Long gone are the days of plastic one use shopping bags, once the stable all of all stores across the country. But the plastic bag tax was enforced in 2015 and since there has been a 90% reduction in the use of plastic bags, with retailers and shoppers alike instead investing in reusable and eco-friendly bags. And in the rest of this blog, we’ll take a look at what the environmental, economic and practical benefits reusable and eco-friendly shopping bags provide both you and your customers.
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Practical
It goes without saying that at its very core the point of a bag is to be practical, and for shopping bags that practical purpose to ensure the safe transport of our shopping, be it a simple grocery shop to a bit of window shopping in our favourite retail outlet. And reusable shopping bags offer a whole host of practical benefits.
- Firstly, reusable and eco-friendly shopping bags provide your customers with a much sturdier and stronger solution than the old plastic bag. They won’t rip if they get caught on something, and due to the stronger material make it less likely of breaks when you’ve filled your shopping bag to bursting point.
- Due to the use of materials such as cotton, reusable bags often have ergonomic handles, allowing you to easily carry your bags with discomfort, no matter what the weight.
- Though usually bigger in size than the old disposable plastic bags, as you only require one or two reusable bags, that can easily be folded, they’ll actually take up less room in your customer’s homes, than the 50 plastic bags they use to store in a drawer or cupboard somewhere.
- And if you have a cool and funky logo and colour scheme a well-designed reusable and eco-friendly can become a fashion accessory for your customers, ensuring that your brand is seen wherever they go.
Economic
The plastic bag tax increased the cost of plastic bags for both retailer and shopper, making the purchase of reusable bags more appealing.
- The average person over their lifetime will use 13,000 plastic bags, and now with a 5p charge, that passes over a £650 spend on plastic bags.
- In contrast, the average reusable bag cost between 50p – £1 but has a lifetime of around 500 plastic bags, meaning you can pass on a minimum saving of £624 to your customers. Because even if they bought a new reusable bag every 500 uses for £1, it would only cost them £26 for the whole of their life.
- Why is this important? Your customers are always looking to save money where they can, so being able to illustrate to them this significant cost saving, you can sure make them happy.
Environmental
The biggest range of benefits for the choice to switch to providing reusable and eco-friendly bags over the traditional plastic bag comes from the environmental impact. And in an age of social media where one negative incident can quickly spread like wildfire across the web and seriously damage your business’ reputation, anything you can do to protect and benefit the environment is a good move.
- Each year plastic rubbish causes millions of wildlife death from birds to sea animals.
- Plastic bags can take anywhere from 15 years to a massive 1,000 years to decompose, meaning they have a lasting effect on the environment.
- Whereas eco-friendly bags are manufactured from a host of easily biodegradable materials such as canvas and jute.
So, there you have ten fantastic reasons to use reusable and eco-friendly bags and benefit your business and your customers. Why not browse our full range of reusable and eco-friendly bags today and find the perfect solution for your business needs.
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