Everything in this picture is either 100% recycled or made from 100% natural fibers. Who says eco-friendly has to be boring?

You can create a colorful packaging presentation as simply as adding bright colored tissue to inexpensive brown kraft paper shopping bags. Our 100% recycled shopping bags are still our most popular. I chose 100% recycled gift paper to coordinate with my Kraft bags and used 100% recycled tissue in matching colors to bring my look together.

There are several different recycled ribbons available, but I love the fact that the ones I chose were 100% recycled of all natural fibers as well as being colorful. This presentation is so colorful that your customers might not realize it is recycled. Isn’t it great that we can now be ecology conscious as well as trendy?

The beauty of kraft is that it works with any color and many themes. I chose my gift-wrap, Kraft Leaf Checks pattern, and then picked my tissue and ribbon colors to coordinate with my theme. A money-saving tip; the kraft paper I chose is printed on one side and kraft on the other so you have two looks for the price of one.

If you really want to save money, wrap your gifts in plain 100% Recycled Kraft Paper on a roll, tie on a pretty bow and you have a really inexpensive but pretty wrap. Suppose you don’t want to wrap at all. Use a brown kraft gift box with 100% Recycled Eco Ribbons layered and tied in a simple knot, add your store label and it’s good to go. Saving money is good business now and if you pass your savings on to your customers, you will have many happy repeat sales.

Don’t forget to add your labels to your packaging, and better yet, custom print those kraft bags. It will only add about 12 cents a bag to your cost. You have saved enough on the price of your packaging to pay for printing.

Don’t forget to let your customers know you are Eco Friendly by displaying our Green Way ® Counter Card. Download it here.

Kathy Green
Packaging Consultant
NashvilleWraps.com

Plastic bags are easy to hate, but when they are recycled properly they become “green” gold: a real, long-term, sustainable solution whose time has come, and is in fact already working in Southern California.

Trash goes in – new plastic material comes out. That’s the way it’s done in Vernon, California at Command Packaging’s recycling center, a Nashville Wraps Green Way® supplier. Plastics are collected from a variety of industrial and consumer sources and brought into the recycling center as raw materials. These materials would otherwise be destined for the landfill.

Watch a quick video about how easy it is to recycle plastic bags into new plastic bags:

More about the recycling process

Old bags and plastics go in, and about 60 seconds later, new plastic pellets come out. This new plastic material is:

• Sustainable
• Economical
• Readily available
• Made using very little energy
• Created without pollution to water or air
• Non-toxic
• Clean and inert
• Chemically just like new
• Diverting plastics from landfills
• Driving costs down

We can go from trash to brand new bags in about 45 minutes or less.

To make new bags, the recycled plastic pellets are first siphoned up, then compressed into a liquid and extruded into new plastic film. It’s a lot like blowing bubble gum: air is forced into the liquid plastic, creating a tube which is stretched out and then cooled down as it goes up a tower.

Making color film is easy with the addition of non-toxic colorants. All dyes are certified to be free of toxins and heavy metals, which can’t be said for many of the imported reusable bags not made in America.

Many savvy retailers are going green with economical recycled plastic bags.

The entire process is quick, easy, does not pollute the air or water and uses only a small amount of energy, so the carbon footprint is low. Recycled bags are recyclable again and again; the cycle can repeat itself indefinitely. It’s as simple and green as it gets – which is why it’s time to take another look at American recycled plastics.

Encore™ Recycled Plastics and Green Way® Packaging with Purpose are trademarked names of Command Packaging, Inc. and Nashville Wraps, LLC. For more information, visit www.NashvilleWraps.com.

First let me say I love Kohl’s retail stores. If you are looking for almost any brand name product ranging from clothing and bedding to luggage and small kitchen appliances, Kohls’ makes it difficult to pay “full retail price” with their never ending sales and promotions. They are terrific but when they stretch the green truth, I feel a strong obligation to call them out on it.

The Ready to Reuse Shopping Bag

At first glance it looked like a great idea. A reusable shopping bag that thanks to a unique design and a well placed snap, neatly folds up into a compact little package. I am sure we all mostly agree the use of reusable shopping bags is probably a good idea so anything that will make them easier to carry and use can only be a plus. Add some green graphics, some cool green buzz words and voila, you have a … plastic bag.

