The Planet Bag Review

Overall 5.00 of 5 (by 1 user)

Cat
Charlotte, NC

Saving the World without Superhero Powers

a Prius owner, into saving the environment, married to a newbie environmentalist, a frequent grocery shopper

Pros

inexpensive, roomy, great substitute for plastic bags, long handles

Cons

only one design

JUL

2007

A strange confluence of events occurred in July. My husband just happened to rent "An Inconvenient Truth" on July 5th. After we both watched it, we realized we had to do more than just drive our Prius and recycle, and then we stumbled upon "Live Earth" airing all day Saturday, July 7th. Within the span of two days my husband switched from thinking that recycling was a bit of a nuisance, to becoming the lead "green" person in our household.

He began researching carbon offsets, bought way more CFL's than any person could need, and then decided that there was no way we were going to keep going with "paper or plastic" at the grocery store. While surfing the web during "Live Earth", my husband found The Planet Bag on Amazon.com.

All About The Planet Bag
The Planet Bag is an inexpensive but roomy cotton bag with long handles. Its 15" tall, 16" wide, with a roomy 3" base. It has 28" handles, so its easily slung over the shoulder, unlike paper or plastic bags. On the front is the Planet Bag's logo, "Because You Don't Have to be a Superhero to Save the Planet" along with a drawn graphic of the earth and several animals.

The Planet Bag is roomy, but best of all, it's incredibly inexpensive. The bag retails on Amazon.com in singles ($5.95) or in sets of 3 (for about $15) or 6 (for about $30). And yet, in spite of the excellent price, the bags are very sturdy and don't look cheap. While there's no set donation program (i.e. x percent of your purchase goes to a particular program) the website for The Planet Bag lists the many donations they have made thanks to the many people who have purchased their product.

Using The Planet Bag
We purchased a set of six bags and put three in my car and three in my husband's car. At first I was concerned that we'd use them once and forget them, but after leaving them behind (and having to go retrieve them) just once or twice, grabbing them out of the trunk at the store has become second nature.

I was also concerned that we'd get odd looks or attitudes from clerks at the store when we showed up with our cloth bags. There's still the odd person who asks, "plastic or paper", and when presented with our bags, goes into auto-pilot and still starts to fill up a plastic bag! But that's only happened once in a dozen trips to the store. We also found that our nearby Lowe's foods offers bonus Greenpoints if you bring your own bag! Be sure to ask at your favorite store if you get a small discount (somewhere in the neighborhood of a nickel) if you bring your own bags. Remember, you're not just helping the environment, you're helping your grocery store save money on bags themselves!

The bags hold everything and have so much more capacity than standard plastic or paper bags. Our usual weekly visit to the store requires only two bags, and very rarely the third one is used. I stuff two of the bags into the third one and carry it on my shoulder around the store, or put it in the cart until I'm ready to check out.

And carrying these bags on your shoulder is much more comfortable than trying to hoist six or ten plastic bags to the car using just your hands. In fact, I plan on purchasing a set for my mother, because even though she's never expressed much concern for the environment, the plastic and paper bags hurt the sensitive skin on her hands when she carries them.

Cat's Bottom Line
For the price and the quality of the product, you can't go wrong. Creating plastic bags uses millions of barrels of oil each year, and if you don't recycle them, they quickly overstuff landfills. Paper bags may seem like a better choice, but you're still using trees for a bag that actively gets used just once or twice, for only a few minutes. Inexpensive, sturdy and spacious cotton bags are a great solution and after using them for only a few weeks, we don't ever plan on switching back!

The Planet Bag
http://www.theplanetbag.com