Great news about plastic bag bans has been coming from the West Coast for years, but the Big Apple is finally getting its moment in the spotlight: a bill to reduce plastic bags is now making the rounds in New York’s City Council. In many ways, it would be the most dramatic moment yet for the national environmental effort. Getting New Yorkers to use eco-friendly reusable shopping bags would save billions of plastic bags from landfills, seas, parks, and streets. The bill would charge 10 cents...

[caption id="attachment_342" align="alignleft" width="195" caption="Get reusable grocery bags from Holdenbags.com"][/caption] Get out your eco-friendly reusable shopping bags , as another city in Texas is nixing the plastic. Bag bans are no longer a bizarre phenomenon, as places from Austin to San Francisco have successfully adopted measures that change the way people carry groceries and supplies home. Kermit, Texas, is the most recent place to adopt a ban, as the city council decided in late...

[caption id="attachment_335" align="alignleft" width="195" caption="Get Customized Shopping Bags from Holdenbags.com"][/caption] For those who have been alarmed by plastic waste and pollution, it’s a great day in West Hollywood. Tuesday, August 20 marks the second phase of the West Hollywood plastic bag ban, affecting every retail business in the city. Eco-friendly reusable shopping bags will now be a way of life for West Hollywood residents every day of the week. It’s a huge victory for...

[caption id="attachment_324" align="alignleft" width="195" caption="Custom Shopping Bags from Holdenbags.com"][/caption] Plastic bag bans are hitting cities across the country, but opponents to this trend are confusing the debate on at least one count. When a plastic bag tax or outright ban is proposed, opponents deliver statistics on the damning effects of paper bags, their assumed replacement. Paper bags are not the solution. Environmentally friendly grocery bags are the superior third...

As a nation, we may be coming late to the realization that plastic bags are bad on nearly every front. They take a great deal of energy to produce, they pollute the environment in so many ways, and take thousands of years to biodegrade. Most of Europe and nearly half of California have banned or stifled the use of plastic bags, making reusable grocery bags the norm in every shopping situation. How long until the rest of the U.S. follows suit? Bloomberg, the business news outlet of the...

What happens when a city of nearly four million people go grocery shopping? Well, according to the City of Los Angeles city council, the result is clogged gutters, polluted rivers, and beaches piled up with plastic shopping bags. Hopefully, that will soon be a thing of the past, now that the city council has approved a ban on single-use plastic bags in grocery stores. If that ban has you scrambling, then it’s time to look into eco-friendly reusable shopping bags. Why the Ban? Estimates show...

If you haven’t noticed, New York City has been leaning towards green initiatives. The Big Apple is making strides to curtail the enormous amount of waste it produces every year. Both residents and tourists add to the volume. A trend toward eco-friendly reusable bags was a good start, and observers are surprised to see recycling programs expanded and – go figure – a composting program is already in the testing stage. Will Wall Street executives be composting along with the students and...

When you explore what it takes to launch an advertising campaign, is there an answer for small business owners who depend on foot traffic and local sales? One technique has proven to be a winner: designing custom shopping bags and watching your customers spread the word for you. If you put a nice product together, you’ll see great returns on a small investment. The concept is simple. Your customers need bags to carry your products out of the store. You can give them disposable bags that are...

Face it: the world is becoming a greener place. The people who walk through the doors of your store think green, and they demand a greener shopping experience. Wise retailers have found that it pays to bring a bit of green to their stores. From eco-friendly reusable shopping bags to recycling centers, major chains like Target and even local shops are learning the ins and outs of green retailing. The benefits do not just include being kind to the environment, but also a boost to business as...

While city council members all across the U.S. debate ending the use of plastic bags, how to do it best remains a sticking point. Should cities ban plastic bags outright, or start with a voluntary tax to help deter people off these bags that pollute the ecosystem so violently? In both cases, the problem is solved by introducing reusable grocery bags. The questions are complicated, but simple answers offer a solution in most cases. This first thing to remember is how well bans and taxes work....