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Eco-Friendly Shopping Bags: Not Necessarily Cheap
When we lived in Taiwan and Singapore we would head to the market with our cloth bags. We bought most of our fruits and vegetables from individual sellers who we returned to week after week once we discovered who was best for each item we were after. Our bags were nothing special. They had handles. They opened and when we put things in them they wouldn't break. These days there are more shopping bag options to consider.
Designers have gotten in on the eco-friendly grocery shopping option. A shopping bag might just be a shopping with a utilitarian use--or you could make a statement, and not necessarily just an "I'm environmentally friendly" one. There's an article by Lisa McLaughlin in this week's Time magazine that goes into several of the details about shopping bag politics (paper, plastic or canvas). The bag she mentioned as creating quite the ruckus is the Anya Hindmarch's version that says, "I'm NOT a Plastic bag." What struck me about the article's subject was how high end a shopping bag can get.
There's the Stella McCarthy $495 version and the Hermes $960 version. Or, if that's not quite rich enough, how about Louis Vuitton's for $1,720? If you're looking for something cheaper and you happen to be in Taiwan or Singapore, look for some sort of closely woven plastic sort of bag. I seem to remember a plaid sort of design. If you can find them, they work great and are cheap. I'm pretty sure we bought ours at the market. A famous designer did not make them, but hey, they'll get your vegetables and fruit home. Isn't that the point?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
zakirah Mar 19th 2008 7:19PM
Nice post! ... me and my family just started the whole cavas bags, I dont know why iam soo slow.. i hate the plastic bags, I geuss stupid convences... any ways.. Ironically we started by seeing the Walmart bags they are only a 1.00 and "convently" at the countrer LOL. and i am sooooo glad that we have started now we are looking at all the things we do , to start to do our part and take respoablity... For a famer who thought there were doing enough LOL...
Regarding a company that mass perducses . I dont know if you hear BAGS ON THE RUN. you can order large qunities and i think they are pretty cheap. the site is http://store.bagsontherun.com/ I hope that HELPS
Thanks .. Have a great day!
Zakirah
Teresa Nov 7th 2008 11:19AM
The logo fabric grocery tote from La Grande Epicerie (THE grocery store) in Paris was one of my favorite souvenirs! And now I use it at home. I also brought several as gifts and they were VERY well received! Much cheaper than the designer labels... but still oh so chic! and environmentally friendly.
Jamie Rhein Nov 7th 2008 11:19AM
Teresa,
Thanks for the timely gift idea!
cindy Nov 17th 2008 12:31AM
Hi, everyone, we are a professioanl manufacturer mainly dealing with eco-friendly shopping bags. Such as recycled pet, organic cotton, non-woven fabric etc. If you have any interest please contact me. Besides we also produce all kind of textile products such as Shirt, coat, jackets.
Mail: cindy@eco-friendlyfiber.com
Tel:+008615024488770
Fax:+008657122910828
web:www.eco-friendlyfiber.com
James Aug 11th 2007 5:08PM
I was surfing the web when I stumbled upon this article. I think I was one of your creative writing students if you taught in NEHS in Hsin Chu Taiwan.
Jamie Rhein Aug 11th 2007 5:10PM
Hi James!
Great to hear from you! Yes, it's me. We're still in touch with NEHS folks. Small world.
Jamie (Ms. Rhein)