Topping the list is air-dying, which tackles the current problem of material waste in the process of dying textiles. New methods are promising to drastically cut the amount of resources needed to color fabrics:

During the dying process, water is used to apply color, but also to push the fabrics through machines. New machines by companies like Fongs are using air to push the fabrics, thus reducing the amount of water used. With this method, the dying of a t-shirt can go from requiring 200 to using only 50 liters of water (Textile World).

Another, more eco sound, alternative is a system called AirDye, which works with proprietary dyes that are heat-transferred from paper to fabric in a one-step process. This can save between seven and 75 gallons of water in the dying of a pound of fabric, save energy, and produces no harmful by-products.

Along with processes, however, are new and sustainable takes on materials. Cork, PET bottles, stinging nettles, seaweed, banana fibers, and recycled fabrics are all finding new life on the cutting edge of fashion:

[Alternative materials] include, for example, fabrics made with nylon recovered from products like nets and carpets by Mipan. An example of the use of this is the swimwear line Eco Panda.

Some factories are also recycling cotton industrial leftovers, which keeps these scraps from incinerators or landfills and creates new materials. One example is the Italian initiative EcotecProject.

Overall, the verdict is in: the fashion world is on the precipice of some major green changes. The big question is whether they will pass as a fad or catch on permanently. Would you wear recycled materials? Are alternative plant fibers really so radically different from cotton? Let us know!

Ted Mininni, columnist for marketing resource blog MarketingProfs, wasn’t startled by most peoples’ reasons to take up the mantle of reusable bags when faced with eco-consciousness or plastic bag taxes and bans, but was–at first–taken aback by the suggestion that reusable bags have crept into the world of fashion:

Reusable bags as a fashion statement? Who knew? As the [Washington] Post astutely points out: “…the reusable bag is becoming part of popular culture, thanks to a stable of companies that have been churning out hip models.”

Really though, it’s easy to see why trendy reusable bags would have such appeal — brought out time and again for weekly shopping endeavors, the bags are as much a chance to make a statement about your personality and fashion sense as a handbag or a change of clothes. Many people end up seeking out bags that are a reflection of themselves–a move that not only gets people more excited about their reusables, but more likely to actually remember to (re)use them on a regular basis.

• The rest of San Diego County may soon be following in Encinitas’ footsteps. [Sign On San Diego]
• Meanwhile, Gonzaga is following in the footsteps of all universities going green. [Gonzaga Bulletin]
• Concluding the Telluride/Aspen Plastic Bag Reduction Challenge: Telluride 1, Aspen 0. [Telluride Watch]
• North Carolina communities are making a heartfelt effort at replacing plastic bags. [The Appalachian]
• …and in South Carolina, a plastic bag factory is closing its doors. [Triangle Business Journal]
• Recycling is fashionable, and sometimes it IS fashion. [Ventura County Star]
• Florida’s Emerald Coast is all, “Paper or plastic? No, thank you!” [Emerald Coast]
• Japan is going to start recycling Nylon products. Hey, why not? [Trading Markets]
• Eugene-based Market of Choice is ditching the plastic. [NWCN]
• Plastic bags, served twenty-eight ways. [Green Eco Services]

Image via Flickr!

• Lest we forget, bags are just one battle in the war on hellish pollution. [Vice TV]
• Seattle will never rest again. [Seattle P-I]
• Meanwhile, another California city gets on board. [Morgan Hill Times]
• And still another California city cracks down all on its own. [Marin Independent Journal]
• Dudes need dude bags, apparently. [Random Rodricks]
• Dan Rodricks is not done talking about reusable bags! [Baltimore Sun]
• Ten easy ways to reduce your paper use, beyond the obvious. [5 Minutes for Going Green]
• Facebook: good for more than just party announcements? [crave]
• Durable jeans can make durable grocery bags one day. [Zappyturtle's Recycled Creations]
• Sure, they’re no cheap plastic squirt guns, but these party favor ideas are adorable! [Babyccino]
• And, of course, the obligatory cranky counterargument to round things out. [BoomZilla]

My apologies for writing so much about product this week, but it’s been slow for news and there is just so much cuteness (not to mention good ideas) out there that I can hardly handle it.

