The buzzword or the bare facts?

We often receive calls and emails from companies and people marketing their product to us. Sometimes we turn away from big name brands – even if they look pretty, and surprisingly enough even sometimes when products sound authentically eco!

The reason is that our eco baby and parenting store aims to bring real eco to real people. It’s not right to inflate pricing, organic just doesn’t cost that much more to access and produce in today’s market. Eco options are price accessible and so they should be, accessible to the majority. If we find a great product has hit the supermarket shelves we will tell you so - like Ecostore which is available through Woolworths at prices far lower than we can stock it. We say, great! It has been fantastic to see the community slowly pick up on options that are gentler on the environment and for those options to be popular enough that they can succeed in the broader population. Lately we have been hearing a lot about Nature Direct products which appear to be an even safer, gentler household cleaning option at the early stages of our reviewing them. Get back to you on that one.

We’re not searching our supplier catalogues for anything with the organic buzzword flashed all over it. Nor do we feel that we have to take on every product in a range if we feel that something can be more effectively replicated elsewhere, more locally or is a product that is unnecessary. Instead we’re finding new products by talking to other parents, reading ingredients lists and searching forums for real results. We’re talking to our international contacts about what is new in their area. We’re thinking about what represents value. We are using our own experiences as parents and health professionals to inform us.

When we’re finding new stock it really matters to us what you think, what you need and what your ideas might be. If there is something missing, let us know. If you find a better price elsewhere, remember to check our pricing policy – we will try to match it. In the meantime enjoy our range and remember to follow us on Facebook for new product updates.

 

Eco bag? Think again.

Something has been bugging us for a while and we can’t get this out of our heads. We’ve headed here to our blog to get it out of our system. The truth is that the reusable bags you find at your local shopping centre are replacing a bad idea with a bad solution!

Like the arguable majority of Australians we thought it was fantastic to see plastic bags phased out of shopping centres and to see the community at large consider and learn about their impact as consumers.  Yet – have plastic bags been phased out? The vast majority of so-called ‘green’ bags are 100% polypropylene – nothing more than plastic! It also didn’t take us long to discover that these polypropylene bags stink. There have been studies about them containing lead or being bacteria harboured (erk!). Then there are the very popular polyester fabric versions. The case for a better solution seems fairly strong.

We for one family have been very happy campers since the purchase of our BANG consortium eco reusable shopping bag. By choosing a natural fibre we can be more sure that in the long term we are not adding to landfill.  We are not only loving our BANG bags because of the eco qualities either; it’s just so nice to fill a bag up and not be in the least bit concerned about it breaking, ripping or having the bottom fall out of it. 

BANG Bags - Sturdy Natural Fibres

 

Compact is one thing that the BANG bag is not. We understand that a lot of what draws people to the ‘compact’ options for reusable bags is the portability – the fact that many of these bag-in-a-bag solutions sit in your handbag permanently to be whipped out whenever necessary. We just can’t help but continue to feel unsettled about the fact that we could doing a lot better, that there are more appropriate solutions and alternatives. We realise that the concept and enthusiasm for replacing plastic bags has been a step forward – but why not step into the next century and adopt a genuine solution. If you really for whatever reason can’t do a biodegradable reusable bag like the BANG, why not lean toward rPET solutions like those offered by our friends at Onya? You might well see these hit our store in the very near future.

A possible option?

As usual we are certainly less than perfect and are so embarrassed when we hit the checkout to realise that we haven’t bought bags with us that Pippa often feels some need to announce to the checkout assistant and all that stand behind us that we will do our best to establish some routine or system of reminder that ensures such a thing doesn’t happen again. Often met by looks of confusion[?] from those who hadn’t brought bags in the first place. We’re looking for some great ideas to help us remember our bags and if you see us in the supermarket without them do introduce yourself and then chastise us, it might help a little ;). We will ask this question on our Facebook page so look out there for some answers.

It is simply not ‘enviro’ in our opinion to produce a sack that is not made from natural fibres and market it as a fully eco option, even including the good old buzzwords in your marketing - it does not seem ethical. We want to see the main offending companies take their eco suggestion more seriously and at least introduce some washable rPET options ASAP. Send some over for us to review while you are at it ;).

Another fabulous option is certainly to make your own fashionable bag; [preferably from up cycled fabric of course] and if you want and have time to do so here is a handy reusable bag pattern link and equally great how-to video. If you do make your own, please take a little time to post a link to your creations here, or even your own favourite pattern link – might also motivate others to get sewing!