Category: Bags

First of all, the name is hilarious. Second, the concept is interesting. Airsickness bags are a fixture in every seat pocket in front of your own airline seat, and a company called Up, Up, and Upchuck is looking to revolutionize them by coming out with eco-friendly canvas bags to replace the usual paper bags. The catch? The bags are dry clean only. It would be nice if they came out with bags you can easily wash at home or in the airport restrooms, since I doubt anybody would be willing to travel with a bag full of sick or rush to the dry cleaners right away after a flight.

It’s easy enough to get reusable shopping bags these days, since we now have a lot of choices available to us these days. What tends to be rather difficult (although it’s really not a huge problem) is remembering to bring our reusable bags when we go to the supermarket. How many times have you gone out to buy some groceries only to remember that, “Oops, my reusable bag was already hanging by my front door but I just forgot to pick it up”?

Hetal Jariwala and Eva Bauer, the creators of Flip & Tumble, decided to make reusable bags foldable so they can easily stay in your bag without taking up a lot of room. This helps to make sure that you’ll always have a reusable bag at hand whenever you need it.

Everyone was understandably thrilled when plastic sandwich bags came out, particularly the ones that you can secure. However, most people just tend to use one bag then toss it out after use, even if it was still fairly clean and the crumbs just had to be shaken out. Washing used plastic sandwich bags has also become a good option, but they do get worn over time and you’d still have to throw them out.

Enter Re-Pac, which offers small, medium, and large reusable bags made of water-resistant fabrics. The creators of Re-Pac found that cotton wasn’t a very good option, since it grows mold over time, and so Re-Pac is made with 100% polyester on the outside and a 100% nylon lining. Apart from carrying food, you can pretty much use it for anything, from carrying your travel essentials to using it as a bag organizer. Gamers Daily News also shares that the bags can also be used to store your video game accessories.

I read this New York Times article saying that high levels of lead were found in reusable bags made in China. Implicated were bags from some CVS stores, Wal-Mart, Target, and supermarkets like Winn-Dixie and Publix. Wegman’s grocery chain recalled its bags in September. New York Senator Charles Schumer is calling on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to investigate and ban these bags.

I heard on The Dr. Oz Show that bags, wallets, and purses made from vinyl (or PVC-Polyvinyl chloride) are toxic because they contain lead. This article states that “the worst offenders were bags that were yellow or yellow-tinted.” I for one, am horrified by this. I use bags because I have to and have no intention of spending hundreds of dollars on an expensive leather purse. I guess it’s time to use canvas or vegetable tanned leather bags.

Check your bags ladies, and keep yourself and your family members safe.

Earthwisebags.com located in Commerce, CA offers a lot of choices in their arsenal of reusable bags. They manufacture reusable bags for companies, so some of the samples you see here were produced for other companies. Here are some of them:

Lunch bags and hot & cold insulated bags
Outer shell – 100% non-woven polypropylene
Inner lining – aluminum foil
Spot wash with sponge.

Yes, they’re all Kellogg’s bags designed for kids. It’s cute.

This baby did a good job of keeping things at or near the temperature I wanted. Of course, it didn’t keep food steaming hot or chillingly cold. Just hot/cold enough.

Shopping bag
100% non-woven polypropylene
Cold hand wash
No bleach or tumble dry.

This bag was the same size and look as our Stop & Shop reusable bag. I didn’t realize that Earthwise produced Stop & Shop’s bag. That one was green, this was blue. And different logos. But that’s the extent of the difference. Needless to say, this bag is seeing much action.

Black bag
PET (100% recycled material)
Cold hand wash
Don’t bleach, tumble dry or iron.

Canvas bag
100% organic cotton
Cold wash on gentle cycle
Tumble dry on low heat.

The black bag and the canvas bags haven’t been truly tested yet. Just used them in mini-shopping expeditions. It’s doing well, so far. I’ll post an update once I’ve tried them during a major shopping galore.
Stew Leonard’s
Bag – 100% woven polypropylene
Handle – 100% polyester
Cold hand wash
Don’t bleach or tumble dry.

The Stew Leonard’s bag on the right never leaves our car because we buy produce from Stew Leonard’s. So far, each time we used it, we haven’t completely filled the bag yet. More shopping is in order.

OmniPeace Reusable Shopping Bags 4 in 1

100% Polyester
4 in 1(pouch becomes one of 4, bags)
Machine washable
Don’t tumble dry.

According to the Earthwise website, “OmniPeace donates 25% of all profits to charities targeting these goals. With the simple purchase of an OmniPeace product you are supporting a movement that begins with you. Can you think of a better return in life than saving one?”

