Hospitaly with Responsibility!

‘Hospitality with Responsibility’ this is the catch line imprinted on the shopping bag which ‘Meluha, the Fern’ hotel, located in Powai, provides, as a complimentary gift to shopaholics like me.

The 'cool' jute bag

I was indeed impressed with the ecofriendly jute bag and also with the Meluha Hotel’s endeavour to instil ecological consciousness! Even their tea mug has some enlightening facts about why we should stop using plastic bags.

Here are some of the ecofriendly bags with cool messages!

Green is no more a choice, it is a necessity!

From Cotton cottage - clothing store

Enjoy the good thing inside, then do a good thing too - by recycling.

Brown bag from Starbucks - Coffee store

Gobelin bags!

Yet another post about bags!

Many years back, when I visited the early morning farmer’s market in Ulm, I came across a beautiful cloth bag, with the image of cute dogs on it. Since then I have been earnestly waiting to buy some more. Finally, I learnt these are called Gobelin bags. 

Later I discovered these bags in a small quaint shop in Ulm (each bag cost: 10 Euros), in Salzburg (where I got these bags for a very good bargain: 5 Euros each) and later in Brugges at a quaint and beautifully stocked shop called Serena (for a much lower price of 4.90 Euros per bag)! 

 

These bags and purses come in a variety of natural prints with eye catchy images of flowers, animals and natural beauty. The texture of these fabrics is beautiful and each of these bags are different. I can never have enough of these bags.

*Its history dates back to the 15^th century, when a Gobelin family dyers, established themselves in the Faubourg Saint Marcel in Paris on the banks of River Bievre.

The first head of the firm, Jehan, discovered a peculiar kind of scarlet dyestuff, and named it gobelin.  And started making tapestries. This factory was purchased by Jean-Baptiste Colbert on behalf of Louis XIV and was named Goelins Manufactory. This royal factrory started supplying tapestries and related items to the court of Lous XIV and the later monarch. Now it is run by the French Ministry of Culture . Guided tours in the afternoons are offered by appointment, except on Mondays and some specific holidays.

 

A coin purse

*Source: Wikepedia

Jute is Cute!

Bag review # 1

As my love for bags grows day by day, so does my love for lunch bags as I prefer to carry homemade lunch to work every day (isn’t it a healthy choice too?)

Two weeks back on my way to Warsaw for a business meeting, I happened to stop by a beautiful handicraft store at the Mumbai international airport. I could not stop myself from picking up a wonderful ‘newspaper themed’ jute bag – Jute News. And was pleased with the quality of the bag and to read its contents, which I have reproduced below for your perusal.

A wonderful array of tag lines adorn this bag like:

Use Jute.

Connect with Nature.

Global Eco News.

Bring home a bit of Nature from Jute Cottage.

Jute is Environment friendly and 100 % biodegradable.

Keep nature intact. Use Jute.

Use Jute, save our Planet.

Jute ‘the Golden Fibre’

Here are some of the facts about Jute, listed on the bag:

- Jute Industry engages 4 million Farmers and 2,30,000 Workers.

- When jute sacks are disposed they are re-processed into yarn or felt, used as compost and landfill.

- Jute contributes US $180 million towards our foreign exchange earnings.

- Our food grains and sugar need 6,21,000 metric tons of jute to keep them safe.

- Jute grows well in low land. It requires plenty of rainfall. Jute grows most in India and Bangladesh.

These jute bags are marketed by Jute Cottage (which has a corporate office at Bangalore) whose punchline is: Jute is Cute! JUTE COTTAGE Bags are strong, functional, trendy, fashionable, re-usable and of course - CUTE.

It has launched its exclusive range of environment friendly Jute handbags, slippers, jewelry, table mats, wallets, purses, wall hangings, durries, corporate files and folders, stationary and table top accessories.

They also execute bulk made to order bags with customized company name and logo printing. For further details visit their website: www.jutecottage.co.in

Plastic Bag Bans Around The World

Here is a beautiful info-graphic depicting the many disadvantages of plastic bags.

Source: http://www.reusethisbag.com/

Join in, and be a part of the Eco friendly Revolution !

Twenty-Five Reasons to Go Reusable!

Following my earlier post about the advantages of cloth bags, here are 25 reasons (listed beautifully by http://www.reusethisbag.com/) to convince yourself to switch to reusable bags.

