Reusable bags are key to reducing our environmental impact and Chico, CA-based ChicoBag is leading the charge toward the extinction of single-use plastic bags everywhere. New to their line of quality and innovative reusable bags is the Produce Stand Collection.
Made from recycled materials, the Produce Stand Collection makes reaching for the plastic baggie above the lettuce bin obsolete. As if single-use plastic grocery bags, the scourge of the earth, aren’t bad enough, the plastic produce baggies are even worse. The Produce Stand collection consists of three different styles of reusable produce bags:
- Hemp-Cotton blend: The blend of 70 percent hemp and 30 percent cotton blend absorbs excess moisture and restricts airflow to keep lettuce, leafy greens and green beans fresher longer.
- rePETe™: "rePETe™” is a term trademarked by ChicoBag to help customers identify which ChicoBag products are made using recycled content. A printed list of recycled materials that were used in manufacturing appears on the bag. The rePETe bag locks in moisture and restricts airflow for “hard” produce such as squash, broccoli, carrots and celery.
- Mesh rePETe™: Made of 99 percent recycled material, the mesh allows ethylene gas, nature's ripening agent, to escape while the rePETe locks in moisture. Use this for your apples, oranges, potatoes and onions.
At home, I put the bags, with their contents, into the refrigerator. My broccoli didn’t turn yellow on the tips after one week like it oftentimes did in the plastic bags and cauliflower didn’t get that black moldy-looking gunk growing on it either. When I finish the produce inside the bags, I toss them into the washing machine instead of inflicting a thin plastic bag onto the environment that has no further use.
If you’re concerned that the cashiers will find opening the rePETe and hemp-cotton bags to check the contents an inconvenience, don’t be. I have yet to encounter one that glared at me or got perturbed. I also leave the bags open to expedite the checkout line process
You will also like that the Produce Stand Collection is not limited to grocery shopping. I use mine for camping as stuff sacks to store food and other supplies and carting my lunch to work.
The transition to using the Produce Stand bags is easy. If you’re already using reusable bags, the Produce Stand bags will be instinctive. You can purchase the Starter Kit for $14.49, which comes with the Hemp-Cotton blend, rePETe and mesh rePeTe and cute little apple stuff sack. You can also buy the bags individually in packs of three for $11.99 each.
Incidentally, ChicoBag doesn’t just pedal attractive, quality, durable reusable bags. They have created solutions to a very large and ugly problem with a number of environmental programs to make their business cleaner and our planet healthier:
Materials Zero-Waste Program: Because ChicoBag™ doesn't want ANY reusable bag to end up in a dark closet or a landfill, they will take all of your unusable reusable bags and distribute them to low-income families ready to start a reusable bag habit, or, recycle them into new useful products through The Grateful Thread.
Headquarters Waste Diversion Program: Employees are responsible for sorting their personal waste into the appropriate recycling, compost, or landfill bins. With this system in place each employee's impact on the landfill is less than one pound per month!
ChicoBag™ Carbonless Commute: Each day an employee arrives to work through a carbonless commute, they enter their name in a monthly, inner-office drawing for a cash prize.
Bag Monster®: The Bag Monster, a walking fiend constructed of 500 plastic bags (the average number one person uses in one year), makes appearances all over the country to bring awareness to reusable bags.
I first learned of ChicoBag at the Outdoor Retailer Winter show in January. Since then, I have kicked the single-use plastic bag habit. I have also become more aware of the efforts underway by ChicoBag to help everyone kick the single-use bag habit. Many states and communities are now banning plastic bags or have bills proposed to ban their use on the horizon. Grocery stores have even jumped on board by selling inexpensive reusable bags. Times are indeed changing, for the better.
If you live in Minneapolis, you can find ChicoBag products at REI, Midwest Mountaineering and the Wedge Coop. You can also use the Store Locator on ChicoBag's website to find additional retailers.
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