The most controversial thing about the reusable bag boom, is the consumption/conservation conundrum.

Environmentalists ask, “Why buy something new, taking on its whole carbon footprint and inevitably creating waste in the process, when the whole point of avoiding disposable bags in the first place is to reduce waste, pollution and ultimately cost?” It’s a valid point. Even though everyone from Wal-mart to local banks have come out with their own brand of reusable shopping bags, the question remains: Are just defeating the purpose by purchasing them?

I recently had the privilege of reviewing a couple of bags from reSACKel, a maker of reusable bags based in Hong Kong, China. Now, I know I recently delivered a harsh review on Waste-less Bags for being manufactured in China, but these bags are not currently being marketed to the U.S. (or any other country for that matter), meaning they represent a “local” solution to the issue of disposable bags in that country and for that I applaud them. Continue reading for more reasons to applaud.

True Reuse

reSACKel bags are made from used 25 and 50 KG rice sacks, meaning no material is manufactured or even recycled to make these bags. No chemicals or industrial processes are used, the plastic rice sacks are not shredded, broken down or made into pellets before being turned into another product, they are simply washed (by hand!) and resewn into shopping back size, thus removing a huge amount of these rice sacks from the waste stream.

One of a Kind Design

Because the manufacturing process is so minimal, the bags keep all the original designs and text from the sack, creating an original and distinctive bag. And no 2 sacks will ever be exactly alike. Because sack manufacturers already work hard to make their sacks bright and colorful, there’s no need to hire designers to think up new designs.

When the Going Gets Tough…

These bags can hold it together under rough-n-tumble daily use (which is more than I can say for the 85% rPET bags I got during a moment of weakness at my local grocery store). The sacking fabric is designed to carry loads of 25KG and 50KG, depending on the size of the sack, the fabric is incredibly strong and also designed not to tear, so even if you put a hole in your bag, it is not going to get any larger thanks to the woven nature of the fabric.

And now that I’ve got you all excited about these bags (aren’t the pandas the BEST?), I must remind you again of the sad, sad fact that they’re currently only available in China. But the moral of the story is, “we don’t have to make a mess to clean one up!” Let’s hold ourselves to a higher standard and really think about the products we choose to spend money on. Are they really a solution? Or is the drive to buy them part of the problem?

Not an easy question to answer.

- The Team at GenGreen

Leave a Reply (subject to approval)