Your Ultimate Guide To Eco-Friendly Plastic Bag Alternatives

By now, just about everyone is familiar with the fact that plastic bags are generally pretty terrible. Plastic is bad for the environment across the board, but at least many modern use cases are either meant for long-term non-disposable use, are recyclable, or are made of newly-developed biodegradable plastics.

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Still, plastic bags show up a lot in commerce. Grocery stores, in general, still often provide them for bagging and carrying groceries, and the push to make them more eco-friendly has only resulted in thinner, weaker bags that then require more bags to be used to carry the same groceries. Meanwhile, many products shipped around the world use plastic in their packaging to hold individual components, for individual wrappers of food products, and more.

So, how do we best address the environmental impact of bags? Let&#;s dive deeper into this issue.

The Best Way to Make Bags Eco-Friendly

One of the prevailing misconceptions regarding environmental conservation is the material of a product.

While the material is undeniably significant, its life cycle and re-use frequency are often of even greater importance. This principle is especially relevant in the debate surrounding the environmental impact of bags, whether made of plastic, cotton, or any other material.

The most beneficial action for the environment, surpassing even the type of material used for a bag, is to maximize its use. It&#;s a common belief that a cotton bag, given its natural origin, is more eco-friendly than a plastic counterpart. However, the initial production of cotton bags is much more energy-intensive and has a significantly larger carbon footprint.

A widely-cited study covered by The Verge in highlights this surprising fact. The research indicates that an individual would need to re-use a single cotton tote bag thousands of times to equate to the environmental footprint of a single-use lightweight plastic bag.

The key takeaway is not necessarily the material choice but the emphasis on reusing the bags we already own. Before acquiring a new bag, evaluate its necessity and ensure its long-term use.

Frequently buying reusable bags will offset their environmental advantages, sometimes making them worse for your carbon footprint than using single-use plastic bags. That defeats the purpose, doesn&#;t it?

For a genuine reduction in environmental impact, focus on reusing bags. High-quality, reusable bags yield the best results when bought less frequently and used for longer durations.

Alternatives to Plastic Bags

Plastic is one of many materials we&#;ve discovered throughout history that have near-miraculous properties and downsides that aren&#;t felt until years or decades later. Plastics are light, strong, and durable, but they take forever to break down, and when they do, they end up as dangerous microplastics in the water, food, and even our blood.

It really increasingly feels similar to an earlier &#;miracle&#; material: a lightweight, thin, incredibly good thermal insulator that was both very durable and impossible to burn. It was great and used everywhere! And then that material, asbestos, was discovered to break down into tiny invisible particles that cause horrible health problems like a variety of deadly cancers.

Finding alternatives to plastic today largely comes down to three things.

• Replacing unnecessary packaging and bagging whenever possible to eliminate the need for any material at all.
• Finding alternative, more eco-friendly, and sustainable materials for places where consumable plastics would normally be used.
• Making it easier, more convenient, and more reliable to gather and recycle the plastics that can&#;t be replaced.

At Ethix, we aren&#;t materials engineers or recycling facilities, so we can&#;t necessarily help with the third one, and we aren&#;t developing new materials. What we can do, though, is help encourage the use of alternative materials, whether it&#;s for things like packaging, grocery shopping bags, or disposable items. So, let&#;s talk about the alternatives that exist and what their pros and cons are.

Cotton Bags

Cotton bags, used for carrying groceries and other items or just hauling anything you want from point A to point B, are one of the most common alternatives to plastic bags currently available. They&#;re used primarily as an alternative to one of the largest places plastic bags are used, which is in stores as a way to carry out your purchase.

Cotton is a tricky material. It&#;s a natural plant fiber, so it&#;s relatively eco-friendly and sustainable. However, cotton itself has potential issues. It&#;s a very thirsty crop, so it needs to be grown in locations where it isn&#;t an undue burden on the ecosystem. The process of harvesting it, ginning it, and turning it into fabric is also far too frequently abusive in terms of human rights and labor violations. There&#;s a reason &#;picking cotton&#; is an archetypal reference to slavery in the American past, after all.

