Visit us on Facebook and tell us your story.  We’ll choose a winner at random on Jan 3!

TERMS and CONDITIONS:  Winner will be drawn at 9 am Pacific Time Jan. 3; entries received after that time will be invalid.  If you have won one of our contests in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win again. You must be 18 years of age or older and a US resident to enter.  Read instructions carefully because rules vary from contest to contest. We will email you if you win, and you will have 48 hours to respond via email in order to claim your prize.  Prizes take up to 14 days to fulfill.  No purchase necessary to enter.  Send a post card or letter to SnapSac, 8915 S La Cienega Blvd., Unit F, Inglewood CA 90301 telling us your tree story and your card will be accepted as your entry.  This Giveaway is not affiliated with, associated with or promoted by Facebook. Void where prohibitted.

We went to the drawing table and SnapSac was born to give you style, quality, and responsibility—all for about the price of a latte.

SnapSac™ is a whole new shopping bag experience. Not just for groceries anymore, bags keep us on the go to the office, to the gym, out with friends and family—everywhere we want to go. SnapSac offers a range of bags for any occasion in a style that instantly recognizable and for about the price of a latte.

Features include: 

• 35% thicker fabric than average branded bags
• New foldable design for neat and easy storage
• Choice of sizes and styles for different uses
• Choice of color in a neutral or bright tones for each style
• Pocket on every model

SnapSac is a division of 1 Bag at a  Time, Inc. made by the same people and backed by the same promise of corporate responsibilty and committment to customer service.  You can see them on our Shop page or on their very own website: http://www.snapsac.com/. We hope you like them as much as we do!

We are up against our own habits and, let’s face it: at the end of the day, there is often more on our minds than reusable bags.  But we shouldn’t be disappointed if we don’t change our habits overnight.  As Mark Twain said:  “Habit is habit and not to be flung out the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.”  Here are 10 ways to help coax reusable bags into your shopping trips where you can use them.

1.  Put your bags in the front seat of your car before you start out for the store.  That way, you will see them and remember when you get there.  You are more likely to forget if you put them in the trunk.

2.  Hang them on the garage doorknob after emptying them so you remember to get them in your car.

3.  Take them right out and put them in your car when you empty them.  Less clutter in the house!

4.  Write “REUSABLE BAGS” at the top of your shopping list as a visual reminder

5.  Get one or two small pocket sized bags like our Tyvek® bags to keep in your purse for emergencies and impulse buying. 

6.  Invest in bags that you actually like.  You are more likely to use them if you like them.  Try our yoga bags, or our purple cotton bags, or our artisan blue floral bags. 

7.  Put bags on your mental list of things you want to take when you go shopping.  For example, ask yourself, do I have my keys, my cell phone, my shopping list, and my bags?

8.  Get bags in different colors so you can make the shopping bag part of your look for the day.   Who says you can’t go green in style?

9.  Have a few extras in your car or folded in your briefcase in case you leave them at home.

10.  Decide that if you forget to bring the bag into the store, you will go out and get them before check out, or put items back in the basket and bag them yourself at the car. It won’t take more than once or twice to train yourself to bring them in the first time!

Consumer Reports checked out these reports and concluded: studies claiming reusable bags to be unsafe are “just baloney.”

They remind people to consider the source before believing the conclusion.  The plastic bag industry has spent millions of dollars making their product look better than it is, and one of their tactics is paying for studies that stir up fears when in fact, reusable bags perfectly safe. 

Look closely and you will find the studies are always vague in their findings and alarmist in their conclusions.  That’s a sure sign that the study is not based on real science.  These studies are simply a marketing tool. 

And don’t take my word for it!  Check  the facts yourself.   Here are a few links to non-partisan studies by governments and major research universities around the world:

Executive Summary Green Cities California

Plastic Bag Report. Los Angeles Department of Public Works

“Plastic Shopping Bags: An Analysis of Levies and Environmental Impacts—Final Report,” Environment Australia, Department and Heritage, Dec. 2002.

“Greenversations: Paper or Plastic or Reusable Bag?” US Environmental Protection Agency.

Last weekend, Jameson, who teamed up with city officials on an environmentally friendly project, surveyed shoppers at two different Ralph’s grocery stores regarding their plastic bag use.

Through a brief questionnaire, shoppers will be asked questions such as “How many plastic bags do you think would be saved in the lifetime of one person using reusable bags?” and “How do you think most plastic bags are disposed of?” The survey also asked how often and where people use reusable shopping bags.

Jameson will report his full findings to the City of Mission Viejo and I’ll be sure to let readers know what he finds.

First, they have their action page where they ask people to switch to reuable bags as a great way to protect our oceans.  Thousands of marine animals die each year from ingesting plastic bags, and reusable bags help keep plastic from inadvertently ending up in our waterways. 

Then they have  a clear explanation by Conservancy Caribbean program director Phil Kramer about why plastics are so damaging to the ocean.  Also, you will  find a first hand account by Cara Byington who had a crisis in the checkout line after seeing the skeleton of a whale that died from eating plastic bags.  We’re going to send her one of our new ultimate portable bags so that she will never have that problem again!

The Nature Conservancy is asking people to join in the conversation and send stories to them about their experiences with reusable bags.   It’s a great campaign and a lot of fun to see other people understanding the problem and seeing that the solution is so easy!  I hope you will check it out and share your stories with them or with us in our comment section. We always love stories from our readers!

The video had no clear place in our new site, but we love it as much as many of you do.  So we are making it available here. It will have a more permanent link on our Links page, too. 

I hope you will watch it and see why I have become committed to reducing waste and reusing bags and other items rather than throwing them “away.”  When I watch it, I am reminded that there is no “away.”   Throwing away means simply throwing things into our own environment, where they blight the beauty of our world and degrade the health of our eco-systems.  

We can all reduce waste every day by reducing unnecessary waste.  Bringing your own bag helps and every bag counts! 

Watch our video here.

This report confirms what we know about bags:  reusable bags are best for the environment, and PP reusable bags have particularly low environmental impacts.  Ireland commissioned a similar study in 2002 and Australia did in 2005.  

The momentum is building now here in the US for reusable bag policies that will help Americans make the switch to cleaner bags and help clean up our air, our roadways, and our waterways.  The report, a Master Environmental Assessment, emphasizes 3 key points: 

• Reusable bags have substantially lower impacts than single  use bags, particluarly PP fiber bags. 
• Paper bags have an overall worse affect on air quality and water consumption than plastic bags.
• Biodegradable bags do not biodegrade in open environments and contaiminate the recycling stream.

 You can read the whole report, or just the 2 page the executive summary here.  Thanks to everyone who worked hard on this report to make it comprehensive, honest, and help California cities and other municipalities make decisions that make sense! 

This report will help set real, quantitative standards for bag use and reduction  programs throughout California and across the nation.

Would you like a bag?!?  It was startling to be in such a familiar setting faced with such a strange question. 

The woman in front of me looked back.  She had her groceries neatly packed in 2 green bags.  The woman behind me stared, holding an armful of green bags, and the cashier waited for my answer.  A stack of 99 cent bags hung by the checkout stand, so I grabbed a few and said, “I’ll just use these.”  

It was such an easy choice, really.  I have been surrounded by reusable bags ever since, helping to offer you a choice and a chance to change and help the world.