Reusable Grocery Tote Bags 5 Pack “A World of Thanks” Print
Reusable Grocery Tote Bags 5 Pack “A World of Thanks” Print
Reusable Grocery Tote Bags 5 Pack “A World of Thanks” Print Reviews
I bought a ton of these bags for a Fair Trade Christmas Market for customers to use as shopping bags. I chose them because they are economical and machine washable, but was thrilled with them once they arrived. The fabric isn’t canvas, but still sturdy. The bottoms are gusseted and have a plastic insert to maintain the shape. The gusset is deep enough to accomodate a gallon-size container of milk. I think the bag is large enough to carry two gallons at once. The handles seem very secure.
No problems with any of the bags during their use at the Christmas Market. In fact, a large number of customers wanted to buy our shopping bags!
Now I’m buying more bags to give as Christmas presents. These bags make it easy to get out of the paper or plastic rut.
I bought these as part of my new years resolution to be less wasteful. I’d get annoyed when the grocery store baggers would put 4 items in 1 plastic bag, and I’d come home with 12 plastic bags. With these I can use 4 bags for $100 worth of groceries/ one weeks shopping trip. I also try to take them with me wherever I shop. Very handy, and they really fit a lot.
Don’t be confused into thinking this is environmentally friendly just because it’s colored green with a picture of the earth on it. Yes, being able to reuse grocery totes is wonderful, but these are made out of polypropylene. Polypropylene is a plastic polymer designed to last for a long time (survive up to thirty years of usage), but is also designed not to decompose in, say, a compost heap.
Even worse than that, polypropylene is one of the many byproducts of the oil refining process. The process produces propylene gas which is made into propylene powder, mixed with several other chemicals, and melted into fiber which is then made into bags like these.
All of this is sold by the Chinese company CYMA at incredibly low prices. Yes, it’s great that people want durable long-lasting bags, but it’s far wiser to purchase bags made out of biodegradable material like cotton than plastic, which will never leave our ecosystem once it’s made (indeed, when you “recycle” polypropylene bags, they are shredded and made into plastic waste and other plastic-like products, and the cycle continues until you only have waste).
For more information on environmentally friendly bags, look up the extensive research done by members of CSIRO (the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) and the Australian government.
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