Take this cheerful little guy, for instance. In Japan, apparently, even those who don’t use reusable bags still see fit to reuse their disposables multiple times — still not the golden ideal, of course, but still a whole lot better than most populations at large can say. So where does one store one’s stockpile of plastics? Under the sink they get balled-up, messy, and altogether unmanageable. Of course, that’s where the POLLY Dispenser comes in. Bright, convenient, and made of recycled material himself, he’s just what the doctor ordered to keep your home neat and bright.

The bag is made from recycled plastic bottles and will hold your plastic bags from the supermarket. In Japan, it is much more common to reuse the plastic bags from the stores if you do not have your own bag to bring.
It is also common to make these everyday items kawaii!

Kawaii means “cute,” if it wasn’t totally obvious by the smiling face. (I am such a sucker for Japanese cuteness.) Suction cups make him stick to your wall, making the little one not just a chipper companion, but a convenient one as well; then, when you’re done using up all the rest of your disposable bag stockpile I don’t see why he couldn’t be repurposed to dispense, say, trash bin liners or paper towels. But in the meantime, as long as you still have bags to use, you may as well have fun with it!

• Ludacris rolls out in a hybrid? Who knew! [LA Diary]
• A kindred spirit expertly shuts down a whole lot of irrational whining about disposable bags and the inconvenience of dog-walking. [Seattle Metblogs]
• That bag monster guy is becoming quite the internet superstar. [Ecopreneurist]
• Prepackaged food is really getting out of control. (Though please don’t take away my pre-cooked beans, I don’t want cooking chili to take days!) [EnviroMom]
• From Oakland to Sac-town, the Bay Area and back down, Cali’s where they put they bags down. Mama’s proud! [American Chronicle]
• Why we don’t use plastic bags. [Conserve Plastic Bags]
• Haute potato sack bags are pretty cute. [Sasaki Bags]
• You have to get creative to reduce your carbon footprint when local agriculture isn’t an option. [The Accidental Scientist]
• “Ben the Bin” gets clever with recycled plastic and a mystifying name. [The Comet]
• Speaking of Ben, I’m such a sucker for a well-placed The Graduate reference. [Packet]
• Just another friendly reminder! [Aostara on Livejournal]

Thanks, Google Image Search!

• Reusable bags get all the hot dates. [Bag Monster Blog]
• Going green: a matter of pride. [Bay Area Reporter]
• Julia Roberts is down with reusable bags. [Ecorazzi]
• Plastic bags with your newspaper? Nein, danke! [Tree Hugging Family]
• Can a Proj-Run challenge translate to real-life fashion? Welp. [Etsy]
• NEWS ITEM: your phone book is made out of paper! [Everything Jersey]
• The bag debate is heating up in the Icy North. [Business Edge]
• Have you ever seen a rain barrel? (I haven’t.) [Waldo County Citizen]
• The British Virgin Islands turn trash into treasure. [BVI Platinum]
• Environmentalism isn’t always black and white. [Bakersfield Californian]
• Art made out of trash? Yes, still fascinating thanks. [Wicked Local]

Defra (the department for environment, farming and rural affairs) figures that every person throws about 511kg of waste per year. Of this 511kg we throw away 375kg and recycle 135kg. So, assuming I live to the national average of 76 years (from the Office of National Statistics) I will have thrown away about 29 tonnes and recycled about 10 tonnes.

But is this right? How much am I actually throwing away per week. I try to shop as sensibly as possible, avoiding packaging where I can, I’ve been (mostly) plastic carrier bag free for about a year and I try to recycle as much as I can. But, the only way to find out for sure was to start weighing my waste and my recycling.

