How Green Are These Reusable Shopping Bags?

The Ready to Reuse Shopping Bag

At first glance it looked like a great idea. A reusable shopping bag that thanks to a unique design and a well placed snap, neatly folds up into a compact little package. I am sure we all mostly agree the use of reusable shopping bags is probably a good idea so anything that will make them easier to carry and use can only be a plus. Add some green graphics, some cool green buzz words and voila, you have a … plastic bag.

“The Devil Is in the Details”

Was one of my grandfather’s favorite sayings and an eternal, indisputable truth. No matter what the subject or when it is being said, the small unobvious details are often where the truth or lack of it can be found.

A close look at the small tag, I found deep inside of the bag told me so much more than the colorful bag or the outer tag so prominently displayed. The bag is 100% polypropylene, which of course is nothing more than plastic. This particular bag, like most that are used to help “save the earth”, is imported from China. I think most of our readers know how I feel about importing products like this from the other side of the world, especially when over 10% of our own population is unemployed.

Putting that carbon footprint and exporting jobs issues aside, here are some other things that are likely to go unnoticed by the average reusable bag buyer.

• There is no indication of recycled content. That is not good.
• There are no instructions for the ultimate disposal of the bag. It will eventually have to be discarded, but how?
• The tag clearly indicates it is not for use with food but can’t we assume people shop for groceries more often than they do for sox and underwear? Shouldn’t that important information be somewhere where people are more likely to see it?
• Since it is likely to be used for grocery shopping, wouldn’t it be great if it was washable? Google “reusable bag germs” and get ready to be shocked.

Am I Anti Reusable Bag?

Not at all, but as a lifelong packaging person with a deep interest and commitment to preserving the environment, here are a few things I suggest you keep in mind if you decide to buy and use reusable shopping bags.

1. Make sure the bag is made of natural fibers. Don’t replace multiple, easily recycled plastic bags with one that can only wind up in a land fill.
2. Ideally a bag should have some amount of recycled content.
3. Make sure you know where and how you will eventually dispose of it.
4. If possible, TRY to find something that is made in America.

The Myth and Truth about Lemmings

The rodents of that name do not follow each other into a suicidal Arctic plunge as is the popular belief. However, well meaning retailers have indeed been known to follow each other all the way to China in search of a low cost product that will appeal to their increasingly eco minded customers.

Let’s face it, this is not all that technical and it is not like buying high tech electronic equipment. All it takes is a few good questions and any retailer can do green and do it right.

How Eco Friendly Are These Rayon - Bamboo Socks, Really?

Eye Catching Eco Display

A few weeks ago I noticed this display while shopping at Sam’s Club. Products being promoted in a green manner always capture my attention but I guess that is the purpose of using green catch phrases like “eco power”. It leads consumers to believe that there is something uniquely green about the product being offered. I took a closer look and realized the product on display was cotton socks so of course I had to determine how Burlington was able to make any green claims about their product.

I discovered the socks were made of “rayon made from bamboo” which supposedly gave them some terrific properties to combat moisture and odor. I also noticed that the rayon made from bamboo was a mere 2% of the overall composition and the primary material being used is cotton, the non-organic variety. The labeling and display proudly proclaimed the socks were made domestically but no real indication where the cotton came from, how it was grown and how the people who harvested it were treated. Yet, that tiny bit of “natural” composition made these socks a green product?

Is Rayon Even Natural?

According to everything I have read, rayon is neither a natural or synthetic product. It is a “semi synthetic fiber”. Any number of different naturally growing plants and trees including bamboo can produce the cellulose from which you can make rayon but in my mind, that does not necessarily make the end result bamboo, or even make it green.

I had no idea that last August the FTC came to the same conclusion when they released this bulletin.

Why Is This Product Still on the Shelf?

I took this photo on Tuesday when I re-visited Sam’s Club to pick up a few items. Right in the middle of one of their main aisles was the greenest retailer in America, Wal-Mart/Sam’s Club, selling a product that at best is questionably green and at worst, possibly intentionally misleading.

Then last night I saw an article written by Linda Casey for Packaging Digest.

It turns out letters were recently sent out by the FTC to several large retailers including Wal-Mart/Sam’s Club, warning them they were possibly violating the law and the previous FTC warning by promoting rayon products made of bamboo cellulose, as eco friendly or even anti-microbial.

The Green Consumer Must Remain Ever Vigilant

Should I be upset at Burlington for the product they are marketing or at Sam’s Club for selling it? If Wal-Mart, the “greener of the free world” could be misled into carrying this product, then how easily can we as consumers be ripped off? Perhaps I should be disappointed with the FTC for not making news like this more public or at myself for missing it?

Ironically, I usually write about green products being packaged in un-green materials but in this case, the packaging may be the greener than the product it contains.

During a recent presentation to some new e-commerce green store owners, I offered this list of reasons why:

• This segment of the market and the waste that results is growing at an almost startling rate and there is no end in sight. Growth comes through volume and more points of contact with an increasingly skeptical green community.
• There are numerous websites and blogs seeking packaging “greenwashing” and inconsistencies, and none of us wants to be the focus of the new, embarrassing story making the rounds on the internet.
• Secondary packaging costs money in terms of labor, shipping costs (inbound and outbound), and damage claims. One gentleman I spoke with proudly claimed that he made money on his packaging, shipping and handling charges. A routine analysis of ALL the costs involved usually proves that is not the case but if it is true, why wouldn’t you want to make it even more profitable?
• Its effectiveness determines how the product arrives and your customer’s initial satisfaction or dissatisfaction. What is the replacement cost of a damaged product and/or a lost customer?
• To an e-commerce, green focused customer, the package you shipped to them becomes the first and perhaps only real, personal and direct contact they have with you. Your package speaks volumes, what is it saying about you and your company?

Bottom line, we have to remember that the quality, image and performance bar is not set lower for us because we sell a green product or perhaps because we are a small, home based business.

E-commerce customers are not shopping the internet because they are willing to accept less in terms of professionalism or quality. They usually and understandably demand more and if we do not provide it, one of our many competitors will be glad to satisfy their needs and preferences.