customgreenpromos.com Blog

By Alcuin Papa
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 05:42:00 12/20/2009

The people at Customgreenpromos.com contacted me after reading Living Simply’s article about Recycled Christmas Wrap.  Their bags would certainly work nicely as reusable grocery bags or reusable shopping bags, but should be considered for year-round use as well.

They sent me some sturdy, reusable bags to try out. These bags are innovative and strong! My sense is these were constructed from the same rugged materials as outdoor grear – soft, ripstop stuff sack-wear, heavy canvas/nylon haul bag material and stitching…as an avid recycler and outdoor enthusiast, I was impressed.

I started by sampling three of the company’s most popular products:

• Reusable Grocery Bags- The bags for the supermarket  is a real boon for the reuse mentality.These nifty items are totally Earth-friendly – they are made of non woven poloypropylene. The producst are very affordable and worth it.

• Reusable Shopping Bags-  They are very practical for me. Most shopping tote bags get left at home because they are too big to carry everywhere. These bags are the perfect size.Another nice thing: if this bag gets dirty, I can toss it in a cold wash on a gentle cycle, or handwash in my kitchen sink with gentle dish soap.

  This are budget-minded reusable bags and is stylish enough for even East-Coast fashionistas (no offense meant; my New York roots go way back).

• Big Thunder Tote Bags- This tote bag is revolutionary in it’s superior sturdiness.  I’ve never seen such a sturdy bag – nothing I’ve used in the past comes close.Obviously, this is considered a premier bag.

Remember!
It’s up to all of us to keep the level of plastic bag garbage out of the landfills, and even more important – out of the stomachs of our wildlife. Animals, like deer, fish, and many birds, injest these bags and starve to death, even surrounded by nutritious food sources.

For more information, the Custom Green Promos website offers a lot of sad statistics on the amount of plastic bag refuse blowing around the world. Start with their Fast Facts. They also have a great page dedicated to how you can, in their words, “reduce the mindless consumption of single use plastic and paper bags”.

I really like that this company is working hard to become part of the solution, and I plan to give them my patronage.

There comes a time when we all need to look at what is coming about with plastic bags and decide to put our foot down. As a blogger and business owner i am kept aware of the reusable grocery bags world and news within it daily by daily Google alerts.  Until recently, they were looking surprisingly good and news on the reusable bags front was great.  California has signed a measure which may in fact ban plastic bags within the state all together!   CA will be the 1st state in the Union to actually do so. This is terrific news! This is why we are here working in this industry! Being a native Californian I am proud that the people of CA see the benefit in this.  I truly hope they stick to their guns and see this measure through. The time is now! 
Lately though, the news on the reusable bags front is completely alarming, shocking, and down right ridiculous!  What I am seeing is article after article about how reusable bags carry deadly germs and virus’s and people can die from using them. Upon first reading this my fricken jaw hit the floor and its just shocking! 

To me, there can only be 1 culprit can be behind it. That culprit would be the makers of the plastic bags themselves! I mean really, bringing your own bags to the market can now make you die! Ecoli virus among countless others!!!
Well, I tell you what……I myself have been using my own reusable bags going on my 5th year.  In all my carries,  eggs, poultry, vegetables, and anything else i may buy I have never, not once, even had a spill of any considerable size in one of my reusable bags!   If i did, I would simply take out the bottom plastic insert and wipe free any “contaminates” that may be there and we would then be free and clear of the problem.  If it were that bad, i would wash my washable reusable bag in cold water and line dry. 

Problem fixed.

It is clear to me that the makers of the plastic bags are acting purely from greed and cash money is their objective.  They do not care that coral reefs are dying by plastic bag strangle hold.  They do not care that the los Angeles River looks like the trash dump from the original movie Star Wars!  They don’t care that  plastic bags waive from trees in Central park like Christmas ornaments, they do not care that CA spends $30,000,000 dollars per year on trying to contain their plastic disaster and barely scrapes the top of it.

The bottom line is that plastic bags are one of our great plagues in the world and slowly but surely people are being made aware of it.  As rap group “Public Enemy” once said, “Don’t Belive the Hype!”  Its propaganda, and it simply isnt true.

If the plastic bag manufacturers had any real amo they would be showing us all the bacteria and sickness’s that have arose from places like Ireland and Austrailia who are bothworking on 10 years free of plastic bags.  If there were any truth in any of this they would maybe start there.

Bottom line, plastic bags hurt the Earth, stay strong, keep bringing your reusable bags, and dont believe the Hype!  It simply isnt true!

BAG BUSINESS: Green entrepreneurs retool humble grocery sack

Stephanie Ashworth and Kerri Stenson just started their company this year, but already their business is in the bag.

Literally.

The Woodside women have launched a business making collapsible, reusable grocery bags that can be stashed in the cup holder of a car. They are among a number of entrepreneurs who hope to capitalize on Americans’ increasing disaffection with the disposable plastic grocery sack.

