Reusable Shopping Bags: ChicoBag Review

The ChicoBag reusable shopping bag has the best of features but does it fulfill all that's needed for shopping? Find out here. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of the ChicoBag and shopping bags in general.

Reusable Shopping Bag: A Review of the ChicoBag: The Good

What caught my attention about the ChicoBag are its wonderful features.

1) It stuffs into its own pouch which is sewed to the inside of the bag. Because of this, you never lose the pouch. 2) The bag is about 3"X4"so it's small when it's stuffed inside the pouch. This makes it convenient to carry with you at all times.
3) Not only is it small, but a drawstring and a keyring clip are on the pouch. You can then clip the bag to your purse, backpack or even a belt loop so you always have it with you.

I really like the clip feature because I often have unplanned stops at stores. You can read my humorous article about my shopping trips and how much trouble I have remembering to bring my bags with me. You will see how important this clip is to me.

4) The ChicoBag expands to about 14"X18" and holds 25 lbs. or 2 gallons of milk.
5) And when you purchase 5 of the bags, you get the 5th one free.
6) The bags are washable and come in 10 beautiful colors like hunter green, mango and blue.
7) They are made of a strong polyester weave that looks good when expanded and is lightweight.

I love all the features of the bag. With a keyring clip, I attach it to my purse so I carry it with me all the time. It always looks nice whether it's stuffed into its small pouch or expanded when I need it. And the company uses Fair Trade practice and supports environmental concerns so I whole-heartedly support the company too.

Reusable Shopping Bag: A Review of the ChicoBag: The Bad

There is one flaw though. Two of my ChicoBags showed signs of wear in about 2 months' time. The threads in the bottom seam of the bags made big holes in the polyester. It's as if the threads pull the seam holes and stretches the fabric when there is too much weight in the bag. Because of this, I don't feel I can carry anything heavy in the ChicoBag. My girlfriend had the same problem with her ChicoBag too.

Although the advertising says the bags carry 2 gallons of milk, I don't think I will try it. I mostly use the ChicoBags for bread, empty plastic gallon water jugs and eggs. I pack the bag lightly so as not to tear the thread holes any larger. It's still a handy bag that I always have with me but I use other bags for the bulk of my shopping. It is useful but just be aware that it may not carry all the weight the company advertises.

Shopping Bags: The Ugly

I support reusable shopping bags because of the impact on the environment. The average American uses 300 to 700 plastic bags per year. If everyone in the United States tied these bags together into a chain, it would reach around the earth 760 times!

If we get in the habit of carrying reusable shopping bags, then we can save 3 to 7 gallons of crude oil per year per person. This adds up because if 100,000 people use reusable shopping bags, we can save up to 14,000 barrels of oil a year.

Not only can we save oil. According to the BBC, windblown plastic bags are so prevalent in South Africa that a cottage industry has sprung up. They harvest up to 30,000 plastic bags a month to weave into hats and handbags.

Additionally, the world's largest landfill floats between Hawaii and San Francisco. Wind and sea currents carry marine debris from all over the world to what is now known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It is mostly made up of plastic.

Thousands of sea birds and marine life die each year because of the plastic. Some ocean water is found to contain 1,000 parts plastic to one part water. And scientists found the plastics have now entered our food chain.

Small sea life like jellyfish consume the plastic particles. The jellyfish then are consumed by larger sea life which humans consume. Currently, scientists link diabetes and hormone disruption from ingestion of plastic.

Shopping Bags: The Ugly on Paper Bags

Paper shopping bags also impact our environment. A 15 year old tree makes 700 paper grocery bags. A supermarket can use all of these in one hour! In one year, a supermarket goes through 60,500,000 paper bags. And the pollution from the production of raw materials increases by 73 percent compared to recycling. Paper bags generate 70% more air and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags. I wonder how many supermarkets are in the United States?

Reusable shopping bags save a lot of trees and pollution. A bag only needs to be reused 11 times to lower the environmental impact. What a difference a reusable shopping bag makes.

Click here to read the rest of our green articles, such as Go Green in One Hour,

Sources:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2008/04/14/ntm.garbage.island.cnn
L.A. Times