Alternatives to plastic bags

[leemason]

My wife is going to be taking over a Pet Shop within the next few months. They use a lot of plastic bags. Can anyone recommend a good supplier for a substitute. They sell a lot of loose food that must go into a bag. Some customers are very good and bring their own bags but a lot don't.

Lee

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

If I were in your position I would offer the following;
(1) a very cheap free plastic bag, the ones that folk don't want as they know that they'll split before they get home, i.e, the candy stripe ones.
(2) a bag for life, printed up with your name and logo on it, for £1.

If you want a supplier for the bags for life, who can supply and print them for your for around 65p each let me know. I priced it up, and its something we'll use in the near future.

Bags for life are made from a non woven recycled materials and printed with your logos on.

Also for the loose food, you could use brown paper bags.

Kind regards
Sandra

 

[katelj]

Good suggestions but you could also try jute bags.

You can also get corn starch bags/food packets which are another alternative.

Regards,

 

[leemason]

I like the idea of bags for life and will have a look at the other suggestions.

Thanks for the feedback so far.

Lee

 

[gogreen]

Hi Lee

I'll declare a vested interest straight away in that Go green bags supplies non-woven recyclable bags, but if you want I can send you an info. leaflet -not recommending any suppliers -outlining the advantages and disadvantages of all forms of eco bags (and there are pros and cons for them all).

I can send you a list of suppliers too,as I've been researching them for our initial studies into becoming a plastic bag free town -but at this stage can't recommend any in particualr -haven't got that far yet.

But well done on making the move.
Anne

Reduce...Reuse....Recycle...

 

[She Says]

Can I just ask what is the advantage of non-woven bags over woven bags?
Lee I think the suggestions you have are great. Let us know what you decide to do. I am very interested in this.

 

[merseyfoods]

Hi

Would you mind letting me know the name of that supplier, that price sounds competative with the name and logo on. What sort or quantity would that be for by the way?

Cheers an thankyou!

Andy

If I were in your position I would offer the following;
(1) a very cheap free plastic bag, the ones that folk don't want as they know that they'll split before they get home, i.e, the candy stripe ones.
(2) a bag for life, printed up with your name and logo on it, for £1.

If you want a supplier for the bags for life, who can supply and print them for your for around 65p each let me know. I priced it up, and its something we'll use in the near future.

Bags for life are made from a non woven recycled materials and printed with your logos on.

Also for the loose food, you could use brown paper bags.

Kind regards
Sandra

 

[gogreen]

The non-woven bags are the bags for life that are being mentioned above -the non -woven bit is just how they are made from granules of polypropeline (which is a plastic product -at 4 out of 5 on the greenpeace scale of plastics -1 bad, 5 biobased such as starch).

Woven bags tend to refer to cotton and jute, both biodegradable, but Jute is often laminated to give it a longer lifespan -make sure you check for this.

Without going into too much detail -I have it for anyone who wants it -cotton and jute are natural and ideal -but make sure you only buy fair trade,as working conditions elewhere are atrocious and very nasty chemicals are used.Also natural habitats are being cleared to make way for the extra demand for these crops.

The NWPP bags are hard wearing, non-toxic and recyclable. They generally have a largecapacity, are water repelant and washable.They can be produced in a number of colours and are good value.

The main aim is to get shoppers into the habit of re-using bags.These bags have taken Australia by storm and even if they are not the purest of eco bags, they are a step in the right direction.And at an affordable cost they will drive the market faster.

There are some fabulous bags around, but you also need to consider cost. An organic cotton bag will retail at around £5 -and they don't hold that much. A Gogreen bag will retail at around £1 and at an average 22litres holds a substantial amount of shopping.

Anne
Go Green Bags

Reduce Reuse Recycle

 

[She Says]

Thanks for explaining the difference. I appreciate it!

 

[Paola]

There's a local gift shop where I live that also sells recycled and fair trade goods, they use recycled newspaper bags made by an NGO in India. They are sturdy enough for gift items and have string like handles and each bag comes with a little description of the project.

I would definetely use these if I had a high street shop...what this outlet have done is staple one of their own promotional postcards on the side (p.s. if you're looking for a postcard design just PM me...). I have actually kept these bags as I think they're great and I love that they are helping out street kids in India. For more info. go to www.theindiashop.co.uk

Hope this helps

 

[gogreen]

Thanks for that Paola.

I haven't seen them before and will get some to add to my collection I'm assessing for going plastic bag free. They are a good price. I like the ones made from fruit juice cartons, sold in a few fair trade shops -but they are too expensive for a mass campaign

Anne

 

[katelj]

Hi Anne,

Great post. Couldn't agree with you more re fairtrade jute and cotton. Good luck with your campaign - whereabouts are you based?

