Womenswear Buyer
Womenswear Buyer Magazine
When I started producing eco-friendly bags four years ago to give to customers who spent over £30, I had no idea how big the concept would become. I'm now looking to sell my Sheffield-based lingerie retail business Gash to devote all my time to eco-friendly bag printing service Bag It Don't Bin It. Retailers are starting to realise they have a corporate social responsibility to ditch the glossy bags for eco-friendly alternatives, and we're helping them achieve that.
In the UK, 13 billion plastic bags are given away by retailers alone each year. Twenty-five of the top UK retailers have promised to reduce the number they give away by 25% by the end of the year, which could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 58,500 tonnes a year - equivalent to taking 18,000 cars off the road each year according to government figures.
In a survey I carried out last year on the high street in Sheffield, I learned that 93% of the people interviewed would re-use an eco-bag, which has a lifespan for from six months to a year. The average shopper uses 342 plastic bags a year and is responsible for 25.14kg of CO 2, whereas a shopper using a single reusable cotton bag each year is responsible for just 0.62kg.
Within the next five years plastic bags will be banned outright, taxed to the point of obsolescence or they will simply be regarded as vermin by the buying public. It is important that they are superseded by something better in every way