Fortunately, these problems, while not solved on a global scale, are at least avoidable. Whenever you buy a cotton product, make sure you&#;re getting it from a reputable source. Cotton canvas is hardy, durable, and sustainable as a bag solution, so it&#;s quite common.

Bamboo Bags

In the world of eco-friendly alternatives, bamboo bags are emerging as a stellar contender against traditional materials. Bamboo demands little water and generally grows pesticide-free, and it&#;s known for its swift growth and minimal care requirements. This environmental conscientiousness extends to the production of bamboo bags, which transform bamboo fibers into a durable weave, crafting sturdy and reliable bags. From daily shopping totes to elegant handbags, bamboo bags showcase versatile functionality.

Bamboo&#;s innate antimicrobial traits further set it apart, a boon in the current global health-conscious climate. While its manufacturing process involves certain steps, it generally remains more energy-conservative and less polluting compared to other materials, reinforcing its green appeal. The biodegradable essence of bamboo bags completes their eco-friendly narrative, promising a minimized contribution to the ongoing waste dilemma.

Despite the multitude of benefits, the market for bamboo bags is only in its infancy, hinting at a ripe potential for a broad array of innovative bamboo-centric products in the days to come. We may see more of these in the future, but for now, these are tougher to find and to mass produce.

Recycled Material Bags

Highlighting a key shift towards more eco-friendly consumer products, bags made from recycled materials are making a name for themselves. These bags are a clear example of practical resourcefulness, being made from a range of recycled items, including plastics pulled from the ocean or other used plastic waste. This imaginative process turns waste, which would otherwise end up in landfills and oceans, into useful and often stylish bags.

Beyond just being useful, bags made from recycled materials have a clear positive impact on the environment, significantly helping to reduce the amount of plastic waste. They represent the cycle of using and reusing materials, showing a shared dedication to a more sustainable and environmentally friendly way of consuming products.

Even with the challenges, such as the energy used and potential emissions in the recycling process, making bags from recycled materials shows a dedication to ongoing innovation and improvement in this area.

Non-Woven Polypropylene Bags

Another common option is non-woven polypropylene. Polypropylene is a kind of plastic polymer, but it&#;s better than your average plastic bag for a few different reasons.

• It&#;s a lot more durable. Plastic bags rip and fall apart very easily, but NWP is more durable than fabric. Being able to reuse one of these bags hundreds of times &#; and even repair it like fabric &#; makes it extremely long-lived.
• It&#;s water- and chemical-resistant, making it ideal for commonly used fabrics like medical gowns, shopping bags, packaging, and upholstery.
• It&#;s recyclable. NWP is made by taking beads or shreds of polypropylene and melting them, extruding them, and blowing them into a fabric-like layer, which is then bonded and finished. While newly-produced polypropylene can be used, the process works just fine with recycled polypropylene as well.

Overall, polypropylene is still a non-biodegradable plastic, so it&#;s not entirely eco-friendly. But, the reusable and recyclable nature of the material, combined with the ability to produce it in ethical ways (even including previously discarded recyclable materials), makes it better than single-use plastic bags by a large margin.

Many of our reusable tote bags are made from this material and are made ethically in the USA. At Ethix, transparency in the entire process of production is part of our ethos, so if you have any questions or concerns, we&#;re more than happy to talk about the entire process, from the sourcing of materials to the production of the totes and other products. Just drop us a line!

Plant Fabric Bags

Like cotton, there are a handful of other plants that can be turned into fabrics. These various fabrics are all natural and biodegradable while still being durable and reusable. Some of those materials include:

Jute. Jute is a plant that is primarily found in India, and Jute fabric is also commonly known as burlap or Hessian Fabric. It&#;s a coarse, woven fabric and is commonly found as an organic and sustainable way to ship organic materials like coffee beans or rooibos tea. Treated burlap can be very water-resistant as well and is even used in temporary shelters and other kinds of possibilities.