“The Devil Is in the Details”

Was one of my grandfather’s favorite sayings and an eternal, indisputable truth. No matter what the subject or when it is being said, the small unobvious details are often where the truth or lack of it can be found.

A close look at the small tag, I found deep inside of the bag told me so much more than the colorful bag or the outer tag so prominently displayed. The bag is 100% polypropylene, which of course is nothing more than plastic. This particular bag, like most that are used to help “save the earth”, is imported from China. I think most of our readers know how I feel about importing products like this from the other side of the world, especially when over 10% of our own population is unemployed.

Putting that carbon footprint and exporting jobs issues aside, here are some other things that are likely to go unnoticed by the average reusable bag buyer.

• There is no indication of recycled content. That is not good.
• There are no instructions for the ultimate disposal of the bag. It will eventually have to be discarded, but how?
• The tag clearly indicates it is not for use with food but can’t we assume people shop for groceries more often than they do for sox and underwear? Shouldn’t that important information be somewhere where people are more likely to see it?
• Since it is likely to be used for grocery shopping, wouldn’t it be great if it was washable? Google “reusable bag germs” and get ready to be shocked.

Am I Anti Reusable Bag?

Not at all, but as a lifelong packaging person with a deep interest and commitment to preserving the environment, here are a few things I suggest you keep in mind if you decide to buy and use reusable shopping bags.

• Make sure the bag is made of natural fibers. Don’t replace multiple, easily recycled plastic bags with one that can only wind up in a land fill.
• Ideally a bag should have some amount of recycled content.
• Make sure you know where and how you will eventually dispose of it.
• If possible, TRY to find something that is made in America.

The Myth and Truth about Lemmings

The rodents of that name do not follow each other into a suicidal Arctic plunge as is the popular belief. However, well meaning retailers have indeed been known to follow each other all the way to China in search of a low cost product that will appeal to their increasingly eco minded customers.

Let’s face it, this is not all that technical and it is not like buying high tech electronic equipment. All it takes is a few good questions and any retailer can do green and do it right.

Dennis

Thanks Dennis for another great insight on the retail market. Both Salazar Packaging and Nashville Wraps try hard to provide truth, choices and advice regarding green packaging products.

R. Meadows
Nashville Wraps

To think that a biodegradable bag can be tossed out the window and then dissolve into inert components is pure myth…

Biodegradable plastic bags are “compostable”, and then only when composted under controlled conditions such as a municipal composting facility.

What we need is a change of habits, not bags….

Beatriz Bugeda, I think The challenge is convincing citizens to change their habits. We have to go back to our grandmothers’ habits.”*

Matt Kistler, senior vice president for sustainability at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. echoed what Bugeda said about changing people’s behavior. “If we can encourage consumers to change their behavior, just one bag at a time, we believe real progress can be made toward our goal of creating zero waste,” he said.

Zero waste is not as hard as it sounds.
The American Chemistry Council (ACC) encourages recycling plastic bags as it conserves energy by replacing the virgin material necessary to manufacture new products. In fact, it takes 91 percent less energy to recycle a pound of plastic than it takes to recycle a pound of paper, according to the ACC.

A slippery slope we go down is that biodegradable bags made from PLA (bags from corn and sugar bearing plants) are NOT recyclable and will not mix into recycling batches with conventional Polyethylene (HDPE) plastic bags. They are “Compostable” and that is a critical distinction. Composting is a difficult and highly controlled process (see more below), but recycling conventional plastics is cheap, easy, and available.

The Federal Trade Commission has set guidelines about false claims in advertising, such as claiming a product is recyclable when in fact it is very difficult for the average person to do. Can we say a television is recyclable? We could if there were TV recycling centers in every community, but there are not. However, there are plastic bag recycling centers in nearly every community now. You find them at schools, businesses, churches, youth centers and at every Wal-Mart.