In the wake of San Francisco’s recent ban on plastic grocery bags, other jurisdictions from Los Angeles to New Jersey are considering restrictions on the use of plastic bags. And since last summer, California law has required all large supermarkets to offer reusable bags for sale.

Meanwhile, worries about climate change and marine pollution are leading more individual consumers throughout the country to answer “none of the above” when faced with the cliched choice of “Paper or plastic?”

“The market has absolutely exploded,” said Michael Wold, founder of Customgreenpromos.com, an online store that has sold a wide selection of grocery totes. “If you asked me two years ago, there were dozens of reusable bags. Now there are a hundred or more.”

Environmentalists have urged consumers to bring their own bags to the supermarket for years. But until recently, few people responded.

Those who did had limited choices – things like beach bags, hippie-looking hemp bags, or an individual’s motley collection of canvas totes accumulated through years of trade show giveaways and public radio membership drives.

But that has started to change.

Wold launched his Web business – which sells eco friendly bags and many other eco friendly promotional products.

“I wanted to get away from the tattered, really old tote bag with an in-your-face eco-message,” he said.

Others had the same idea, including a Chico software programmer named Andy Keller who two years ago started making nylon grocery bags that collapse into their own attached pouch. Keller’s venture grew out of a trip he took to his local garbage dump, shortly after being laid off from his software job.

“I got there at the end of the day, when there was an entire day’s worth of trash uncovered and exposed,” said Keller, who named his company ChicoBag. “It was huge. It took my breath away. And there were plastic bags everywhere, with birds pecking at them, or caught on the fences. I made a commitment to myself to adopt a healthier reusable bag habit. And then came the business side, when I thought, ‘I can make a business out of this.’ ”

Keller’s ChicoBags sell for about $5. Some other local bag manufacturers have a higher price point: San Franciscan Ania Moniuszko runs an online business called My Own Bag that sells grocery bags made out of interior-design fabrics for $40 to $58 each.

Ashworth and Stenson, the Woodside women who recently launched the reusable bags that fit in a cup holder, fall somewhere in the middle. Under the brand name Olive Smart, they’re selling a set of six colorful nylon bags that stuff into a pouch for $39.

Ashworth and Stenson met at their children’s playground and discovered a shared interest in starting some kind of environmentally focused business. They brainstormed about how to make it easier for people to use reusable bags.

“You always hear people in the checkout line say, ‘Oh, I left my bag in the car,’ ” Ainsworth said. “Well, what if the bags were in your face, like in the cup holder of your car? And you’d need enough bags. I have three kids, and Kerri has two. We don’t go to the store with one cute little tote.”

While companies like Custom Green Promos, ChicoBag, My Own Bag and Olive Smart have clearly identified a growing niche market, it remains unclear which of them, if any, will ultimately ride that market to success.

Wold points out that it’s not hard to get into the grocery bag business, so there’s the potential for large numbers of competitors.

“All you have to do is create a basic design, send it over to China (for production), spend $10,000 to $20,000, and you’ve got 5,000 to 10,000 bags,” he said. “The barriers to entry are almost nonexistent, while the level of sophistication of the market is rapidly advancing. So you’ve got to have a really good product that stands out and is different.”

Meanwhile, all the major supermarkets have started manufacturing and selling reusable bags with their own logos – using cheaper materials such as polypropylene and charging lower prices. Safeway, for instance, sells totes with its logo for 99 cents.

It will be challenging for small independent manufacturers to compete with those prices.

“Most supermarkets are selling them at cost or slightly below, since they view it as a marketing expense,” Wold said.

Village Market is a family-run supermarket in the upscale, environmentally conscious neighborhood of Rockridge in Oakland. Its experience with reusable bags could be a sign of things to come – at least in liberal enclaves like the Bay Area.

by Sandra Sims

When shoppers bring in their own reusable grocery bags to carry their items home in, it reduces the number of non-biodegradable plastic bags. Personally I have been wanting to get some reusable bags for some time now. I am tired of the plastic and paper bags cluttering up my garage and polluting our community (and our world in general). So when my local grocery store started offering these bright green reusable shopping bags for just 99 cents each I was delighted.

These bags are very durable, flat bottomed and can hold as much as much as 3 times what a plastic sack would. Now these bags in particular were not being sold as a fundraiser, just as a promotion for the store. In fact the grocery store offers 5 cents off when you bring them in. Not much, but it’s a nice touch.

Til now I have held off reviewing or promoting reusable bags as a fundraiser, even though there are several companies out there providing them. I believe I’ve finally found a great recommendation for you, and here’s why:

First I like to see a company who is selling a product not just make a buck but because of a driving principle. Custom Green Promos Inc. out of Cleveland,Oh impresses me as being very committed to reducing pollution. Their website http://www.customgreenpromos.com/ is professional and educational with statistics about plastic bag use and what impact green bags could have. According to them, an average person will take their shopping home in 250 plastic bags per year!

