ReusableBags.com is one of the only companies to be a Top Ten Nominee for the Co-op America People's Choice Award for the second year running - a testament to the impact the company is making. Read more...

Vote Today! If you applaud ReusableBags.com's efforts please click here to cast your vote and help them win the Green Business of the Year award.

These eco-friendly totes take a load off your mind, arms. If green is the new black, then a reusable tote is the new must-have designer handbag. While the Anya Hindmarch "I'm Not A Plastic Bag" tote may be out of the question, the reusable-bag movement has options for everyone from trendy fashionistas to serious eco-friendly shoppers. Read more...

Our Take: The thrust of the story is practical bags versus fashionista bags - of the hundreds of options of reusable bags out there, the editors endorsed a total of 3, all of which were from our proprietary Acme bags line. Our bags were considered "seriously green" and "perfect for the activist."

Hear Howard Stern blast the absurdity of plastic bags upon San Francisco's announcement to be the first US city to ban plastic grocery bags: "In this country, there are so many (plastic) bags. We bag everything - we bag our bags, we have bags for our bags. It is outrageous. All this plastic has nowhere to go, it's a tremendous waste amount of garbage, and it's a completely wasteful thing all these plastic bags." Listen here...

Plastic, once hailed as a modern-day wonder, has faced increasing scrutiny over its impact on the environment. Taking the conservative estimate of 500 billion plastic bags used annually translates as 1 million every minute, according to Reusablebags.com. And of the 50 billion plastic water bottles consumed each year by Americans, 38 billion of them are being sent to landfills.

The conclusion that more people appear to be coming to as the best choice for the future of plastic is one of two options: reuse or stop production at source. Read more...

Several U.S cities may follow San Francisco's lead in the effort to ban plastic bags at large grocery and pharmacy checkout counters. This NPR show talked about some of the economic, environmental, and logistical challenges of cutting back on the use of plastic bags. Listen here...

The growing "green" trend in product packaging, which emphasizes the use of recycled, biodegradable post-consumer paper-based materials and relies less on petroleum-derived polymers like styrofoam, has unleashed a spontaneous trashing of sidewalks, roadsides, and pristine wilderness by gratified consumers. These 'eco' products are amazing-they've totally changed my life," a 37-year-old Nick Sundin said. "Now, I just toss my used Seventh Generation- brand paper plates out the car window, knowing they'll soon be absorbed into the earth." Read more...

Our Take: Some entertaining satire, but not too far off from where society could end up if we blindly pursue biodegradable packaging as the answer (as opposed to consuming less). As we pointed out in an article on biodegradable bags we created a few years ago, "bag littering could easily increase as people start to believe that biodegradable bags are less harmful to the environment..."

Carrefour's reusable bag campaign has registered total sales of 600,000 reusable plastic bags. Available at checkout counters as an alternative to plastic bags, the Carrefour reusable bag are sold at cost price. Read more...

Our Take: Here is an example of a growing trend among retailers - virtually giving away massive quantities of cheap reusable bags (even plastic bags in this case!) as a major tactic to address the problem. There is a host of problems associated with these kinds of "freebies". The primary one being - are consumers actually going to use these cheap shopping bags or are they going to sit and start accumulating in people's closets? (This is what happened in Australia.) In essence we've merely replaced one "use and toss" bag with another! Our advice is to own a handful of attractive, high-quality, bags that you really like and will use. Looking for suggestions? Visit our store.

Lobbying for the increased use of reusable shopping bags, Egan Sanders spread his message by enclosing himself for 24 hours in what has been called "the world's largest reusable shopping bag." Read more...

Our Take: Kinda cool / kinda weird. Bottom line: offbeat efforts like this are raising awareness for the issue. If you know of any, be sure to tell us!