And that’s why I like it.

For one-stop reusable bag shopping convenience, consider ACME Bags™ – Reusable Shopping Bag Sampler Set from Reusablebags.com.

What does the sampler set include?

“Product Description
Includes 6 of our best-selling reusable shopping bags
Set features everything you need to eliminate accumulating unwanted plastic & paper bags
– 2 ACME Workhorses – unfolds from its own pouch to size of plastic grocery bag
– 2 ACME Earth Totes – heavy duty bags with a lifetime guarantee & modeled after paper grocery sacks
– 2 ACME Hemp Totes – versatile shoppers with both long & short handles
– Awesome value on a set that can save thousands of disposables over a lifetime
– Made with Fair Labor / Fair Wages”

Let’s start off with the ACME Workhorse 1500
2″ x 3″ x 2″ pouch
19″ H x 16″ W x 6″ D unfolded

You can fold the Workhorse inside a pouch, which is attached to the bag, so there’s no way to lose the pouch. Unfolded, it’s the same size as your regular plastic bag. Happily, it doesn’t tear as easily as plastic bags. One Workhorse carried one plastic bag’s worth of groceries when we used it. Now the bags (we have two) are in our glove compartment, so it’s handy.

Next is the ACME Earth Tote™
16″ H x 12″ W x 8″ D
14″ long handles (7″ loop)

Of the three bags in this sampler set, this is my favorite. I love the neutral color. The bag looks and feels sturdy. It even lives up to its appearance. I don’t know what else to say, except that I love this bag.

Last but not the least, the ACME Lightweight Hemp Tote:
14.5″ H x 11.5″ W x 6.5″ D
Long handles: 25″ loop
Short handles: 8.5″ loop

I’ve got to confess, I’m not a big fan of reusable tote bags. I’m not a tall person, so carrying a tote bag can be a bit of a problem. I’d like to carry it over my shoulder, but sometimes, the bag itself is too heavy for me that I’d want to carry it by hand. Maybe I’m the only one with such a dilemma, but there you go. Happily, the ACME Lightweight Hemp Tote Bag actually has two sets of handles – one set short and one set long. Now I can carry it by hand or over my shoulder, no problem. So maybe I’m not the only one with such a problem, after all.

What’s great about these bags? Keeping them clean is easy. Just load them in your washing machine, wash it with cold water, and then drip dry. When I brought all three bags with me when I went shopping, I put the Workhorse and the Hemp Tote Bag inside the Earth Tote. When you need to put stuff in, you’ve got enough bags to pack the items in!

It’s a good thing Reusablebags.com came up with this sampler set. Keep up the good work!

Envirosax is based in San Diego, California. Last Saturday, I put to the test their Botanica Bag 2 ($8.50) from the Graphic Series eco-friendly bags. The bag I tried was literally green, complete with a leaf design.

But first, here’s what the Envirosax website had to say about the Graphic Series bags:

“Lightweight polyester, portable, waterproof, and weighing just 1.4oz each, these groovy bags are available individually or as a series of 5 contained within a handy pouch. With reinforced seams, each surprisingly large bag can hold a weight the equivalent of two supermarket plastic bags.

Bag dimensions (unrolled) 19.5″ x 16.5″
Bag dimensions (rolled-up) 4″ x 1.5″
Weight capacity 44 lbs
Bag weight 1.4 oz”

Empty, it hardly weighs anything. Folded, it fits in my palm, so it can easily fit in your bag, your purse, your pocket. The Botanica Bag 2 is both colorful and eye-catching, adding that “oomph!” to your daily shopping routine.

I brought it with me when I went to buy produce. Of course, not only did it generate questions from other female shoppers, it also stood up to the challenge of carrying the produce I bought.

Now, the bag is made of polyester. I don’t know whether or not the verdict is out on how eco-friendly polyester is, but there is such a thing as recycled polyester, which, in my book, makes it better. I did send an e-mail to Envirosax to ask about the polyester they use. Here’s what I learned:

“It is actually made from virgin polyester which is not recycled. The reason we make it out of this material is because it is in its strongest form which can hold up to 45 pounds. Also makes it easier to roll. It is a give and take as most people forget the big canvas bag and end up n the grocery line having to use a plastic bag. The compact size of our bags allows people to always have them with them because they can carry them in their purse or back pack.”

Anyway, the price, the color, the convenience, the portability, the fashion “oomph!” and the green-ness all add up to make Envirosax Botanica Bag 2 a worthwhile buy.