Earth Friendly Shopping

As regular readers know, we don’t like plastic shopping bags.   In fact, we think getting rid of plastic bags altogether and only using cloth bags would be the single best thing we could do for the environment.   Even so, we recognize that even with the best of intentions we sometimes wind up with plastic shopping bags.   So then what do we do?  The best option is to reuse them as much as possible, and that leads us to the Ridley.  The Ridley is a small pouch, made from 100% natural canvas, that you can use to store plastic shopping bags.  There is a strap that you can use to tie the ridley on to a handbag, back pack, or even a canvas shopping bag. 

The Ridley is the creation of Bibi Rogers – here is how she describes the inspiration

It all started with a kayaking trip. Bibi Rogers and her son, Daniel, were on one of their weekly trips at Delray Beach when they came upon a clutter of plastic bags littering the water. Bibi was disgusted and appalled, and the sight stayed with her for the weeks and months that followed.

Despite being aware of the consequences of dumping plastic bags on the planet, however, Bibi found that more often than not, she would arrive at the grocery checkout without any plastic bags from home or her fashionable reusable canvas shopping bag, necessitating the use of another five or ten bags from the supermarket. That’s when it started to stick. She needed to do something.

Bibi came up with the idea of an eco-friendly plastic bag carrier that can easily be attached to a handbag, backpack, shopping bag or belt loop, and named it The Ridley after one of the world’s smallest, most endangered species of sea turtles. She then developed other applications for this basic idea and founded 4U2ReUSE in September 2007 with the goal of manufacturing her bags to help others to remember to reuse their plastic bags and reduce their environmental impact.
 

We tried the Ridley, and were able to put 12 plastic shopping bags inside it.  We have been carrying it around for a few days, and we have already found it useful.    Because of the Ridley, we reused a bag rather than get a new one (and then put it right back into the Ridley) – And, if we do have plastic bags, at least we know that the bags won’t be blowing around and ultimately heading into the ocean.   We still say the best answer is to bring your cloth bag, but the Ridley is a great second choice.

The Ridley is available from 4U2Reuse.  Retail price is $25 -

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