An Inconvenient Bag Kelsey Griffith Cody Fisher Evan Heyman Kevin Gilbert

“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.

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”

Complications Bob Lilienfeld, author of the Use Less Stuff Report said “If you don’t reuse them, you’re 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.

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.

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.

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.

Sales Increase Nation’s 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.

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.

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 don’t 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.

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 “It’s really hard to change customer behavior”, but that stores have seen a slight increase in results.

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

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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