Recently in Bags and Bottles Category

What's neoprene? It's that rubbery synthetic material most commonly found in wetsuits, mouse pads, electronic totes, shoes, and loads more. What's the problem? Neoprene was voted allergen of the year in 2009 joining the ranks of "fragrance" and some mysterious ingredient in hair dye. Just taking a whiff of neoprene is the first red flag that something funky this way comes (like VOCs, chlorine, and formaldehyde).

GreenSmart's got an alternative. It's called neogreene. It's got all the good qualities of its doppelganger (stretchiness, elasticity) without some of the big baddies that are toxic for the world and the wearer. Neogreene uses a quarter less electricity and petroleum to produce and is PVC, chlorine, formaldehyde, and lead-free. It also shuns packaging to save trees.

It's got a cool bottles to bags line of laptop carriers as well.

There are two issues with using reusable grocery bags. One is remembering them (my friend C hangs hers on her front door). The other is storing them.

At the moment, mine are wadded up in a pretty square basket and tucked in a closet.

Another solution is The Tote Buddy.

It looks like a laptop sleeve with handles and it holds up to 10 folded up totes. Essentially, it helps your tote bags disappear in an easy to carry packet that fits in a small space whether that be your car, your bike basket, your closet, or hanging on your doorknob.

At the end of its life, it's recyclable and meanwhile, helps keep the trillions of single use bags used every year out of landfills and out of the oceans where they harm marine life and generally gunk the place up. (More out of this world baggy facts found here.)

I'm loving Aliato's one of a kind "book bags." The designer takes an old book cover and fashions something fashionable from it (though nothing could be quite as fashionable as reading, in my book anyway!).

Namely, purses with either soft handles or hard handles, or mini clutches. 

See Aliato's purses here and then give her a call if you'd like a particular dewey decimal number.

I'm a huge walker. So when I discovered lunabag, I was over the moon about it. Strapping it at the hips  (reminiscent of a fanny pack but lower-riding and way, way cuter), my arms are free to swing on strolls around my neighborhood, on jaunts to errands, and on hikes in the mountains. It's a genius way to carry stuff without that lopsided shoulder ache from a messenger or one strap bag while being a lot more user-friendly than a back pack. No taking it off to grab something from it required.

Not only that, the lunabag is actually good for your lower back as it engages your core and helps align that spine. As someone who's struggled with back issues, I can attest to its helpfulness in that department. And having just returned from a few days hiking around the red rocks of Sedona, it certainly served me well.

Here's the one I have--lunabag's eco-friendly version made from all-natural hemp and recycled plastic. I wanted to share it with you now that for some of us the weather is warm and for others of us, the warm is on its way and walking season will soon be in full force. (For drivers, you can use it there too--just slide the pocket side to the front.) I haven't yet tried it on my bike, but I'm sure it'll work there too.

See the hemp, hip, lunabag for yourself. 

Going on the go with a reusable is the only way to go. But why not go with some fun while you're saving the earth and future generations from the evils of disposable plastics (which take hundreds of years to break down if at all and are made from petroleum) and paper and aluminum and Styrofoam?

There are a number of doppelgangers out there--saintly siblings of the original evil twin. Most of them I was inspired to find in my latest issue of BUST Magazine.

Behold:

You know I love I'm not a paper cup.

This crinkle cup is the original fake disposable, from 1975. No, it's not a crinkled plastic cup from the latest fill in the blank (football game, family gathering, wine-filled party...). It's ceramic and will last and last and still be geniusly funny.

I'm not a paper towel is an excellent substitute for tree-filled paper towels. It's cute, it's handy, it's reusable! Even those of us who still use (very limited and recycled) paper towels can go almost paperless between tea towels, dish towels, and cleaning rags.

This ceramic noodle cup may look like Styrofoam, but it's not--so, no hot hands or chemical-laded udon or bottoms falling through. Of course, it does mean you have to make your own noodles instead of microwaving a convenience one--but, come on, don't you want to break that habit anyway? Or hey, bring this to your favorite noodle house and take your meal to go in it!

I have a friend who loves her a plastic straw. Even in the house, she drinks from one. Here's my answer to her eco-problem: Glass Dharma's handblown glass straw. Use it again and again.

And finally, Lorena Barrazueta has a whole collection or to-go ware that's made to look like aluminum, but is in fact handmade handmade porcelain

Yes, it was a soccer ball. And now, it's been turned inside out to be a purse. Pretty nimble, eh? Even the interior pocket is from reclaimed truck tarp.

I'm thinking you might be able to do this yourself with those deflated specimens in your closet...

Either way, now you can be a good sport on and off the field.

I've worked hard over the last year to de-plastic my kitchen. That means no plastic zippy bags, no plastic shopping bags, no plastic Tupperware. Why? Plastic is a petroleum product that may have been the next big thing in The Graduate, but is now going out of style fast. 

Unfortunately, it doesn't biodegrade fast--plastic can stay with us for 400 years in a landfill, not to mention that it clogs our waterways, harms sea creatures, and leaches chemicals into our food if stored in it. You can read more about plastic bag facts here.

 And see the Green Guide's Guide to Plastics if you're still going that route sometimes.

 When you do, please let me know your own savvy, secret tips for de-plasticking in your kitchen.

Patagonia is just about the best company around--from the beginning it's cared about the planet and its workers and has been striving to do right by both.

Just one more reason to love it is this waterproof over the shoulder bag, perfect for a commute by bicycle or foot (and will work for planes, trains, and automobiles, too).

It's sleek and it's made from 64% recycled polyester.

I am notorious for bringing my own food places and creating picnics.  In order to bring your own though, you've got to have the right gear.  So, to help you forego the to-go packaging and plastic bags, I thought I'd give you a few recent finds of mine that I think would do the cook, wrap and carry job beautifully.