Armed with the bathroom scales and making sure that no one emptied the bin except me I decided to investigate. I started to weigh the bin bags coming out of our kitchen bin, into which all the smaller bins in the house are eventually poured. This represents the material we as a family are putting into our black bin – and that will eventually end up in landfill.

The outcome of his research may surprise you. It certainly seems to have surprised him, despite the odds and for all of his frugal living:

It turned out that my average bin bag from the kitchen bin weighed 1.8kg. We end up with two to four bin bags per week. So lets go with the worst case scenario – four bin bags per week means the family was generating 7.2kg of waste per week. [...]Then I realised I had not included garden waste. A quick bit of gardening later I estimate we generate 43kg of garden waste per year from our small plot. That makes my total waste arisings about 457kg per year.

That, my friends, is a lot of trash. Hitchens promises a follow-up next week, regarding how much of his waste ends up being recycled, and I look forward to reading it.

In the meantime, just across the pond, a Brooklyn girl is seeing fit to recycle — “upcycle,” if you will, to use her terminology — some of her more nonbiodegradable goods into something chic and usable, and the outcome is actually highly cute if I do say so myself.

Recycled newspaper bags get a new life on your eco-happy wrist…keeping waste out of the landfill and your outfit coordinated.

By using many newspaper delivery bags, she manages to come up with some unexpected color combinations and I’ve got to say I dig them quite a bit. Definitely a great way to keep some plastic in one’s jewelry box and out of the landfills. Keep up the good work!

First of all, looks like our 25 Reasons to Go Reusable page got a link over at Leucadia Blog (your one-stop Leucadia information stop). This specific blog post addresses the effort to ban plastic bags in the Encinitas area, and asks a burning question: with petroleum prices rising and attitudes changing about the use of reusable bags, is a ban really necessary or is consumer culture eliminating them well enough on its own? (Also noted in burning question: why hasn’t Encinitas yet banned styrofoam cups and plates in restaurants? An equally pertinent question, to be sure.)

I would argue that a ban would certainly help move the issue along that much faster, but shifts in general attitudes and consumer culture have certainly helped. I was pleasantly reminded of this when I stopped by Buffalo Exchange (the Hillcrest location, natch) this past weekend. The shop has been in the environmentally-conscious game from the start, trading in recycled clothing and making it all look fashionable, and for a decade now they have been putting waste-reducing in the hands of their customers via a feel-good sort of incentive. While lots of stores have been cropping up with a 5-cent rebate for customers who BYOB, Buffalo Exchange instead implemented their arguably even more fantastic Tokens for Bags Charities Program:

Buffalo Exchange donates to local nonprofit agencies in the community through its Tokens for Bags program, which has generated over $265,000 in donations to hundreds of nonprofit groups since 1994, saving 5.3 million bags. Shoppers are encouraged to accept a token instead of a bag for purchases, and Buffalo Exchange donates five cents to a charity of the customer’s choice.

When I went, there were three bins for tokens: one for an environmental charity, one for an animal rescue, and a fund that provides education and aid for immigrant and refugee survivors of domestic abuse. I liked the choice, as it gives customers some control over their five cents — it seems like it would go a long way in morale to feel like you have some say in where your charity money is going, and provides a little more personal incentive toward repeat donations. I think it’s rather genius, and I was proud to receive my token and put five cents (which I probably would have wasted anyway, had it come back to me in nickel form) toward something really worthwhile.

So maybe there will still be debate over whether a ban is necessary, and maybe it will go on for some time yet. In the meantime, however, some people are being proactive and finding creative ways to save the world in more ways than one while they’re at it. Go, Buffalo!

In case anyone was wondering about those sweet finds, Your Humble Narrator bought a totally awesome black shirt-dress with an eagle head on the front and a 1989 Los Angeles Dodgers sweatshirt. Stylish!