Appeal to retailers: Make reusable bags affordable

It’s in the bag! It’s now chic to use a reusable bag (or bags). At home, we have a mounting collection of reusable bags, and now, we make it a point to leave some of these reusable, eco-friendly bags in the trunks of our cars so we can use them — again and again and again — whenever we go to the supermarket and as much as possible, cut down on our use of plastic bags. The more chic-looking bags my sister and I use as our weekend go-anywhere tote/shoulder bags — call us “bagabonds.” They’re light and just right for lugging around. The only disadvantage was, once, a pickpocket got his hands into my sister’s canvas bag (it had no zipper) and ran off with a plastic envelope containing some cash that was sticking out of the bag. After that, my sister retired the rather tired reusable bag and got one from her collection that had a zipper. 

Where am I going with this? Well, the last time I bought a reusable bag, it cost me P35 for two bags (on a buy one, take one offer). That still amounted to a pricey P17.50 for a humble sack of a bag. And now, a concerned environmental network is asking major retailers to bring down the price of their eco-friendly bags to attract more Filipinos, especially consumers on a tight budget, to drop the use of plastic bags in favor of reusable bags.

Reusable bags, notes the EcoWaste Coalition, come with hefty price tags that are not attractive to ordinary consumers who would like to shun plastic bags but are repelled by the not-so-budget-friendly cost of these reusable bags.

Sonia Mendoza of the EcoWaste Coalition’s task force on plastics laments, “The cost of procuring reusable bags may be getting in the way of popularizing reusable bags among the majority of our consumers.”

She notes, “Budget-conscious consumers, even if they appreciate the ecological benefits of reusable bags, are put off buying anything expensive.”

Based on the market investigation conducted recently by the EcoWaste Coalition, prices of certain reusable bags range from P25 to P295.

Hi-Top Supermarket’s reusable bags are sold for P25 each; SM at P35 each; National Book Store, P65; Healthy Options, P75; Robinsons, P90; Shopwise/Rustan’s, P99.50 for canvas bags and P60 for waterproof bags; and The Body Shop at P295 each.

“We definitely welcome the initiative of these market leaders to introduce eco-friendly bags and we hope that more supermarkets and stores would join the green bandwagon,” asserts Mendoza.

On the other hand, she stresses, “Any scheme that will allow consumers to get their reusable bags for free or at a discounted or subsidized price will hopefully bring about increased preference and demand for reusable bags.”

Aware that plastic bags will sooner or later disintegrate and pose disposal problems, Mendoza specifically proposed the promotion of a home-based, job-generating industry in the provinces, with support from the private and public sectors, that can flood the market with more affordable and durable eco-friendly bags that are preferably made from non-plastic, cloth-based, and locally-sourced materials.

Gigie Cruz, also a member of the EcoWaste’s task force on plastics, enjoined consumers to do their bit for the environment. “We request consumers to consider making a financial sacrifice in terms of buying reusable bags, which in the end will yield fabulous benefits in terms of decreasing the environmental and health impacts of plastic bags, particularly in reducing disposal and clean-up expenses that our government is paying out of taxpayers’ money.”

Members of the EcoWaste Coalition from the Angkan ng Mandirigma, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, Greenpeace, Health Care Without Harm, Mother Earth Foundation, Philippine Earth Justice Center, and Soljuspax suggest the following options to bring the prices of reusable bags more within the means of Filipino consumers:

• Major retailers can produce X number of reusable bags that they can give away in a day to their customers while the next bags will have to be purchased at cost as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR).

• Retailers can partner with civic organizations who can give out reusable bags to poorer communities while doing an awareness-raising campaign on the significance of switching to reusable bags.

• Retailers can venture with barangays in producing reusable bags as a livelihood program for community women who can sew bags from used clothing or fabric materials donated by residents. Retailers will only need to pay for the sewing cost at P5-P10/bag.

• Retailers should consider providing free or low-priced reusable bags during the anticipated Christmas shopping spree in December as a gesture of gratitude to their loyal customers.

Atty. Gloria Estenzo-Ramos of the Philippine Earth Justice Center gives this (eco-)friendly reminder: Expenses incurred for minimizing plastic waste, which is in line with the goals of Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, are deductible from gross income. Chapter IV of RA 9003 provides for various incentives to encourage and support local government units, business enterprises, non-government organizations, and other entities to actively implement ecological solid waste management, including waste prevention, reduction, reuse, and recycling activities.

• Another priceless peso-saving tip from EcoWaste: Expenses for giving complimentary or low-cost reusable bags can be sourced from operational savings such as from reduced electricity bills due to planned energy conservation program (e.g., less use of Christmas lights during the yuletide season), or from revenues from the sale of recyclable packaging materials such as corrugated boxes.

• Retailers should encourage their customers to make and bring their own reusable bags by providing financial and non-financial rewards such as discounts, rebates, or movie or museum passes for earth-friendly patrons.

• To further instill the reusable bag habit among shoppers, the EcoWaste also proposes that shop cashiers and attendants should make it a habit to ask customers, “Did you have a reusable bag with you?”

Well, do you?

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Brown is beautiful

We got this e-mail from Carina Rodriguez (carinarcpm@yahoo.com) — remember the maker of the photogenic Photobag?

Dear Consumerline,

I just arrived from out of town and checked your latest article on eco products and saw your very interesting “paperbayong”(made by empowered community women, according to corporate training specialist Leah Galism).

In addition to the Photobag, the reusable all-occasion, all-season, personalized gift bag, that you featured last October 5, I also want to share with you my heavyweight paperbag that can be used for groceries that I designed almost two years ago when an Australian grocery owner asked my friend if it is possible to have a brown bag that is as strong as a plastic bag to carry grocery items. I told my friend I could make a brown bag not only equally strong but stronger than plastic bag. I called this “HWPB” or heavyweight paperbag made from 100-percent brown paper. It is also known as “dorm bag” at UP, where some students are using it instead of plastic bags in their dormitories. By the way, both designs the Photobag and HWPB are the first in the Philippines and probably in the world, too.

Surely, brown is beautiful!

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We’d love to hear from you. E-mail us at ching_alano@yahoo.com.