Hemp. Hemp is a fast-growing plant capable of producing a huge volume of fabric. That fabric is breathable, durable, has a very high tensile strength, and is quite cost-effective as well. It&#;s actually quite close to being another &#;miracle&#; material like plastic. So what&#;s the drawback keeping it from common use?

Well, as many of you likely know, hemp is derived from the same plant as marijuana, the cannabis sativa plant. Modern-day cannabis plants have been bred into different cultivars, and the hemp used for fabric is bred to grow large stalks and produce a lot of material while also cutting down or eliminating the psychoactive compounds. However, decades of anti-drug laws and regulations have caught the plant in the crossfire, so the challenges to producing help tend to be quite high, and relatively few people do it as a result.

Luckily, public opinion and scientific study are leaning in the direction of broad legalization, which will open up hemp production to a much greater audience, so you can likely look forward to more hemp fabrics being produced and refined in the future.

Paper. Third on the list is paper products. Paper runs a huge array of different kinds, with everything from paper produced by clear-cutting endangered forests all the way to sustainably harvested trees and even recycled paper products. Paper is among the most frequently recycled materials, and it can biodegrade quite quickly or be recycled into new paper products with ease.

Paper isn&#;t a very durable material, especially compared to most of the other items on this list. While that&#;s a bad thing if you&#;re thinking in terms of long-term reusable materials, paper isn&#;t meant for that. Instead, all of those one-time-use bags you use &#; for product packaging, for shipping materials, for grocery bags, for trash bags &#; can be made of paper products and discarded or recycled free of the concerns that come with other materials. In fact, paper is arguably one of the most common materials you encounter in the form of cardboard.

Green Polyethylene

Polyethylene is one of the primary plastics used for producing, well, practically everything made of plastic these days. It&#;s not biodegradable, and it&#;s not eco-friendly, but various studies and advancements in materials science have developed a &#;green&#; version of polyethylene that is slowly picking up steam.

Green PE, or Bio-PE, is a form of polyethylene that is produced from sugarcane. Instead of using petroleum to create polyethylene, sugarcane is used to create a form of ethanol that is then turned into polyethylene.

This material has a few benefits, even as a plastic:

• It&#;s a renewable resource. Sugarcane can be grown ethically, though it faces the same challenges as cotton in terms of being a high-water plant that requires labor to harvest.
• Sugarcane actually absorbs and stores CO2, making Bio-PE a more sustainable plastic material with a lower carbon footprint than other plastics.
• It&#;s entirely recyclable.
• It can replace standard polyethylene; since it has the same properties and can be processed in the same ways, no new machines or tools are necessary to produce bags and other items with it.

Bio-PE hasn&#;t picked up momentum as a full replacement for standard polyethylene yet, but it&#;s getting more and more traction. And, since it offers the same material properties as polyethylene, it doesn&#;t require giving up the benefits of plastic.

The one downside is that it&#;s not biodegradable any more than standard PE; after all, it has the same material properties. That said, there are ongoing experiments on ways to solve the problem, with options like D2W additives or even bacteria potentially facilitating the breakdown of the plastics.

Leather Bags

Leather was a very common material centuries ago, but the advent of newer materials like plastics meant that leather fell somewhat by the wayside. Making leather, and then making leather goods, is generally a labor-intensive process that requires skill and time. It&#;s not something that can be easily mass-produced to the same degree as cotton or plastic products.

As such, leather has spent years as a luxury material, used in either high-end products or as extremely durable goods. We only have a couple of leather products because the bar is high for producing it, especially when you take labor rights and the ethics of the material&#;s creation into account.

Leather is a very good material for long-term durable goods like the above-linked computer bag. It&#;s extremely durable and, with proper care, can last decades. It&#;s also environmentally friendly (as long as the source of the hide used to make the leather is itself environmentally friendly, of course). Leather production requires the use of some potentially hazardous chemicals, but they&#;re tightly controlled for as minimal possible impact.

