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Stay in the know!
We've been sharing relevant news & facts about wasteful consumption since 2003. From plastic bags to bottled water to other important consumption issues - it's all part of our mission to educate and inform.
In this issue:
- Plastic Industry Feeds Misconceptions on the Bag Fee - NPR takes the bait in their shallow piece on Seattle's fee
- Tapped: The Movie - powerful documentary calls out bottled water for the wasteful scam it is
- MSNBC.com's Battle of the Bags - winners are high-quality reusables, including our proven ACME Workhorse!
- D.C.'s Bag Fee - first major city to commit to a consumption-based fee
- UN report blames plastic for marine pollution - accounts for an astounding 80% of all marine trash
- Colbert's comical take on BPA - watch this video for a hilarious take on a serious issue
Be sure to visit our growing newsroom - a powerful resource with important stories, our insights & your comments. |
Launching a movement
As of 2009, we've empowered our 200,000+ customers to reduce their consumption of use-an-toss items by more than 750 million units. We've been a driving force behind the emerging reusables movement. Learn more.
Help support our efforts - visit our store for hundreds of safe, high quality products in 30+ categories - all carefully selected & designed to help people consume less. Your purchases count. We donate 1% of sales to environmental causes.
Together we are making a difference!  Vincent Cobb -- Founder, ReusableBags.com |
Nominate Us for Green Business of the Year
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"ReusableBags.com offers solutions that work for people and the planet." - Alicia Gravitz, Executive Director Co-Op America
According to Green America, this award is "a celebration of the leaders of the green economy and a challenge to corporate America to follow their path." The ten most-nominated businesses will appear on the final ballot for the People's Choice Award in September.
This is a great way to show your support of our efforts. It's our mission to make a difference by offering high-quality reusable products that help you reduce consumption, and we donate 1% of sales to environmental organizations. Learn more about what we do, and nominate us for 2009 Green Business of the Year!
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NPR Takes Plastic Industry's Bait
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National Public Radio - 8.10.09
 The plastic
bag industry has spent more than a million dollars in the fight against
Seattle's proposed bag fee. This is an important battle because Seattle
is the largest city in America to try to pass this kind legislation, and if it
goes into effect, it sets the stage for other cities to follow suit. The vote
is next Tuesday, but limited preliminary polling hasn't provided a clear idea
of what the outcome will be. However, one thing is certain: the 20-cent fee
would be enough to incite many residents to change their habits. Read more.
Our Take: Conspicuously
missing from NPR's coverage is any acknowledgment that the opposition may
actually be rooted in the blow that a dramatic reduction in plastic bag consumption would
deliver to the industry. Unfortunately, common misconceptions about the bag fee
were left unaddressed. For the real facts on bag fees and why they're the smartest solution to over consumption, check out our no-nonsense rebuttal to common bag fee myths.Help get the bag fee into Twitter's trending topics!
 To thrust this issue into the mainstream conversation, we're
initiating a push to get Seattle's bag fee into Twitter's trending topics.
If you're not already, start following @Reuseit_Store
and @SeattleGreenBag
on Twitter for the most current updates on the fee.
The plan: On Friday at noon (CST), everyone send a tweet with the hashtag #SeattleBagFee.
Here's our
suggested tweet: "Support Seattle's Green Bag Campaign http://www.reusablebags.com/action.php?id=16 Spread the word - RT please! #SeattleBagFee"
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Documentary Reveals Steep Costs of Bottled Water
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Tapped: The Movie - 2009
 Recently-released documentary Tapped takes a
behind-the-scenes look at the bottled water industry, bringing a critical
perspective to issues such as BPA, the water industry cycle, infrastructure,
and the waste and oil consumption related to the plastic bottles. The film's
showing at select theaters around the country, or you can pre-order the DVD
through the movie's official web site.
Watch the trailer.
Our
Take: Watch this video! It's a hard-hitting take with major mainstream appeal. Plus, the film's site provides a handful of sensible ways to take
action, including using high-quality reusable bottles. It delivers a message that's hard to ignore and raises awareness of an issue we've been championing from the beginning.
