Obviously we’re biased, but we with totes are great – and if you don’t already then you soon will! They’re reusable, they’re plastic free, they look so much nicer than carrying a supermarket bag around…the list goes on. Read below for why you should always have one.
Plastic free :
Totes made from natural fabrics are free from damaging plastic and will therefore degrade back to nature at the end of their useful life. After prolonged exposure to abiotic factors, a natural fabric tote will eventually disappear without any harmful trace. For the purpose of comparison, a typical plastic bag will enter landfill (on average just 12 minutes after purchase!) upon where it will try and fail to degrade for anywhere from 100-1000 years – if ever! During this process, the synthetic polymers will release harmful gasses that contribute to the Greenhouse Effect and in a wider sense, climate change as a whole.
General environmental impacts :
Again, natural fabric tote bags are generally the best for the environment. This is because they are derived from natural, biodegradable and renewable fibres. Natural fibres are grown in a field, not made in a science lab. Although farming natural fibres has other impacts on the environment (see our Fibre Focus blog), a big advantage of them is that they do not contribute to the draining of the world’s very finite oil supplies, clean the air (through photosynthesis) during their growth, and won’t be here when our children’s children’s children are pensioners.
The more you use your tote, the smaller it’s carbon footprint :
Like a fine wine, a tote just gets better with age – better for the environment that is. A reason for this is because with every reuse, you are increasing the number of times to divide the carbon emissions released in its supply chain. Reusable products have carbon footprints during their production and transportation, but during their long use phase they have one of almost zero (apart from heating the water to clean them etc). By this line of logic, every time a tote is reused all of the resources, time, labour and pollution are being respected in the same way.
They’re so useful
Tote are so handy for all sorts of purposes – take them hiking, or to the gym or swimming pool. Take them grocery, clothes or shoe shopping. Why not take them to school, uni or work – they’ll easily hold your laptops, pencil cases, lunches and water bottles. Yes, totes can hold a lot, but when they’re empty they fold up neatly and can be almost effortlessly carried in your pocket, handbag or glove box – brilliant.
If these reasons don’t make you want to boycott single-use plastic bags, then we don’t know what will! Taking a tote is free (no 5p bag tax), eco-friendly and super easy to do. Don’t forget yours when you’re next going shopping!
4 Reasons To Carry A Reusable Tote With You At All Times