Another benefit of leather is that the hides used to produce it are a byproduct of the food industry. If not for the production of leather, those hides would themselves just end up in landfills. That&#;s not as bad as it could be &#; animals are obviously biodegradable &#; but it&#;s still a way to use more and waste less.

Polyester Bags

Polyester is a tricky material to classify. It&#;s another petroleum plastic, which means the production of the material is not very eco-friendly, and it takes an incredibly long time to break down. However, it&#;s a very durable and lightweight material, so products made out of it use comparatively less material than they would when produced with another kind of plastic. Moreover, that durability means they can last a very long time in active service. It&#;s less useful for clothing, where people may discard them for fashion or fit reasons, but for uses like bags, it&#;s a lot more acceptable.

So, some people argue that polyester is better for the environment than disposable plastics and plastics that take more resources and emit more greenhouse gasses to produce. Others argue that even the best plastic is still plastic and thus is terrible compared to just about everything else listed above.

At the very least, you can make sure to shop for polyester bags that are ethically made in the USA and adhere to good labor practices and human rights.

Finding the Right Bag for Your Needs

Whatever kind of bag you need, whether it&#;s a tote for grocery shopping, a durable bag for carrying a computer or other important items, or just something you can fold up and keep with you, we have something for you.

We strive to carry only the most ethical products, made with sustainable materials in eco-friendly ways, produced with union labor, or made in the USA. Every product is different and will meet different standards, so if you have any questions about any of our products, feel free to reach out.

As mentioned above, transparency is a key tenet of our ethos, and we&#;re more than happy to discuss the details until you&#;re satisfied.

Feel unsure about what alternative will work best for you? You don&#;t have to navigate these waters alone. We can help explore different materials, sizes, and customization options, ensuring that the end product matches what you envisioned. We offer a wide array of alternatives that do not compromise on quality, durability, aesthetics, or ethics. Reach out to us! We are here to answer any questions and guide you in making an informed decision.

Daniel Cardozo, CEO of Ethix Merch, is a passionate advocate for ethical promotional products. With a mission to transform global supply chains, he serves on the Labor 411 Foundation and Advertising Specialty Institute&#;s Promo for the Planet Advisory Board. Daniel is dedicated to empowering socially and environmentally-conscious consumers.

Jute bags have been one of the most popular and most famous options when it comes to small-to-medium sized bags that are multi-purpose. A lot of people consider jute bags not only because of their easiness, but also because of their capability of being designed and styled easily.

But, do you know what jute bags are? Are you aware of where and how you can use them?

What is a Jute Bag?

A jute bag is a type of bag that&#;s made from a material that&#;s used to create hessian cloth.

Example of a jute bag

More often than not, jute bags are woven tightly in order for them to be freestanding.

You can easily distinguish a jute bag because it&#;ll usually have a rectangular and strong base.

How Much Does a Jute Bag Cost?

An example of a plain jute bag without designs and styles

If you want to learn more, please visit our website biodegradable garment bags.

Not all jute bags are going to be in the same price, akin to other types of bags. Of course, there are several factors that come into play when it comes to determining the price of jute bags.

These factors would include the materials used to create it, the processes done, as well as the manufacturer you&#;re dealing with.

If you look at several sources, though, you&#;ll be able to find small jute bags within the range of $8 to $13.99. Medium-sized jute bags to be around $15 to $20. Lastly, large-sized jute bags around $30 to $50.

With us here at The One, you&#;ll never have to worry about pricing! We can give you the best and the most competitive prices without ever compromising the quality!

Jute Bags For Plants

Here at The One, we can produce jute bags that can grow plants, both indoor and outdoor!

Image of multiple jute bags for plants

We have a specific set of skills, as well as tools and materials that can get you the functionality you&#;re looking for!

Whether you want a fully breathable jute bag or if you&#;re more interested with semi-closed jute bags just enough for the roots to breath, we got you!

Jute Bags Wholesale

There are many different sources if you&#;re looking for jute bags wholesale in the market. You can even find them online!

Jute bags wholesale that you can purchase for a cheap price

But, with us here at The One, you&#;ll never have to guess how much you need to pay! We will give you a free quotation and a free estimate of all the jute bags you&#;re looking for!