Regards,
Kate

 

[gogreen]

Hi Kate

Had a look at your website -it's lovely. I see you have the newspaper bag too. I'm based in Central Scotland. We are a fairtrade town and we are at the very early stages of exploring the ban plastic bags campaign.

Anne

Go Green Bags
Reduce....Reuse....Recycle

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

Hi

Would you mind letting me know the name of that supplier, that price sounds competative with the name and logo on. What sort or quantity would that be for by the way?

Cheers an thankyou!

Andy

The price we were quoted was 63p/bag printed with logo on gusset (oo-errr) and both front & back. This was for 2000 bags. Lead time is about 12weeks.

Glasgow Packaging & Print Ltd
Chatham House, 32 Cogan Street,
Barrhead, Glasgow
G78 1EJ.

Tel; 0141 881 2661
Fax; 0141 881 8102
website; www.carrierbagsuk.co.uk

 

[leemason]

That's for all of the useful information and advice. I'll have a look at all of the suggestions and will definately do something along one or more of these lines once we take over the business.

 

[katelj]

Hi Kate

Had a look at your website -it's lovely. I see you have the newspaper bag too. I'm based in Central Scotland. We are a fairtrade town and we are at the very early stages of exploring the ban plastic bags campaign.

Anne

Go Green Bags
Reduce....Reuse....Recycle

Thanks Anne,

How closely involved are you with the fairtrade town work? I've been looking into this and would appreciate any advice I can get! Have you seen www.plasticbagfree.com? Loads of excellent hints on there.

Kate

 

[sysops]

My wife is going to be taking over a Pet Shop within the next few months. They use a lot of plastic bags. Can anyone recommend a good supplier for a substitute. They sell a lot of loose food that must go into a bag. Some customers are very good and bring their own bags but a lot don't.

<rant>
I've really had it with this ridiculous band wagon. It seems that the whole world has gone on a stupid, ill-conceived mission to get rid of plastic bags.

Plastic bags are great. They provide a very convenient way of carrying around a significant amount of goods, and cost very little energetically and environmentally.

If you compare the energy and material cost of a plastic bag (including end-of-life costs) with any other option capable to carrying an equivalent amount of goods, the humble bag wins every time.

What's more, if you comare the energy and material cost of a plastic bag with the ludicrous amount of over-packaging which is usually applied to the products carried within it (hint - next time you go shopping, weigh all your plastic bags and compare that mass with the mass of the packaging of all the food you buy), it is truly insignificant.

So how about we just drop all this plastic bag crap and focus on things that actually make a difference?
</rant>

 

[leemason]

<rant>
I've really had it with this ridiculous band wagon. It seems that the whole world has gone on a stupid, ill-conceived mission to get rid of plastic bags.

Plastic bags are great. They provide a very convenient way of carrying around a significant amount of goods, and cost very little energetically and environmentally.

If you compare the energy and material cost of a plastic bag (including end-of-life costs) with any other option capable to carrying an equivalent amount of goods, the humble bag wins every time.

What's more, if you comare the energy and material cost of a plastic bag with the ludicrous amount of over-packaging which is usually applied to the products carried within it (hint - next time you go shopping, weigh all your plastic bags and compare that mass with the mass of the packaging of all the food you buy), it is truly insignificant.

So how about we just drop all this plastic bag crap and focus on things that actually make a difference?
</rant>

As you can see from my original question a lot of what I want the bags for is loose food which simply goes into the bags so no over packaging there. We are not running Marks & Spencer so can't really do much about their over packaging. But thanks for the suggestion.

 

[30two Design]

The bags for life and paper bags are a great idea!

How much do plastic bags cost? To entice more people to recycle and reuse, perhaps you could offer a small discount for people who bring their own bags? Essentially it's the same as charging people for using a new bag but from a marketing point of view it gives people value and customers like to feel they are getting value. Just a thought.

 

[Miranda]

Envirosax are great - really trendy reusable polyester bags, fold up to the size of a computer mouse and are very very strong - carried 4 x 2pt milk + 2 x 2 litre ice cream + various other items back from the shops this week so would have no problem with weighty dogfood, www.envirosax.com

 

[gogreen]

Hi Miranda
Did you buy them from Australia or do you know of a UK outlet?
Thanks
Anne

 

[Miranda]

I bought mine from the lovely Nigel at www.nigelsecostore.co.uk

 

[luiz_brown]

My wife is going to be taking over a Pet Shop within the next few months. They use a lot of plastic bags. Can anyone recommend a good supplier for a substitute. They sell a lot of loose food that must go into a bag. Some customers are very good and bring their own bags but a lot don't.

Lee

i am using cloth bags

 

[lindasones]

I would avoid cornstarch bags because there is not going to be sufficient cereal crops for food let alone anything else with bio fuels using so much.

