- April 21, 2008 Design, Environment
Calling All Target Plastic Bags
Target used Newsweek’s green issue last week to offer a solution to
some of the plastic bag waste they’re responsible for producing.
Teaming up with Terracycle,
they’re asking users to mail in all their plastic Target bags in return
for a reusable tote – the Retote. The best part about the call to
action is the way plastic bags are mailed in. The cover of the magazine
becomes the pouch for your plastic bags. Tear off the cover, use a
little tape to seal the edges and stuff all your target bags into the
pouch. The postage is prepaid and the address is listed on the front of
the pouch making it simple to drop into the mail.
Here’s a close-up of the instructions:
From the looks of it, Target then uses these bags to create the Retote. It appears as though the plastic bags have somehow been melted down slightly to form unique patterns on the front of each Retote. However, I couldn’t find any information about this online. From everything I’ve heard, it’s actually more environmentally unfriendly to melt plastic bags because of the carcinogens it releases. Leave it to Target to find a way…
Look for this issue to participate.
I actually saw the bag in person this weekend. It is in fact made of fused plastic shopping bags. The material is very stiff and sturdy. I think they are selling them for $6.99 so to send in and get one for free is a great bargain.
By: sheri on April 21, 2008 at 1:43 pm
I like that Target is encouraging consmers to turn in old bags for the tote. To a degree this totemania has gotten a bit out of control. Edward Norton was on the Today show this morning and they had him handing out green Today show totes - granted Ed Norton is playing the greenest guy of them all this summer as the Hulk - but it just seemed like we was handing out more junk.
The downside with canvas totes is unless you are going grocery shopping rarely do you find yourself carrying one. The most useful of totes I’ve seen is one that Ellen carries, the Chico Bag. It collapses into itself so you can carry it with you at all times, is very durable and can fit a good amount of stuff… from the record store, to the drug store, to the farmers market and back home again.
By: J to the D on April 22, 2008 at 12:30 pm
nice to see that you guys are going really green here, well, at least by talking about it. we’re green too here in SF! ^^
By: RK on April 22, 2008 at 5:21 pm
I totally agree about Totemania. Can we just shut off our mass consumerism brains for one second. Doesn’t everybody have a tote already at this point? Great, then let’s stop gift bags and free hand outs altogether. Free hand outs = stuff 80% of the audience doesn’t really want or need.
And yes, I’m a big fan of Ellen’s tote. It’s so light weight, you can fold it up and fit it into your pocket.
In fact, I believe it was a free hand out that I then passed on to her. If anyone doesn’t have a tote yet, ask your friend/neighbor if they have one to spare.
By: sheri on April 22, 2008 at 8:54 pm