Earth Day was Wednesday, of this I am well aware (I celebrated out on beautiful Vero Beach, enjoying nature. More to come on that soon). Every year on April 22, the world celebrates a day of activism and promise, and everyone uses buzzwords like green, eco-friendly, organic and natural. You know, words that make you sound all knowledgable and caring and stuff. And on April 23, 24, and afterwards? Many of us slink back to our bad habits, buying plastic water bottles and products with too much packaging, and not thinking for a second about our carbon footprint.
IMO, Earth Day should be every day. And it CAN be, if we put a little effort into changing our ways. So I missed Earth Day itself, but I’ll make up for it over this weekend. I’m gonna focus on other fashionable items to get you ecochic from head to toe!
I really try to be green-minded when I go shopping. The days of multiple plastic bags are O-V-E-R, and some fancy grocery stores don’t even offer plastic as an option! These days it’s all about BYOB – bring your own bag. But here’s the dilemma. I forget to bring my reuseable shopping bags ALL the time. It drives me nuts! I’ll be in line at the supermarket when it hits me – oh damn, all my bags are in my pantry at home from the last grocery run. Bellas and fellas — that problem can be solved thanks to ChicoBags.
Made of a parachute-like material, ChicoBags fold into a neat little pouch that easily fits in your purse or your pocket, and they unfold to a sizable shopping bag. The RePete is made from 7 plastic bottles — 99% recyclable content. Stick two or three in your purse and you’re good to go to the grocery! Chico Bags cost as little as $5 for the original bag, comes in all kinds of colors, and if you’re really looking for an eco-chic, environmentally friendly way to get your shop on, check out the Hook N Go. It carries 70 pounds, and will make you the star of the farmer;s market for sure. I think it’s ideal for big-city bellas who tend to walk to the grocery store.
Other super chic shopping bags on my radar? It’sLasTik bags are stretchy, charitable and chic. Manufactured in New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina survivors, the company provides work to residents and is dedicated to supporting local charities. Besides the good-for-society-and-the-environment part, they’re made outta spandex, come in crazy colors, and are so fly! So let’s say you’re the kind of diva who wants to go grocery shopping with a shiny gold metallic shopping bag. You can, and it only costs $14.99. There are SO many cool colors and patterns. I love Mother Earth, a swirl of blue and greens, and purple haze.
Beauty companies are getting down with the eco-chic reuseable bags too — you can get green on the go with Sephora’s reusable limited-edition shopping tote, available April 20th through April 26th online. All you gotta do is visit Sephora’s Facebook page, send the Sephora Pretty Planet Shopper gift to your eco-chic friends and family, and use your special promotional code for one free bag. Sephora’s also got Tarte’s Be Good To Your Mother (Earth) bag, which is a $62 value deal that contains three gorgeous 24.7 lip sheers.
Are you down with the reusable bags, bellas? Plastic is so yesterday! How do you roll when you go shopping?
A friend of my mother’s co-founded EarthChic (www.earthchic.com) which makes cute tote bags out of recycled plastic, some of which come with a special pocket for wine bottles. It’s both my general purpose tote and my favorite grocery bag.
We just started collecting reusable bags at the end of last year. We keep them in the trunk of the car – my husband loves bargain shopping so we shop at a number of grocery stores – and just grab bags from the trunk – I feel so embarrassed when I grab the wrong bags i.e. using Giant Food bags in Shoppers Food. Oh well, at least we’re not using as much plastic :o)
That Chico bag is really cute!
I have 10 reuseable Dominick’s shopping bags (paid $1 for each bag) with a brown bag inside (as a liner). I use these bags at all grocery stores, Target, Walmart, and Sam’s Club. I also have 2 Ikea shopping bags, the big blue ones. I love love my Ikea bags! They are large and hold A LOT of items and are so durable!!
It drives me crazy when grocery store baggers give you 100 plastic bags for 10 flipping items and they double bag everything. The minute you pull out your reuseable bags everyone acts as if they have no idea what to do with them.
I love the last bag ” Love your Mother Earth” the colors and the quote! Awsome.
I have 5 reuseable bags myself. And so many retailers are coming out with their own bags that I think I should start a collection of bags from all the places I shop. The Library even has a resuable bag to carry your books in!
The Eco Chic Movement has started!
Thanks Bella!
I love reuseable bags! I have a few that I’ve picked up from my job at a retailer, as well as some from the local grocery chains.
If you are near a Stop & Shop supermarket, if you bring in your own bags [including regular plastic and paper bags from stores] for the groceries you are purchasing, you get 5 cents off your total for every bag you use. It’s a nice incentive that has got me in the habit of remembering my bags.
Great post, as usual Bella! I’ve been looking at Chicobags myself. I like that they mimic the shape of the usual plastic bags and that they fold up easily in my purse.
Some other great ecobags are envirosax and baggu. They come in all types of colors and designs…it’s so hard to choose LOL…
I did not know that there were so many options other than the Whole Foods Market reuseable bags that I have.I will be steppin my market bag game up.
My parents use sturdy Jute packets with bamboo handles. Very useful, and very re-usable. Me, I usually forget to take my bag to the store and end up with plastic on my hands, but then I hoard the plastic pouches and re-use them to wrap and store stuff, or line the garbage can instead of spending again on garbage bags.
I started taking my own bags to the grocery, primarily because I travel on the bus and it was easier to manage 2 bags than several plastic bags. My bags are just random canvas bags I had lying around but they are sturdy. Like Muhko, when I do get plastic I use them in my garbage cans, I do not think I have bought garbage bags in almost 2 years.
I’ve been using my own bags for 18 years now! I’ve had to deal with smirks and irritated check-out people over the years so I’m glad it is becoming more commonplace. Usually when I tried to explain my choice to the cashiers, their eyes would glaze over before I finished my first sentence. It is weird how clueless people are when it comes to the simplest environmental issues.
Oooh those bags are so fly! Go green!
I bought one from Target that I use to carry magazines, homework, my work lunch, etc in…but the red color got on my nerves so I purchased a beige one from Kohls dept store….then Kohls finally got the memo and made black ones….So that one will be my carryon for my upcoming ATL flight…they are very spacious and sturdy…..I always forget to use them when I get groceries but I will try my best to make a conscious effort because I’m sick of plastic bags tearing even when u double bag them…
but I DO like plastic bags for when I change my cat’s litter box…..LOL
I love Green Chic Bag Company bags, they are true quality with style. I go beyond reusable grocery bags, I use mine as bags for the gym, my kids over night bags, and just about anything else…great thing about machine washable bags!