The best part about working with us is the fact that wherever your business is and whatever type of retail you are in, our products will always come through.

Jute Bags Wholesale UK

Image of a UK jute bag that you can purchase

You&#;ll find a multitude of jute bag wholesale manufacturers in the UK. In fact, the most popular ones include Totally Branded UK, Cotton Bagjoe, Jute Bag, and Cotton Bag. But, these companies get their products from none other than Chinese manufacturers and suppliers!

In fact, working with us here at The One can guarantee the same quality in cheaper rates! The more you get and order, the bigger the discount you can get for it!

Jute Bags Wholesale Canada

Similar to the UK, there will never be a shortage of jute bag wholesale suppliers in Canada. You have Hey Jute, Go4WorldBusiness, NNZ, and even Jute Cotton Bags as part of your options.

An image of the Canadian flag on a jute bag

That&#;s not the only thing they have in common. Another thing is that they get and source most of their tools and materials from Chinese manufacturers. Some of them even get the full-output of products and sell it for a higher price!

Get raw prices when you work with a Chinese jute bag wholesaler and put it all of what you can save in your company savings!

Jute Bags Wholesale Online

Should you be fonder of using the internet, you&#;ll find a myriad of jute bag wholesalers online!

Jute bags online you can purchase from Amazon

You can go through websites like Alibaba, AliExpress, Amazon, Made In China, IndiaMart, and other wholesale websites.

The problem with this is that sometimes, these websites would require you to communicate with the manufacturer through their platform, which already eliminates the chance of building relationships with the supplier.

That&#;s why working with us here at The One will still be your best option. Apart from the fact that we can supply you with high quality jute bags, you can build lasting relationships with other companies within the supply chain!

Jute Bags For Pots

Images of different jute bags for pots

Many people don&#;t like the idea of using jute bags for pots or plants. The reason is that they think jute bags are too brittle; that they&#;re not able to hold enough soil.

But can you grow plants inside a jute bag? Absolutely! As we discussed above, most are made breathable for the roots to develop more and grow.

While they&#;re more commonly referred to as jute baskets and jute pots, you can still categorize them under jute bags because of their material!

That brings us to our next topic, which discusses&#;

Jute Bags Material

Image of jute material or fiber

Jute bags are made out of jute material, which is a natural fiber of vegetable. They&#;re usually extracted from the skin and the exterior part of the jute plant.

They&#;re extremely flexible and versatile material. That&#;s the reason why they&#;re specifically made for rugged and extremely rough use.

Contrary to what most people believe in, jute bags are environmentally friendly. They&#;re 100% reusable and you can make use of them in a wide array of applications.

Advantages of Jute Bags

There are many advantages if you choose to use jute bags instead of traditional plastic bags. To help you understand them further, here&#;s a quick list of the different benefits and pros of doing so:

Environmentally Friendly

The materials in creating jute bags are derived from a plant, which make them natural. However, some materials that are chemically induced are added to it to make it stronger.

Overall, though, jute bags are eco-friendly and safe for the environment.

Cost-Effective

If you look at the cost, you&#;ll find that it&#;s a lot more costly and expensive than plastic bags. But, the fact that you can use it multiple times make it a cost-effective choice and option.

You don&#;t have to rummage through the house to find a plastic bag. You can use it! It&#;s strong, durable, and highly effective! It can literally save you a lot of money!

Strong, Durable, and Long Lasting

Unlike plastics and paper bags that can easily be tore down, jute bags are strong, durable, and are difficult to tear apart.

The intertwined and carefully structured fibers that they have make them one of the strongest types of bags &#; even stronger than canvas and cotton in some cases.

FUN FACT: You don&#;t have a limit in using them! So long as they&#;re kept well-maintained, clean, and hygienic, you can use them continuously!

Have Good Insulating Properties

They&#;re also liked and favored by a lot of people because they have good insulating properties. Meaning, whatever you put inside will not be deprived of fresh air.

