An Inconvenient Bag

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An Inconvenient Bag

• Kelsey Griffith
• Cody Fisher
• Evan Heyman
• Kevin Gilbert

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Green Giveaway of the Moment

• New it giveaway
• Manufactured in China
• Made with plastic
• Could take years to decompose
• Usually printed with environmental slogans and
  corporate logos
• Earth-friendly substitute for billions of
  disposable plastic bags that find their way to
  landfills every year.

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Examples

• Home Depot gave away 500,000 free reusable bags
  on Earth Day, on the same day Wal-Mart handed out
  1 million.
• One slogan on the bags was Saving the World One
  Bag at a Time

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Complications

• Bob Lilienfeld, author of the Use Less Stuff
  Report said If you dont reuse them, youre
  actually worse off by taking one of them
• Bags are made of heavier material, which means
  they would take longer than the disposable bags
  to decompose if they are thrown out.

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Proper Use

• If these bags are used properly they could become
  more than an environmental fad, reducing the
  amount of disposable bags in landfills.
• If every bag is used multiple times, at least
  once a week, 4-5 reusable bags can replace 520
  disposable bags a year.

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Companies Joining the Trend

• About 100 Billion disposable bags are thrown away
  in the US every year.
• For this reason many companies are starting to
  either sell or give away reusable bags made out
  of nonwoven polypropylene in China.
• Target, CVS, Wal-Mart, Staples, Google, Whole
  Foods, and Best Buy.
• Many bags are either recyclable or made from
  recycled materials.

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Trends in the U.S.

• San Francisco was the first U.S. city to ban the
  disposable bags from supermarkets and drug
  stores.
• Westport, CT banned most kinds of plastic bags at
  retail checkouts.
• Boston, Baltimore, and Portland are considering
  similar bans
• Companies are also joining such as Whole Foods
  and Ikea, giving customers the option to either
  use reusable bags, buy their bags, or carry their
  stuff without bags.

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Sales Increase

• Nations fastest growing fashion accessory, with
  sales up by 76 compared to last year.
• Phoenix company that sells nonwoven polypropylene
  bags, their sales are up 1,000 over last year.
• Other similar companies have noticed the same
  trend in sales over the past year.

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Comparisons to other bags

• Plastic bags may be more environmentally friendly
  to produce than other bags.
• Canvas and cotton bags which take lots of water,
  energy, and harsh chemicals to produce.
• Paper bags require the destruction of millions of
  trees.
• However, many nonwoven polypropylene bags take 28
  times as much energy to produce the plastic used
  in normal disposable bags, and 8 times as much as
  paper bags.

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Consumer Use

• San Francisco polled 500 people, and 58 said
  they almost never take reusable bags to the
  grocery store.
• Another study done by Hilex Poly Co., a maker of
  plastic bags, thinks people return used
  disposable bags back to the store just as much as
  people use reusable bags, at about 10.
• The reason for a small percentage of use is that
  consumers dont want to change their shopping
  habits, which according to a marketing professor
  could take years and decades
• Also people may not feel comfortable taking
  branded reusable bags into a competing store.

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Motivation to use these bags

• SmarTote that produces a line of reusable bags,
  came out with the idea to put a barcode on each
  bag, allowing stores to track whether bags are
  being reused.
• This way companies could offer prizes or
  incentives to consumers who continue to reuse
  their bags.
• Even SmarTote realizes that Its really hard to
  change customer behavior, but that stores have
  seen a slight increase in results.

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Pros of reusable bags

• Reduces the amount of plastic that ends up in
  landfills.
• If used on a regular basis, 4-5 bags could take
  the place of 520 disposable bags in one year.
• Some bags are made from recycled plastic, and
  others can be recycled.
• Reusable bags can be fashionable

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Cons of reusable bags

• Takes longer to decompose if thrown out
• Takes 28 times more energy to produce than
  disposable bages
• More of a hassle for consumers to remember and to
  take them to the store

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Any Questions?