There is lots of talk about green washing and eco-marketing but really how much of what you do is 100% environmentally friendly?

Smartbag has created the first 100% reusable shopping bag for only $0.35 cents each and it really is 100% recyclable! The reason is because this bag is only made from one type of material that is 100% recyclable polypropylene. This means that Smartbag's budgetbag does not contain any cotton threads, nylon, metal grommets or laminated material.

What does this mean for recyclers? This means that when the recycling company goes to sort your budget bags in the depot they just put your bags in with the hard plastics and they do not have to worry whether or not your reusable bags thread or grommets will cause problems in the recycling machine. Clogging of the grinding machines is normally the biggest worry for the recyclers which is why many provinces in Canada still do not recycle reusable bags.

The budget bag solves this problem by using heat to seal the seams and heat to seal the handles so there is no need for threads or grommets to keep the bag together. This is similar to the method used in making paper bags which use only glue but the budget bags use only heat. In addition, to the 100% use of 1 material for production the ink is 100% made from water based products which guarantees that even when grinded up for reuse there will be no leaching of harmful chemicals into other recycled products.

For more information about the 100% recyclable bag visit this link http://www.smartbag.com/products_detail.php?id=78

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In support of Toronto’s goal to achieve 70 per cent waste diversion from landfill, to reduce the volume of plastic bags and to encourage the use of reusable bags/bins, retailers in the City of Toronto are required to charge a minimum of five cents per plastic shopping bag requested by the customer at checkout as of today, June 1. These requirements are covered under the City’s new Municipal Code Chapter 604, Packaging bylaw, approved by Toronto City Council at its March 31, 2009 meeting.

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Starting in January 2009, Seattle shoppers who forget to bring along reusable bags will be charged 20 cents for every disposable paper or plastic bag they use to carry home their purchases at grocery, drug and convenience stores. Other U.S. cities have banned the use of plastic bags, but Seattle is believed to be the first to charge a fee to discourage the use of disposable bags and to reduce the amount of paper and plastic that end up as litter or in landfills.

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