE is going green now! Green is not only chic now,it's necessary for everyone to do their share and be eco-responsible. Now, there's a great store in London,called UNPACKAGED that believes that most packaging is unnecessary so they are doing something about it.

Unpackaged in London is the better way for you to buy organic wholefoods and environmentally friendly products for your home.If you bring your own CONTAINERS the price is cheaper,but if you forget they also offer reusable containers that you can bring back next time.

The shop sells everything in bulk and has banned almost all packaging, encouraging shoppers to bring their own containers and rewarding them with a discount for doing so.Unpackaged is an organic grocery that rewards you for bringing your own containers for refills. Save money and the environment!



The Problem with Packaging

Whilst some packaging is necessary in our modern industrialized food chain, unnecessary packaging is a waste:

Cost: Unnecessary packaging increases the price of the goods you buy. It means you are charged twice; first when you buy over packaged goods and then through your council tax to dispose of your rubbish.

Waste: Unnecessary packaging is a waste of resources at every level: to produce, store and transport, remove and to dispose of.

Pollution: The two main methods of disposing of this packaging – landfill and incineration – are major pollutants for humans and the environment and release greenhouse gases.

What about recycling?
While some packaging is recycled, most ends up in landfill sites and some packaging is just difficult and often impossible to recycle. According to government figures, landfill sites for London’s non-hazardous rubbish are likely to be full by the end of next year and other landfill sites in the South East will run out of capacity by early 2013. In 2008, Islington Council achieved a recycling rate of only 30% showing that more radical solutions are needed over and above recycling. Recycling is certainly part of the solution, but it will only work if we use less packaging in the first place and adopt more reusable ways of doing things- it is this ethos of reuse that Unpackaged is based on.

Remember:
Reduce by only buying what you need
Reuse by bringing your containers for a refill
Recycle what you can’t reuse

And… if you can’t reuse or recycle it then don’t buy it!

http://www.beunpackaged.com/
Unpackaged is located in Islington:
42 Amwell Street
London
EC1R 1XT

Now offering 10% on all purchases over £20. Don’t miss out!!

For More ECO FRIENDLY TIPS ON HOW TO BE GREEN AND STILL BE CHIC,PLEASE CHECK OUT MY NEW BLOG Green Bohemian Living


love,
Sabrina in Londinium