Bulletin Bag’s goal of reducing the need for single use plastic bags is an important step in the broader reduction of unnecessary waste. But another important piece is ensuring that our manufacturers care as much as we do. One factory that is making amazing strides in environmental sustainability is ChicoBag. ChicoBag’s president, Andy Keller, has introduced a wide variety of initiatives to help drive forward these goals.
Did you know that this month is celebrated as Plastic Free July? The campaign originated in Australia but is now a worldwide effort to encourage people to stop using disposable plastics. They say that it takes 30 days to make a new habit stick, so the hope is that by the end of the month, participants have made some shifts in thinking.
Frankly, if you’re reading our blogs, you likely already HAVE shifted your thinking, like the dozen women in Florida who came together and created Rags2Bags. The organization has made and distributed more than 2,000 reusable shopping bags throughout their community! Continue reading
As we’ve mentioned before, we have lots of clients that work at our nation’s colleges and universities. In looking at product sales over the last week, not only did we discover some pretty cool trends with water bottles (read more here), but we also noticed that there is a similar gravitation in this industry towards certain bags—and they weren’t the ones we would have guessed!
Here are Bulletin Bag’s top six best-selling custom bags for college students! Continue reading
Bags made from recycled materials have always been an important mainstay in our reusable bag lineup. It feels good to know you’re using a product that was created from the waste from another. As such, we offer more than a dozen bags made from recycled materials at Bulletin Bag [.com]!
We’ve all seen a laminated bag that proudly proclaims how it was a plastic bottle in a past life. Did you know, however, that there are other options for bags made from recycled materials besides that stuff from recycled drink bottles? We offer reusable bags made from recycled cotton, recycled polyester, and recycled PET! Continue reading
There are a bunch of reasons why clients love our insulated grocery bags. We are pretty sure that one of these reasons has to do with how their usefulness extends beyond the checkout line.
Really, it goes without saying. Take a durable reusable bag. Line it with insulating material, for the purpose of keeping its contents cool or warm for longer. Boom! Super-useful, multi-purpose tote!
“Oh, come on. They’re grocery bags. Meant for grocery stores,” you say. “What else would you use them for?” Here are five great uses for insulated grocery bags—that don’t include grocery shopping: Continue reading
On July 1, Hawaii became the first state in the country to enforce a ban on single use plastic bags. However, a loophole in the law is opening the door to a plastic bag that’s even worse for the environment than the old bags.
The fault lies in the way a reusable bag is defined: “a bag with handles that is specifically designed and manufactured for multiple reuse” and is made of durable materials, including plastic that is at least 2.25 mils thick. So, plastic bag manufacturers starting making—you guessed it—THICKER single use plastic bags. Only now…they’re calling them reusable bags! Continue reading
Suzette is very excited that we are now offering ChicoBag produce bags!
After testing a multitude of options, the ChicoBag produce bags are by far the best quality we’ve seen. The main feature that makes the ChicoBag produce bags superior is the durability of the drawstring closure. The drawstring seam on other mesh produce bags we’ve tested started to come apart after a few uses. However, Suzette has been using her ChicoBag produce bags for 1-2 YEARS (with weekly use and regular washing), and they still look as good as new!
The smaller ChicoBag Mini Mesh Produce Bag can fit about 4-5 apples, a large handful of green beans, a bundle of broccoli, or other smaller items.
The larger ChicoBag Produce Stand (available now but not yet on our site) is perfect for larger items like bananas. Suzette likes to use this bag to group together ‘loose’ produce, like peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, apples in one larger bag. When checking out, she keeps the bag out for the end, removes the items so the cashier can ring them in separately, then puts them back inside the bag as they are finished.
There are other styles of ChicoBag produce bags, but we are currently only offering the styles that are mesh on one side and solid (rePETE) on the other side. We feel that the mesh is preferable to the solid since the cashier can easily see the contents of the bag, making it easier at check out.
Almost every time Suzette uses these bags the cashiers and baggers compliment her on them and ask where she got them. While the trend hasn’t completely caught on with most mainstream consumers, we believe this product category will grow immensely in the coming years.
Once you’ve kicked the plastic bag habit at the check out line, you start to notice how many plastic bags you are still using in the produce department. Using high quality reusable produce bags can easily eliminate these single use plastic bags. With a little advanced planning you can quickly get in the habit of bringing your own produce bags to the store as well! As someone who is passionate about reducing plastic wherever possible, we think these produce bags are fantastic!
Several months ago, ChicoBag contacted us about having a selection of their bags on Bulletin Bag [.com]. It’s taken some time, but we are super-excited to finally announce our new partnership and show you our custom ChicoBag offerings! Continue reading
Bulletin Bag [.com] is SO excited to announce that Bagamajig is here and ready to ship! The brainchild of our founder, Suzette Bergeron, the Bagamajig carabiner keychain is the handiest reusable bag organizer there is!
For over 10 years (she was an early adopter of the reusable movement, after all!), Suzette tried tons of different ways to organize, store, and use her reusable bags. She ended up making her own, and after a year of testing and refining—Poof—Bagamajig was born!
We recently sat down with our long-time client at the City of Ventura to talk about reusable bag campaigns and learn more about the overwhelming success of theirs. The City has integrated reusable bags into its environmental sustainability programs and has given out more than 6,000 PET Folding Carry All bags in less than three years! How? Read our interview!
