Bag Ladies No More!
As you may have noticed when visiting our store recently, we are now a bag-free chain of stores.
We offer neither paper or plastic.
Plastic bags start as crude oil, natural gas, or other petrochemical derivatives, which are transformed into chains of hydrogen and carbon molecules known as polymers or polymer resin. Each year, Americans throw away some 100 billion polyethylene plastic bags. Despite recycling efforts, 2005 EPA research shows that only about 5.2% of plastic bags are recycled.
Paper bags, which we have most commonly used in our stores, are biodegradable and recyclable. But, and it’s a big but, it takes a lot of trees to produce paper. And a lot of fossil fuels:
“Trees are found, marked and felled. Machinery is then used to remove the logs from the forest floor – whether by logging or, in more remote areas, helicopters.
Machinery requires fossil fuels and roads (which destroy habitat) thereby creating stress on the forests’ inhabitants (even logging a small area has a large impact on the entire ecological chain in surrounding areas).
Trees must dry at least three years before they can be used to make paper. Once aged, machinery is used to strip the bark, which is then chipped into 1 inch squares and cooked under tremendous heat and pressure. This wood stew is then ‘digested’ with a limestone and sulfurous acid for eight hours. The steam and moisture is vented to the outside atmosphere, and the original wood becomes pulp. It takes approximately three tons of wood chips to make one ton of pulp.
The pulp is then washed and bleached, both stages requiring thousands of gallons of clean water. Coloring is added to more water, and is then combined in a ratio of 1 part pulp to 400 parts water to make paper. The pulp/water mixture is dumped onto a web of bronze wires, the water showers through, leaving the pulp to dry. This final product is then rolled into paper.”
Both paper and plastic bags consume large amounts of natural resources and the majority will eventually end up in the landfill.
In our opinions, neither paper or plastic are suitable choices if we are trying to reduce waste. In an effort to support this movement, we have decided to discontinue the use of bags in our store. We now sell adorable reusable SFYS totes (that roll up into a neat little pouch when not in use) for $5. We donate $1 of that to Kiva.org. So many of our customers come in to purchase a bra or a few items and rarely need a bag – the bra will be wrapped in tissue so you can pop it into your purse or other shopping bags. We felt it was the right thing to do at the right time and hopefully you’ll agree.
If you are coming in for a shopping spree, remember to bring along your own bags or a reusable bag! The earth, and secrets from your sister… thank you.