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Reusables Stand out in MSN's Battle of the Bags
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MSNBC Online
MSNBC takes
a hard look at the impact of disposable paper and plastic bags. Their coverage
includes information on emerging legislation that will force change, and it
makes the case for environmentally-sensible reusable bags. Hang in through the
end for a handy calculator that shows how many paper and plastic bags you and
others are helping save (including the number of trees and barrels of oil
saved, too). Learn more.
Our Take: Interesting, interactive tool with tons of information. In the battle of the bags,
high-quality reusables emerge as the winner again (versus the cheap ones flooding the market). Our ACME Workhorse is endorsed as a functional, fair trade replacement for plastic
bags, and our plastic bag facts are used in their calculator.
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D.C. First Major Metro to Charge Consumption Fee
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Washington Business Journal - 6.15.09
 "The
District gave its final unanimous vote in favor of charging a nickel for each paper
and plastic bag that residents get from restaurants, pharmacies and grocers in
an effort to clean up the Anacostia watershed... Council members pointed to a
recent analysis by the D.C. Department of the Environment, which found that
plastic bags make up 20 percent of trash in the Anacostia River and 50 percent
of trash in its tributaries. According to that same DDOE report, charging for
plastic bags could eliminate up to 47 percent of trash in the tributaries and
21 percent from the river's main stem." Read more.
Our Take: We champion bag fees as the most sensible legislative way to influence change in consumption
habits. We're not sure, but it will be interesting to see if a A 5-cent fee will have the same success as Ireland's PlasTax (a
20-cent bag fee that resulted in a 90% reduction in consumption). Regardless, this is a a major step in the right direction.
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UN: Plastic Source of Alarming Marine Pollution
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 According to UNEP, "Plastic - especially plastic bags and PET bottles -is
the most pervasive type of marine litter around the world, accounting for over
80 percent of all rubbish collected in several of the regional seas assessed.
Plastic debris is accumulating in terrestrial and marine environments worldwide,
slowly breaking down into tinier and tinier pieces that can be consumed by the
smallest marine life at the base of the food web." Read more. Our Take: Once again, plastic bags and bottles are singled out for their contribution to this problem. Remember, all the plastic we produce and consume will last forever! Mindless over-consumption of use & toss items is at the root of this problem. - it's up to all of us to wake up and consciously consume far fewer of them.
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The Colbert Report: BPA No Laughing Matter
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The
Colbert Report - 07.01.09
 Steven Colbert
interviews The New York
Times' Nicholas Kristof on the rise of endocrine disruptors in the
water we drink - which has lead to reproductive malformation in aquatic species
& puts people (especially pregnant women) at risk. A significant
contributor to the levels of endocrine disruptors is a chemical used to soften
plastics (BPA) during manufacturing. Kristof calls for government regulation of
these harmful chemicals. Watch the interview.
Our Take: Great to see Colbert put his high-profile satirical clout behind this issue. Don't wait for the government
to take action, avoid BPA, pthalates and other toxins whenever possible by choosing high-quality, safe products. Read our FAQ on BPA for more information. | |
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About Us
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Acting as a hub, ReusableBags.com spreads
awareness by educating consumers with facts on consumption/litter, and provides summaries
of news
articles and trends from around the
world on the global push to reduce plastic
bag consumption.
Our store features a growing
family of smart, earth-friendly products all
designed to help you reduce, reuse and
save™.
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What Customers Are Saying
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"...what you guys are doing is absolutely
awesome... once again thank you for all your
efforts..." -- Emily M.
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You make it easier for us to go green." --
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own... and whenever I think that I could use
something to make my family's life more
earth-friendly, I go on your website and
there it is!" -- Isabel G.
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Reasons to Shop With Us
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 - We donate 1% of sales to environmental causes - We support Fair Trade practices
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ReusableBags.com in the News
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