Fundraising with Reusable Grocery Bags

First to use these as a fundraiser the bags need to have attractive pricing, both the wholesale cost for the non-profit agency and a good price for the consumer. I’ve seen bags from other companies that have suggested retail of $10-20 which even for a fundraiser is a bit pricey. This high pricing will be a turn-off for some people.

A product sales fundraiser has to be something that people really want and need. The general public is becoming more and more interested in actions that will help preserve our earth. Using these bags instead of plastic or paper bags that will end up in a landfill is one of the easiest ways to do something. Retailers also have an incentive to promote these bags. If customers bring their own bags the stores save thousands of dollars per year in costs.

I talked with a customer service representative at Custom Green Promos Inc., and they said that they have sold the bags to several charities as a fundraiser. They will sell them in bulk to your group at a very affordable cost. This might not sound like a lot raised per bag but this way more people can purchase them and can get several of them. Most families will need at least 2-6 bags if they plan on using them at the grocery store.

This would be a great way for a retailer and large organization, such as a school, to partner for mutual benefit. For example, by using school colors and logo it’s a spirit item. If the store and/or other retailers put their logo on them its a publicity item. It could be a co-branded promotion where both the store and the charity logos are on the bags. The minimum order for custom imprints is 100 but they also have stock bags for those needing lower quantities without a logo.

As I mentioned each bag will only bring in a dollar or two, so you will need to set a goal for the number of bags you want to sell in order to meet a fundraising goal. Keep in mind that in addition to the funds raised you are raising awareness about your cause and providing a way for people to do something good for the environment.

The biggest drawback I can see with this project is the potential competition. Just today I was running errands and saw reusable bags on sale at two other stores in addition to the grocery where I bought mine. They were also selling for $1-2. The difference I can see though is that those stores are not actively promoting them like the grocery store was. Of course they were also not benefiting any charity.

If your organization got behind this as a big campaign then you could be quite successful with it. Just be sure to be the first and/or biggest group in your area doing this program. If several organizations and stores can partner together it would boost your chance of success.

Mar 3, 2010 Marilyn Michaud

New eco-friendly, reusable bags eliminate the need for plastic by offering a greener, low carbon, and free-trade alternative. Here are 4 great green options.

Have you been to the grocery store lately and just felt guilty using those throwaway plastic bags. Talk about a waste. They are discarded so frequently into the environment causing pollution and litter everywhere. It’s time to do something about this and take a stand. The next time you go to the grocery store, make sure you make good use of reusable grocery bags. Either bring them with you to the store and purchase a couple while you are there. It will make a big difference to the world we live in. I know that I felt great the last time i went to the grocery store and brought along a couple of my own reusable bags. It made me feel like I was making a difference and that I was doing my part in saving the planet. Let’s all make sure we take part in this movement of going green and use reusable shopping bags.

“Reusable Bags, now there’s an idea that won’t catch on”, might have been the thinking a few years ago or so. Yet now the world is in economic and environmental meltdown, most major stores are now offering reusable shopping bags to their customers. As the environmental issues have gained momentum and the problem of huge waste resulting from millions ( UK consumers in the year 2000 used more than 17 million plastic carrier bags ) of plastic bags that are not biodegradable and harmful to the planet, being given away with almost every purchase and then simply discarded, the need for change was inevitable. What are the benefits of having a reusable bag? Well there are many but for example if the bag is a printed cotton bag, then they can be sturdier than your common plastic bag, with less worry about it breaking when carrying something heavier. Then there are the huge commercial benefits with company branding designs placed conveniently on the bag wherever the retailer desires and you have yourself some of the most affordable advertising available. Billboard and sign advertising is very costly and often businesses can’t afford to pay for that level of exposure. If then businesses either give their new reusable grocery bags away with purchases or charge a small fee for them, the benefits are obvious. Lots of happy shoppers walking up and down the town centre with your logo emblazoned all over their bags, reaching places billboards can never reach. This evidence alone should convince environmentally minded retailers and consumers that the transfer to reusable bags is both a healthy one and a potentially profitable one, as apparently the production and cost of these reusable bags is very economical. In July 2005 the Scottish Parliament introduced a bill calling for the levy on plastic bags. The environmental committee of the Scottish Parliament said, “In practice, the Bill would require all retailers to charge customers 10p for every plastic bag they were supplied with. The Bill aims to protect the environment by reducing the number of plastic bags in circulation, raise awareness of environmental issues and encourage consumers to use alternatives.” In the long term reusable bags will cost less per bag than the proposals planned for in store plastic bags. Common sense tells us that this can surely be the only way forward with regards to this issue and there are numerous websites that specialise in printing and producing these reusable bags, many of them offering a huge selection of styles, colours and designs.

Reusable bags are going to determine what type of future we have as a society and the condition the world is going to be in over the next hundreds of years. The world needs the use of these products because of the positive impact that they have on the planet. It’s essential that companies across the globe make sure they are using products such as reusable grocery bags as a big part of their everyday lives. It’s never been so easy to do something that is great for the environment. Eco friendly bags are affordable, easy to carry, and great for advertising. Do something good for the earth today and you will notice a big difference tomorrow.