So, you have no problems if you&#;re transferring soil, plants, or if you&#;ll use it as a pot for your indoor plantation and vegetation.

Safe and Don&#;t Have Health Hazards

And of course, the most important benefit that you have with them is that they&#;re safe for everyone&#;s health. They&#;re neither dangerous nor toxic, so you don&#;t have to worry about it imposing dangers to the people&#;s health.

There are far more advantages in using jute bags than these. But, these are the most common and the most sought-after reasons.

Are Jute Bags Eco-Friendly?

Yes, jute bags are eco-friendly as they&#;re 100% recyclable. In addition to that, the main materials are also derived from natural vegetable and plant fibers.

Image of jute materials being extracted

So, as opposed to what many people think about jute bags, they are actually good for the environment overall.

How to Make Jute Bags?

The process of making or creating jute bags is not limited to one. In fact, different manufacturers and suppliers use different processes, tools, machines, and materials.

However, if you&#;re looking for DIY jute bags, here&#;s how you can make them:

NOTE: For this process, we&#;ll be making a no-sew jute bag. For this, you will need jute material, net lace, pencil, scissors, glue/tape.

1. Cut the jute cloth according to the size you want it to be. Make sure that you&#;ll cut them in equal distances.
2. Make a mark of about one (1) inch on the jute cloth.
3. Create the sides of the jute bag by adding two (2) pieces of the jute cloth or material using the glue or the tape.
4. Then, take the other type of cloth and position it to the opposite side of the bag.
5. Create the handle by attaching the two (2) sets of rope or lace on the jute bag.

https://youtu.be/UT29Yq9zRd0

Jute Bags Wholesale Price

Here at The One, we can get you jute bags wholesale prices that you won&#;t even believe! When we give it to you, you&#;ll think that it&#;s fake and counterfeit!

Unlike how other jute bag manufacturers price it, we would never give you a rip off price. Of course, though, if it&#;s within our range of offer, we wouldn&#;t be able to have it lowered especially if you&#;re not going to purchase below the minimum order quantity (MoQ).

Jute Bags 50KG

If your business is involved in the transporting of heavy materials such as soil, cement, sand, rice, or any other type of material, we here at The One can help and assist you!

Image of 50kg jute bags

As we mentioned above, we&#;re skilled in producing a wide variety of jute bags. You can count on us if you need small jute bags, medium-sized jute bags, or even large jute bags that can hold 50 kg!

Just give us a sketch and a few specifications of the jute bags you need and let us work on it!

Amazon Jute Bags

Amazon is one of the many locations where you can purchase a whole wide array of jute bags. The good part about going to Amazon for it is the numerous choices you have!

Market jute bags available on Amazon

However, not all of them are legitimate, there are some that are scams, so be careful. So, if you&#;re searching through Amazon for your jute bags, why not just go and do business with us here at The One?

We&#;re absolutely better than Amazon &#; and we can even customize the jute bags you need in many different ways possible!

So, if you&#;re thinking about purchasing jute bags from Amazon, go and work directly with us here at The One and never be disappointed with the quality of what you&#;ll receive!

Wholesale Jute Bags Online

If you ever find yourself looking for wholesale jute bags online and you don&#;t know where the best place to go is, never hesitate to give us a call here at The One.

You don&#;t have to go through the hassle of finding payment through Alibaba and AliExpress! Furthermore, you won&#;t suffer the extremely high service charges in getting a manufacturer through Amazon and Made In China!

Give us a quick or call and let&#;s start making the jute bags you need wholesale!

Jute Bags Near Me

Wherever your business is located, and whatever type of city or municipality you&#;re in, you can definitely count on us here at The One for the jute bags you need!

Other than jute bags, you can also count on us if you need wine bags, eco bags, garment bags, custom cooler bags, and many more!

Even if you don&#;t see us when you search for &#;jute bags near me&#; within your location, we&#;re only a call or an away! We might even operate and function faster than the local jute bag manufacturers and suppliers that you have there!

Are you interested in learning more about biodegradable resin? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!