For those that haven’t taken charge and made the reusable bag movement a part of your life - now is the time. You are given an option at the checkout counter - “paper or plastic”. Quite honestly if you haven’t already brought in your bags for checkout, then you are slow. Reduce, reuse and recycle are the key words. We are light years behind Europe, they’ve been reusing bags for decades. Many US towns, cities, counties and soon states are banning plastic. Unfortunately the retail and grocery stores bag alternative is paper but if we all bring in our own bags then even paper bags will go away. Of course we know paper and depleted forests are a whole different issue. Yet the plastic and paper bag disease is all interrelated. The new regime of shopper says don’t even give me the “paper or plastic” option at checkout. We bring our bags everywhere. I just hauled clothes to goodwill in a grocery bag last weekend. My wife has been using our Hot Cold bags to store kids toys and bring them to play dates. The uses are endless and the bags last for a long long time. The greatest part about bringing your bags everywhere is that it’s contagious. People will see you using a reusable bag instead of a plastic or paper bag.

I want to reference this Think Green image because I think it’s awesome. So whoever created this great work please let me know. I have ideas and can help with marketing your design on other eco-friendly custom branded products.

My family was just in Hawaii (on business) and then out to Palm Desert for the weekend. Both places were never cooler than 70 during the day and in the Desert it was over 100 degrees!

These climates call for a reusable hot cold bag. If you want the best, then look no further than Planet Earth Bag. I kid you not, whether you need custom and have longer time lines or it’s a quick project and you need in 5 days. Get a quote, we’ll get it done for you!

OK that’s the end of the sales pitch but honestly during the summer months is you need a sturdy bag that will keep your contents cool, then an insulated reusable bag is what you need. Remember the old McDonald’s ads for the McDLT, “the hot stays hot and cool stays cool”. Whatever happened to those sandwich containers? I know, they were made from STYROFOAM….yuck. I think styrofoam peaked in the 80’s.

It’s all about reducing, reusing and recycling. Cheers - it’s almost summer!

You know I what use to carry my office goodies? A Hot Cold Bag, without question every single day. Lots of desk jobbers like myself go out to eat for lunch because it gives us a little break from the office madness.  So it’s all about the snack, mine needs to be good and typically it involves salty.

On the weekend it’ s a different story. Sometimes we go to the grocery store, sometimes the wine shop and some it’s Babies R Us. No matter where we go we always have some extra reusable  bags. The other day I went to our local wine shop, they give great deals and thus there’s always a reason to splurge for an extra bottle. This time I bought six bottles. Funny thing was they gave me paper bags and then put them all in one big paper bag. Well I got home and the wine shop’s entire paper packaging strategy unraveled. The bag broke the bottles went everywhere but thankfully nothing broke.

In my efforts to carry them all guess what came to the rescue - it was my favorite Reusable Grocery Bag. I should have had a reusable wine bag but in this case it didn’t matter. This bag was beat up and worn but still good to go and ready to carry 6 bottles of wine.

In case you didn’t know, Elgin has been selected as one of the 11 “Cool Cities” in Illinois. What this means is that Elgin is taking steps to make our environment be sustainable for many generations to come.

Part of the efforts in educating the greater Elgin community is an event called ECCO Green Expo. This first annual event kicks off this Saturday, April 25th during what I like to now term Earth Week. The heck with Earth Day, I mean how can we focus on the Earth for just one day.

Among many other wonderful things happening that day Elgin city Mayor, Ed Schock, will be participating as part of a 4 mayor discussion panel they will be having on green city initiatives. So please if you are a local resident or not even a local, ride your bike, take the train or carpool over to the event. This is the first year and they’re already planning next year’s event!

Planet Earth Bag Has A New Look And Feel

Well you have probably have all seen the new look and feel of Planet Earth Bag. We like many other businesses are constantly striving for improvement. So we did away with the first iteration of the site and moved to a less distracting white background. I apologize in advance if anyone really loved the earth tones and scenery pictures. I personally did, but after review with our web team, the concept of usability was explained and it seems that businesses and individuals alike need more white and a little different functionality.

So here it is in all it’s glory, the new and improved site. Make sure to review the new Custom Bag Quote page too. We are trying to develop a form that captures just the right amount of information. Our goal is to provide great service and high quality bags. Keep in mind that our bags are made from at least 20% recycled content. Many competitors don’t offer this and thus you will be find very inexpensive, poorly constructed bags.

Thus, our site has changed (hopefully for the better) but our commitment to customers and end users has not. We strive to give you the best service and quality available. Thanks for stopping by Planet Earth Bag!

I challenge all the “eco” bag companies and question whether their bags have what is called “post-industrial” recycled content. Bags without this are less expensive and cheaper, that’s right they are cheaper to make and in essence reducing their environmentally friendliness. The phrase is Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - so where do the bag produced without recycled content fall? They are missing the point.

We all can make dirt cheap bags with no recycled content but that’s not the goal. What the world doesn’t need are tons of poorly made bags with no recycled content circulating around the globe. This will create and even larger problem, see my post about Moderation in Life is Good.

So this is a call to action for all those purchasing reusable grocery bags. Make sure your eco bags are at the highest-level econess. Don’t settle for cheap bags that don’t use recycled content.

Freshly back from the PPAI Expo in beautiful Las Vegas, I am back in action and ready for the fruits of 2009. Vegas is a town I have grown to love not for the views but the opportunity. Each time I go out to largest promotional products trade show I learn something new. This year Eco-friendly products were definitely a hit. In fact they were the rage. I feel like the fad of being green has finally caught up to practicality and price point. There are now great ideas to bring to customers and in turn end users. Since green bags are the focus of Planet Earth Bag, I will show some of the newest greenest stuff available. Make sure to check to Our Bags for new additions. You will love them!