CHICO BAGS - A GREAT IDEA!

    DID YOU KNOW?

• "Solid materials, typically waste, that has found its way to the marine environment is called marine debris. It is known to be the cause of injuries and deaths of numerous marine animals and birds, either because they become entangled in it or they mistake it for prey and eat it."²
• At least 267 different species are known to have suffered from entanglement or ingestion of marine debris including seabirds, turtles, seals, sea lions, whales and fish. The scale of contamination of the marine environment by plastic debris is vast. It is found floating in all the world's oceans, everywhere from polar region to the equator."² 
• The Great Pacific Garbage Patch has mistakenly been referred to as the largest landfill in the world, a floating island, and a trash vortex. According to the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is most accurately represented as a "plastic soup" where the plastic is distributed throughout the water column.⁹ 
• Of more than ten million pieces of garbage picked up on ocean beaches in 2009 during International Coastal Cleanup Day, 1,126,774 were plastic bags. Plastic bag debris was second only to cigarette butts/filters (21%) in number and accounted for full 11% of ALL marine debris picked up. 

    Re-useable bags aren't big news anymore; we all know the downside of single use bags.  But CHICO BAGS makes re-useable - and recyclable bags - in ways that are big news.  Here is some background on the company from their website:

In early 2004, Andy Keller, now ChicoBag™ president, took a trip to his local landfill after spending the day landscaping his backyard. He was horrified by what he saw. Single-use bags were visually the dominant article at the landfill that day, blanketing the landscape in a thin mix of white and beige plastic. On his way home he began to notice plastic bags everywhere, caught in trees and on fence posts, half drowned in gutter puddles and blowing in the streets like urban tumbleweeds. That day Andy vowed to stop using single-use bags. Inspired, Andy dropped a few bucks on a second hand sewing machine and began sewing what would ultimately become the first ChicoBag™ brand reusable bag.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus and the Bag Monster

Our mission at ChicoBag™ is really quite simple - we want to provide best-of-class products and services that result in the significant reduction of single-use bag use. We believe we can best achieve our goal by delivering a wide array of reusable bags that deliver solutions to every lifestyle. Our commitment to the environment is what motivates us to come to work every day and drives us to provide a trusted brand and a portfolio of quality products aimed at helping humanity solve the environmental challenges ahead.

In order to truly provide quality products we know we must consider every stage of our product lifecycle. ChicoBag™ believes in implementing programs designed to reduce waste through-out our entire supply chain. From manufacturing to office administration, our waste reduction goals lessen our impact on the planet. We also provide our customers with the resources necessary to become involved in the reusable bag movement. Our goal is to not only provide best in class products but to also be a hub of information regarding re-useable bags.

Like the Bag Monster says - 1 Year, 1 Shopper, 500 Bags.  Don't do the math - it will give you a headache.  Go to RUNKA.com and take a look at the full selection of CHICO BAGS.  And at RUNKA we love the fact that they use their old, worn out bags to make rugs and encourage their workers to bike to work!

The Bag Monster and Kyle Massey

Each one of us has to do something about all of those deprerssing facts at the top of this blog.  Our thanks to CHICO BAGS for giving us an environmentally safe, attractive and economical way to be better citizens of our planet.