I've just ordered a couple of Thermos stainless steel food containers.  They keep food insulated for a number of hours and don't have plastic!  Perfect.  There's a 10 oz. and a 16 oz. and even a Hello Kitty version that's just too cute and Batman's face on another for fun food-lovers. 

The stainless steel numbers also work if you're going to a restaurant to eat out and carry out but don't want to throw out anything. Simply have the folks there put your order in your own container versus Styrofoam and you're good to go.

For a true picnic, or just lunch for more than one, I really like Lug's picnic box/tote that's insulated and under 30 bucks--not bad. (There's a little cube version too for 22.00). 

If you're brown-bagging for just yourself, my pick would be the fugu lunch tote from Built NY. It's sleek (kind of Batman-suite-esque actually), lead and PVC free, and has insulated pouches for both lunch and bottle.  Very clever and only around 20 bucks.

You've got a few days left to score a deal on a re-cycled, re-purposed, re-ally snazzy bag!

The news on this is a little late, but always applicable.  In the tradition of Life Less Plastic, one woman in Britain decided to go a whole month without plastic. 

She started with a plastic audit--a tool I was introduced to in the education department of TreePeople and find truly useful--that revealed that she had created 603 pieces of plastic waste in one month. If we think we've got less, it helps to know that 67 of them were filmy plastics that had contained her bread and cheese and the like. I shudder to think what mine would be.

And look back at her anti-plastic blog journey here. (She got it down to 116 items, cutting out almost 500 pieces!)

Here's an example of a recycling audit for a college campus in case you decide to audit an area of your own life be it how much is recycled at your home or office or how much waste (in pounds or pieces) you actually throw out.  

I also like the project of carrying around all your waste (excluding toilet paper!) for a week.

more (reinvention)

And here's my favorite, the Northrup, made from brown recycled rice bags and flecked with color.  Slide it on the shoulder, carry it with the hand, slip go to items into its outside pocket.

The only thing we drink more of than bottled water in this country is bottled soda--a sorry state of affairs.

Elizabeth Royte's Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It is a keen look into the problems with what we're drinking.

To name a few, tap water in most of America is much more highly regulated than bottled water.  On top of that, when you drink from the tap, you don't have any of that plastic leaching into your fluids and into you. And finally, when you drink water from your own pipes, it's not laced with oil.  How so?  Bottled water is flown and trucked from who knows where, using gas to get to you.  And, it's relationship with petroleum is even more intimate than that, as plastic is made of petroleum. We use 15 million barrels a year to make plastic bottles, 8 out of 10 of which never make it t the recycle bin (read more about the uprising against plastic bottles from E-Magazine here).

According to this interview with Royte from KCRW's Good Food, your bottle of water can actually be considered a quarter petroleum given that's how much crude went into it from conception til it touched your lips.  Not so appetizing or sustainable.

If you aren't already toting a SIGG or other reusable bottle, this book will surely help you take the plunge into healthier, eco-friendly water.

I'm a girl who loves to swing my arms when I walk.  Plus, it's hard to get around town in sustainable ways without your hands somewhat free.

Enter this satchel that does not want to be called a fanny pack.

It's made from surplus cotton from another manufacturer (fabric that would normally be discarded) right here in the U.S. and has a unique design to boot.  It's eliminating waste and giving you the freedom to move.

Perfect for any kind of travel really, even the kind where you have to get on an airplane.

Check out this surplus canvas satchel (77.00; black or gray) here.

Love this canvas tote whose form and function align to be a positive weapon against plastic.

Use it for a purse and never again put one or two purchased items in a plastic bag, no matter how much you're pressured to or all manner of funny looks you get.  Plus, the bag speaks for you, so no high horse required.

It's vegan, it's got a birdie on it saying, "It's not my bag," and it's got an interior lining and velcro pocket to boot.

more (solar)

With just one little solar panel on the front pocket, this simple solar-charging device will keep you free to roam without power failure anxiety.  Plus, if you really are the traveling kind, you could literally stop ever having to charge devices at home and do it on the road for free and without burning any coal to do it.

It will charge PDAs, ipods, and cell phones fully in just a few hours and comes with a number of adaptors along with all the other stuff a bag should have like pen loops and compartments and the like.

Yes, it will benefit their company, but I'm all for it when the ultimate outcome is fewer plastic bottles.

Here's a fact sheet from the campaign with plastic bottle facts, like that Americans use 50 billion of those suckers a year and waste 30 gallons of water a day while we're at it.

If you buy a SIGG bottle through the site, PUR will donate the proceeds to Proctor & Gamble's Children's Safe Drinking Water, benefiting children in Kenya.

More and more folks are bringing their own bags with them when shopping and I try to  breath and remember that when I see people carrying one item in a plastic bag away from a store.  

After all, literally billions of bags end up as litter every year, gunking up the planet, contaminating soil, ad harming marine life and taking at least hundreds of years to "photodegrade." (Read more facts about plastic bags here.)  Instead of getting upset about the perils of plastic though, we can all just tote cool, funny, educational bags and everyone will follow our lead.

Enter the Plastic Bags Blow Acme bags. Each one is sturdy enough for gallons of orange juice and has two pairs of handles, one long, one short, so you can choose your preference.  Best of all they're made from recycled cotton, something we don't hear much about.  

Acme takes the table waste clippings from factories that manufacture cotton and makes them into bags without treating or dyeing them, so those clippings that would otherwise head to the landfill by the billions of pounds are put to excellent use.

I recently got a couple of plastic pouches to go inside my big hauling-stuff bag to keep things organized.

These by Eclipse Designs are made from recycled plastic bags, so they're following the second R (reuse) and they're waterproof, handy, and spunky all at the same time.