1 A plastic shopping bag can take anywhere from 15 to 1000 years to decompose. In a compressed landfill, deprived of atmosphere to help them biodegrade, paper bags don't fare much better.	2 Plastic bags don't biodegrade, but are at risk for photo degradation, light exposure dissolving them into toxic polymer particles. Most often, when this happens, it happens in the ocean.	3 The cost to recycle plastic bags so outweighs their value that most recycling facilities will not take them, leading more and more to just be thrown out with the rest of the trash.
4 According to the Wall Street Journal, only 1% of plastic bags are recycled world-wide; the rest are left to live on indefinitely in landfills.	5 The United States alone uses approximately 100 billion new plastic bags per year - the average person goes through between 350 and 500.	6 Thanks to their light weight, plastic bags are the debris most likely to fly away from landfills, settling instead in trees, storm drains, beaches, and the ocean.
7 Public agencies in California alone spend over $300 million on coastal litter clean-up per year.	8 Plastic bags make up over 10% of washed-up debris polluting the US coastline.	9 According to the British Antarctic Survey, discarded plastic bags have been found as far north as the Arctic Circle and as far south as The Falkland Islands.
10 An estimated one million birds and 100,000 turtles and other sea animals die of starvation each year after ingesting discarded plastic bags which block their digestive tracks.	11 Made from petroleum products and natural gas, plastic bags utilize nonrenewable resources, ultimately helping to drive up fuel prices.	12 It takes 12 million barrels of oil to produce the amount of plastic bags the US uses per year.
13 Think paper bags are better? The United States cuts down 14 million trees per year simply to supply the demand for paper shopping bags.	14 It requires 13% more energy to produce one single paper bag than to produce two plastic bags.	15 Made with chemicals processed at high temperatures, paper bag production releases many toxins into the atmosphere at much the same rate as plastic production.
16 Paper bags weigh nearly ten times their counterparts in plastic, requiring more fuel to ship them out to stores.	17 Despite their high recyclability factor, research shows that only 20% of paper bags end up recycled while the rest share a fate with their plastic brethren.	18 In landfills, paper bags produce over twice as much atmospheric waste as plastic, making them questionable at best as the superior choice for the environment.
19 Ireland, the first European country to impose a tax on them, has decreased plastic shopping bag consumption by 90% since 2002, reducing overall plastic bag usage by 1.08 billion.	20 In the past five years, over a dozen countries have banned or put a tax on disposable bags.	21 Reusable bags come in all sorts of smart and stylish shapes and prints, making your shopping trips a little less routine and a little more fun.
22 Some grocery stores even offer discounts for customers who bring their own bags - now that's incentive!	23 In New York City, one less grocery bag per person would reduce waste by 5 million pounds and save $250,000 in disposal costs.	24 The average reusable bag has the lifespan of over seven hundred disposable plastic bags.
25 Over a lifetime, use of reusable bags by just one person would save over 22,000 plastic bags. Isn't that even better incentive?	Now, have you switched to reusable bags?

Bags of love – for the planet!

What’s new about canvas and cloth bags? Apart from the fact that I adore them, these are currently in vogue for many reasons. I remember many years back, when I was a kid, using cloth bags was considered out of fashion and I used to refrain from using these bags.

However, I also remember during my childhood days (on my way back from school) seeing some Banjara women making colorful cloth bags with embroidered flowers and ruffles. I used to always admire those beautiful handcrafted bags…..Wish I could get one of such a creation!

My love for fabric bags continues…. I simply love the fact that these are environment friendly, reusable and a worthy investment for a small price. I am sure some of my relatives and friends have been amused to receive a cloth bag as a gift from me. Well, these are indeed green gifts!

A cloth bag which I picked up at the local grocery store - Seijo Ishii (there are a chain of such grocery stores across Japan) in Nagoya, Japan.

What are the main advantages of using a cloth bag?

-         - Environmental Friendliness

Propylene plastic bags are made from fossil fuels. The process used to create plastic releases contaminant byproducts into the atmosphere. And the main disadvantage is that plastics do not biodegrade for a very long time – around hundreds of years!

Cotton, hemp or jute are made of renewable natural fibers.  Thus cloth bags are biodegradable.

 -  Strength: Cloth bags are more durable than plastic and paper bags. Thus they can be used over a long period of time.

  - Style: These come in a lot of designs and sizes to match your budget and your personal style. Unlike the plastic bags, most of which are transparent, these come in a lot of colors and hues. Make your style statement!

Thus cloth bags are Viable, Fashionable, Recyclable and Economical! 

You agree!