Remember when you used to use a plastic straw and then just threw it away? You didn’t give a second thought about its forever existence, filling up landfills, floating down rivers to the sea, or ending up in a turtle’s nose. You weren’t a bad person back then you just weren’t well informed. Cities from New York to Seattle to nine cities in California (Alameda, Carmel, San Luis Obispo, Davis, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, Oakland, Richmond, and Berkeley) have taken dead aim at the problem of the 500 million plastic straws used every day in the U.S.
The problem is that this problem doesn’t have a simple solution. Eliminating straws and other single-use plastic is not as easy as it looks on the surface. You may have already heard this complaint from clients you’ve sourced plastic straw alternatives for: People keep stealing them. At least it’s nice to know that sticky fingers have taken an environmentally conscious turn. Plastic straws cost a couple of pennies, and metal straws are closer to a dollar than they are to a penny. Worse yet, if they’re snagged for their looks, but then end up just sitting unused with the pens in a cup on somebody’s desk, metal straws can pull a real environmental double-cross.
Then there are tote bags. We’re a big fan of reusable tote bags here, but like straws, they also present a challenge. When wrestling with the tote bag issue, deciding between organic cotton and recycled plastic, nylon, or woven polypropylene is not a clear-cut choice. They all take more energy than single-use paper or plastic bags to make. The key is asking yourself (or your clients) what natural resources you hope to save. If the billions of tons of marine plastic litter are the biggest concern, then paper bags might be better because paper degrades and doesn’t stick around for years. From a retail standpoint, changing to paper bags really only works when there’s a charge for them at the checkout. New York passed a ban on plastic bags this year but left open to individual counties a 5-cent fee on paper bags. What many don’t know is that our preferred reusable totes become an environmental plus only when we are able to get a large number of uses and re-uses out of them—which is a great talking point to use to help educate clients. Some estimates are that you need to use a reusable bag almost 40 times to break even in terms of environmental costs.
If reusable bags aren’t designed with a view toward delivering the best end customer use case, there’s every chance they will be left in a hotel room, get lost, or be thrown away or forgotten in a closet in the house—that makes it hard to make a case for their use. I can’t tell you how many times I attend an event and get a reusable tote that’s too small to take to the grocery store or farmer’s market or poorly designed in some other way (e.g. handles, weight, etc.). I just shake my head at the lack of forethought and planning that went into that promotional product purchase on behalf of the client—and think about what a massive waste of resources on something that’s likely not to ever be used.
So, let’s get to the bottom line: What’s the best bag to recommend for your clients? Whatever the tote of your choice, try to select it by thinking realistically about how it could be re-used as many times as possible, and the role design and a customer-centric focus plays in selecting these kinds of items. Really, any bag choice pays off if your end-user customer can use them a significant number of times. From a personal standpoint, want to really double down on the good stuff? Make sure you’ve always got a supply of some kind of bags, no matter the material, with you when you shop. Remember that what we all put inside those bags matters, too. Make it a habit to buy local when you can, keeping the transportation environmental impact down. Also, do your part to support retailers that are actively limiting the plastic packaging they’re using. There’s lots to think about today, we’ve come a long way since you tossed that first plastic straw into the trash- and we’ve got a long way to go. But I’m confident we’ll get there.
Jeff Jacobs has been an expert in building brands and brand stewardship for 40 years, working in commercial television, Hollywood film and home video, publishing, and promotional brand merchandise. He’s a staunch advocate of consumer product safety and has a deep passion and belief regarding the issues surrounding compliance and corporate social responsibility. He retired as executive director of Quality Certification Alliance, the only non-profit dedicated to helping suppliers provide safe and compliant promotional products. Before that, he was director of brand merchandise for Michelin. You can find him volunteering as a Guardian ad Litem, traveling the world with his lovely wife, or enjoying a cigar at his favorite local cigar shop. Connect with Jeff on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram, or reach out to him at jacobs.jeffreyp@gmail.com.