Are biodegradable bags really eco-friendly?
Mexico City’s ban only applies to non-biodegradable plastic bags. The European Recyclers Association warned in June that biodegradable plastic bags “have the potential to do more harm to the environment than good.” A study by the Biodegradable Products Institute found that the breakdown of bags depends on temperature and humidity. The bags break down more slowly in cold weather, and high humidity stops the process.

It is best if biodegradable bags are composted, because they may produce methane if sent to a landfill.  The Oxo-Biodegradable Plastics Association warns that biodegradable plastics should not be sent to landfills. We agree; they should be composted.

The plastic bag ban which started in San Francisco was similar, but San Francisco has a municipal composting facility. Composting on such a scale can only be done within a very controlled environment with an exacting series of temperature and humidity controls across the multiple stages of the composting process. It is not for everyone, and to think that any biodegradable bag can be tossed out the window and dissolve into inert components is pure myth.

What about additives to biodegrade conventional plastic bags?
Nashville Wraps has a solid commitment to the environment, to our customers and to the truth. Right now we do not know if biodegradable additives are practical because there has been no accepted environmental study for these products. However, we miss the main advantage of plastic bags if we try to dissolve them into some kind of sand and carbon dioxide. Recycling is the right answer because it is an effective, efficient and environmentally friendly process that is the banner for REDUCE – REUSE – RECYCLE.

Robby Meadows

Nashville Wraps

* My Grandmother (and in fact my mother) was queen of what we are missing in today’s world which is REDUCE – REUSE – RECYCLE. She did it as a lifestyle because she could not afford any other way. Something to think about.  – R. Meadows.

References:
Biodegradable Products Institute – Case Studies on Municipal Composting
Mexico City Requires Biodegradable Plastic Bags – Earth911.com
American Chemistry Council | Plasticbagfacts.org
FTC: Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims

The court found substantial evidence to support the argument that the ordinance may cause increased use of paper bags, which (the court stated) may have a significant negative impact on the environment, therefore an environmental impact report was required.

According to court documents: “We do not resolve the question of the ultimate merits of whether the plastic bag distribution ban should be implemented. All we are saying is that an environmental impact report must be prepared given that it can be fairly argued based on substantial evidence in the record that the ordinance may have a significant environmental impact.”

Paper or Plastic?
Our customers frequently ask us which is better for the environment. The environmental impact of either is small, but it is a good place for the retail community to demonstrate concern and to encourage sustainable practices such as recycling. If recycling is involved, then neither paper nor plastic bags constitute a huge negative impact, but with plastic coming out ahead in the measure of carbon footprint.

Paper bags are made from “trees”.  In North America, companies like Weyerhaeuser, Georgia Pacific, and Bowater are in the business of growing trees for paper and construction products. These companies do not “slash and burn” like we have seen in the news from Asia, but instead practice sustainable forestry; not only because of the environment, but because it is a sustainable economic model. Pine trees grow quickly and are harvested from managed forests.

Plastic bags which are produced in the US are made from domestic natural gas, not foreign oil. Before natural gas can be used as a fuel,  waste products must be removed. One key by-product is known as “Ethane”.  The “Ethane” is converted into polyethylene which is then made into many products including plastic bags.

US plastic bags are made from a by-product of processing natural gas. Most foreign resins are still made from Middle-Eastern oil, including those “eco-friendly” reusable bags.

Remember seeing pictures of oil wells in Iraq and Saudi Arabia with those plumes of flame on top? That is the gas they have been burning off for years. Ever see one of those plumes on a US well?

Our infrastructure allows for the collection and processing of natural gas into plastic resin and other products such as fertilizers, while the infrastructure in Asia and the Middle East doesn’t (although they are working on it in Saudi Arabia). Even when the Saudis do make polyethylene available, it comes back to a dependence on foreign trade and not on domestic production.

Bottom line…Buy paper and plastics made in North America.

All of the Paper Bags that Nashville Wraps sells which are made in the US and Canada are sourced from North American forests and domestic recycled paper sources. All of the plastic bags we sell which are made in the US are sourced from either domestic natural gas and/or recycled plastics collected in the US.

Robby Meadows
Director of Marketing
Nashville Wraps