Sometimes it takes a real wakeup call for us to see the harm caused by daily habits. In the case of plastic bag use, dead whales washing up on our shores are providing more than enough evidence. Communities everywhere are finding whales that have died from ingesting too much plastic, and it’s become a common occurrence. One thing that we can all agree on is that the destruction of the ocean and its wildlife ought to be enough to switch to reusable bags in our daily shopping trips. What’s the...

Eco-friendly reusable shopping bags may become the norm in at least one New England town. While city councils across the country look to ban plastic bags, one Massachusetts resident is not waiting for his town’s officials to act. Greenfield, Massachusetts, resident Garrett Connelly has mounted a campaign on his own to stop the use of plastic bags. Connelly recently submitted an ordinance to the Town Council and he followed up by collecting signatures to back up the proposal. Connelly told...

As the holiday season kicks into gear, you can almost feel Mother Nature recoil at the idea of all the plastic bags, packaging, and other materials that will be used and discarded in the act of gift giving. No one wants to be a Grinch during “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” but there are ways to be festive and green at the same time. For business owners, picking up wholesale reusable shopping bags for customers is an easy way to get the job done. Reusable bags with your company name...

The month of October brings great opportunities for festive attire and unique costumes for families across the country. This month also presents a great opportunity for any business owner to make this annual spook-fest green with personalized Halloween bags. Your business’ logo can be imprinted on reusable eco-friendly bags which can be given to your customers as promotional items. Personalized Halloween bags cut down on any wasteful plastic bags that end up in the trash, or even worse, in...

It won’t surprise many that San Francisco is leading the way when it comes to eco-friendly initiatives. Already a pioneer with a plastic bag ban among city retailers, San Francisco is expanding the program to include restaurants as well. Compostable bags are now the only items that may be used when taking leftovers or takeout from a restaurant, and in addition, there will be a charge for these bags. San Francisco is steamrolling toward an ambitious goal of zero waste by 2020. Ensuring your...

When word came out about the plastic bag ban in Aspen, Colorado, the price the city placed on paper bag substitutes was striking. Aspen officials instituted a charge of 20 cents on paper bags to encourage shoppers to use eco-friendly reusable shopping bags instead. In many ways, that strategy has worked. Now, when shoppers don’t remember their bags, they have to pay the price. The city has already collected over $44,000 since the law’s implementation in mid-2012, money that helps the cause....

While communities all across the Southwest and Pacific Northwest are banning plastic bags, California has the highest number of cities that are doing away with single-use sacks. The latest is Redwood City, which joins East Palo Alto in San Mateo County in charging 10 cents per bag starting on October 2. Already, wholesale shopping bags are making its way up in Northern California. The first rollout of the law is the less stringent version for residents. By January, the ten cents becomes a...

Now that nearly 80 cities in California have taken action on plastic bags, news of an impending ban in San Diego is not surprising. Blessed with some of the world’s most beautiful beaches, San Diego residents have been finding these bags blowing down the coast, washing into the waters, and polluting every area of the city. Eco-friendly reusable shopping bags would eliminate the need for this waste, and San Diego’s City Council is going to draw up legislation to ban plastic bags for good. News...

There are so many ways to live a greener lifestyle, from bringing reusable bags to the grocery store to changing showerheads in the bathroom. In fact, as everyone becomes wild about electric vehicles, it’s interesting to note you don’t have to swap out a gas engine car for a Nissan Leaf or Tesla to use less fuel. The same as toting eco-friendly reusable shopping bags to the store, some small adjustments in the way you drive can have a big impact on your car’s emissions.

Here are a few ways...

In what’s become a bona fide wave sweeping across the country, Santa Fe became the latest city to ban plastic bags. The decision means one more state capital is heading toward a greener future, and initiating an era in which eco-friendly reusable shopping bags will be the norm. Along with Austin, the capital of Texas, Santa Fe is deciding to lead on the issue as the state capital of New Mexico. As with every such ban on wasteful plastic bags, the opposition has remarked how reusable bags take...