 

[leemason]

Problem with a lot of these bags is that they are very expensive. We need something that we can put 1KG of bird food at 99p into and still have some profit left. We would not get away with charging for bags. It's all very well if you are M&S but not for individual small shops in a competitive market.

They look quite nice bags though. We could sell them as an additional line. Some customers would buy them.

 

[gogreen]

Hi lee

How much are you hoping to buy a recyclable bag for?

You might like to think about something like this-We provide bags for veggie box schemes. The customer is given the first bag free -which they then re-use, or if they forget to leave it out, they pay £1 for a replacement. You could try something similar -if the customer has your bag they will be encouraged to come back to you for refills

And I would argue the opposite - I would not expect to pay to advertise a major supermarket (though people do) when I can be seen to be
supporting local businesses.

Anne

www.gogreenbags.com

 

[NW Law]

Hi I thought this would be a good discussion to ask my question on. I need 500 carrier bags for a promotional event that my law firm is attending. We are pretty green in my house - we grow our own fruit and veg and have chickens for eggs, recycle and compost etc - so it is going against the grain to order carrier bags but I do need something for people to put their stuff in so my question is -

Anyone know where I can get reasonably priced (ie around 20p per unit) carrier bags that are greener than the norm?

There seems to be a hoo ha about different types of supposed greener ones on some sites too so I'm a bit confused and my extent of green knowledge stops at the veg and the hens!

I dont envisage these being used after the exhibition (no one carries bags around that advertise a law firm LOL!!) or we might have considered proper bags.

It's quite a challenge being in business and being green.

 

[Jon0_FZ6]

I'm not sure of prices but a customer of mine, Keylogo- who provide branded promotional merchandise- have an Eco range- including bags..

You could email [email protected] for a quote if you like.

 

[NW Law]

Thanks for the tip but Ive had a look at the site and unfortunately they are dearer than Ive been quoted on the normal ones so Im still looking for recommendations...

 

[Jon0_FZ6]

no problem and good luck.

 

[Figaro]

As a customer I'd love to see an alternative to platic bags. Is there nowhere in the UK you could get the brown grocery bags like they have in america?

 

[gogreen]

Paper bags may seem like the answer, but think it through -aside from the issue of chopping down trees, they use a huge amount of energy and water in production. They are also much heavier to transport and not strong enough for constant re-use.

On the plus side they are biodegradable (provided they don't have a glossy laminate), are cheap and can be bought in small quantities. So
NW LAw -this is probably waht you should be looking for

Anne

http://www.gogreenbags.com

 

[gogreen]

Don't assume clients won't want to carry your bag around -come up with a nice design and colour and a catchy slogan - and it will get re-used.
Have a look at some other own logo bags on our website.

Otherwise to get a bag for 20p - very difficult for such a small quantity and an eco bag -you are looking at paper as mentioned above or a biodegaradable plastic bag -but I don't think you'll get that in such small quantities. Try the printedbag company -member on here or the carrier bag shop -they will donate to Tree Aid and the Tree Council for each purchase.

 

[NW Law]

Thanks for the tip

 

[dunners8021]

I would recommend paper bags, as you're unlikely to be selling any "wet" goods!

 

[The Printed Bag Shop]

We have a great offer on 6oz cotton bags in the offers section.

We can also do some great deals on paper bags too.

 

[leemason]

Can anyone suggest a good source for recycled paper bags?
It would be good to sell cotton bags for customers to re-use but something is needed for those who don't have/don't want such bags.

 

[Miranda]

Take away bags are recycles aren't they? The brown paper ones from the cash & carry. We have some of those, I just stick a sticker on.

I do quite like the idea of giving away a free reusuable and strong shopping bag with your logo with your first spend of over £15-20, and then 5-10p (cost of a cheapie bag) deducted if they reuse or bring a bag it with subsequent trips. If you were local I'd shop at your store in favour of the 2 less eco friendly pet stores near here, it'd encourage me to come back again unlike the M&S in the petrol station who ask each shjopper would you like a bag and don't warn you they now charge 5p. I didn't read the sign, not wanted a bag from there before as I usually take one and don't shop there often anyway, I ummed and ahhed as I need a plastic bag specifically for something, they're a bit scarce in our house and spotted her ringing 5p up so made her refund it. Has put me off M&S

 

[NewVix]

When it comes to food shopping now I have purchased 3 of the green eco friendly bags that are located in the supermarkets now. It not only saves me from waisting plastic but it has managed me to stop buying too much groceries.

 

[China Printing Station]

Hello Lee,

We haven't loggin in for long time. The suggestions you gugs provide are great, we produce NWPP woven bag, our price is from 30p to 75p depends on size, printed colour, insert requirement and the weight of material required. (standard 100gsm)

We also provide offset printing service.

Regards,
Jessica