The shopping bags that can be used again and again

Reusable totes are the way to go. By making this one small change, you too can make a difference to saving the planet. This page features cotton totes that can be folded up and carried with you for all your purchases.

Wildlife conservation is important to me as is doing my best to conserve plantary resources. I am lucky enough to be able to combine a love of photography with my own small attempt to get people thinking about using canvas and cotton reusable bags instead of throw-away plastic ones.

I firmly believe if people are more aware of what the cost is of plastic bags in monetary and environment costs, they will be convinced of the need to make this one simple change in their lives.

Did you know?

It is estimated that 1 TRILLION plastic bags are used per year worldwide.

The average person in the UK uses about 300 plastic bags per year.

Supermarkets in the UK give away nearly 18 billion plastic bags per year.

In the USA the average shopper uses 1000 plastic bags per year.

Worldwide only 4% of plastic bags are recycled, the rest go to landfill and dump sites.

Twelve BILLION barrels of oil are used every year to make plastic bags.

Knowing the facts, isn't it time you made the change?

We can define waste as what people throw away.  Each time we throw away something we are in effect throwing away part of our natural resourses as well as the time and energy that was used to produce it.  Most of that comes from non-sustainable sources, that is, they cannot be replaced.  For example, as shown above, it takes something like 12 BILLION barrals of oil to produce the world's plastic bag consummution every year.  At at time when we are more aware than ever of the finite supply of oil, this is a huge statistic of a resource that would be better used elsewhere.  

Added to that, when we throw stuff out we put pressure on our own environment to dispose of it.  To a large extent this involves landfill, huge tracks of land used only for the disposal of waste.  In addition most of that waste will take lifetimes to disintegrate to say nothing of the impact of toxic waste into the soil and the air. 

What can each individual do to help? 

In the first instance, don't use it.  Waste prevention is top of the list.  Only after that should be consider how we can reuse, recycle, compost or recover some of the waste for other uses and only as a last resort should landfill be considered.  The hierarchy is a guide. It does not mean that in all circumstances, at all times, a higher option will be better than a lower option. In most cases a combination of options for managing the different wastes produced at home and at work will be needed. But the hierarchy provides a simple rule of thumb guide to the relative environmental benefits of different options.

This project started off as a protest against the proposed development of 475 houses on a greenfield site near my home in Micklethwaite, By Bingley, West Yorkshire, England. I have been photographing the wildlife that live there on the Leeds to Liverpool canal and the bags became a natural progression from that.

Some of the profits from the bags go to Feeding Greenhill Green: Charity - you can follow up on Facebook or on my website at storybook-photography.webs.com