The City of Fayetteville, The Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce, Fayetteville Public Schools, The Fayetteville Visitors Bureau, and Habitotes announced a new partnership on Tuesday with the intention of reducing waste and dependancy on plastic bags in Fayetteville.
Habitotes manufactures tote bags made of 80% post consumer recycled material. The bags are manufactured in China, and distributed by the Fayetteville based company.
Mayor Jordan speaks
Mayor Lioneld Jordan announced the partnership at a press conference at the Fayetteville Chamber on Tuesday.
“Waste reduction is very important,” Jordan said. “By equipping our community with free Habitote bags we can eliminate the waste that is associated with plastic shopping bags.
“These durable bags are made from recycled materials. One bag is made from 5 plastic beverage containers,” Jordan said.
Fayetteville Superintendent Vicki Thomas also spoke about the school’s role in the new partnership.
“Through this sustainability initiative, the Fayetteville Green Teams will be making presentations at every school, and will give a Habitote to every child in the Fayetteville School System. Plus we all know if children are talking about this, parents will listen, and we will get our community moving in the right direction.”
Additionally, we are excited to announce that one Fayetteville High School 2010 graduate will receive a $1000 sustainability scholarship to the University of Arkansas,” Thomas said.
Fayetteville Superintendent Vicki Thomas
In addition to being distributed at FPS, the totes will be available at sponsor locations, and passed out to shoppers on Black Friday. Over 46,000 bags will be distributed in Fayetteville.
Sponsorships will be sold to cover the costs of the manufacturing and distributing the bags. Tyson Foods is the first company to sign on to sponsor the initiative. 19 more sponsors are needed at $3500 each to ensure the bags can be created and distributed.
“We all know that plastic bag use is a global concern,” said Bob Corscadden of jimbob, inc, marketing agency for Habitotes. “Many countries around the globe have taken to banning the bags, or putting such restrictions as taxes and fees on them to restrict their use. Australia and China have outlawed the use of plastic bags. France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, and other countries have also taken measures.
“In the United States there are a number of cities that have taken measures to help decrease the dependence on plastic bags including San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, and now we can add Fayetteville to that list of names as well,” Corscadden said.
Do I really have to advertise for Tyson while I’m walking around with this? Does it really need to be manufactured in China? Fail on both parts :(
My thoughts exactly.
And while $1000 for one (1) student is something I guess, that really doesn’t amount to much of anything as far as an education goes. It sounds more like a bad attempt at getting a little bit of publicity.
I bet most of these end up in the trash anyway.
Both are very wrong,Tyson foods is a great company and if you were educated or paid for your education you would know 1000.00 dollars will help a student out.get on the band wagon its for education and helps promote sustainable practices.
Scholarship: Awesome.
Bags: Good, if for no other reason than to change peoples attitudes towards bags. I like the focus on the kiddies. But seriously, was there really not an American manufacturer for these?
No the worlds wastestream does end up in China and this process helps take away from the pile of recycled waste you and I send to china every hour, a ship leaves the port back to China its cargo is made up of recycled products to go back into manufracturing
Total greenwash.
I’m sorry to all the folks I work with when I say this, but this initiative contributes to the problem and does very little to solve it.
If we want to stop using disposable bags, we need a fee on the bags.
And what’s the point of distributing 46,000 bags in our community when ever household, even the poorest, already has several bags capable of holding groceries, and they probably have a larger volume than the Habitotes, too.
You want to make a difference? Take the backpack you already own the grocery store, and ignore greenwashing attempts like this.
@argreg9 – There are a lot of other, more useful ways to recycle to plastic bottles. Carpet, insulation, clothing. Tyson could sponsor clothing made from bottles for the world’s poor. Surely they need clothing a helluva lot more than each of us needs yet another bag.
Whether you like China or Tyson, this is a good idea and will benefit the environment. The alternative is to use a plastic bag made in China, advertising for whatever store you got the bag at, and then throwing it away.
@ Matt just remember that every bit counts and many people would feel too image concious by bringing a backpack into the grocery store. If the bags were free from sponsorships, then why complain? Charging for bags irks me too… I don’t think we should force “green” on everyone.
Do you care about energy security? The petroleum used to make 14 plastic bags can drive a car for one mile. Source: http://www.onebagatatime.com/index.php?page=misc§ion=problem_1
It’s not about “mandating green.” It’s about wasting valuable resources that should be put to use in other ways.
Think paper bags are better? They’re not. The problem is in using disposable bags in general, and this initiative doesn’t help anything because it’s producing 46,000 redundant bags.
And what’s wrong with anyone’s image who carries their groceries in a backpack? Seriously, I’d like a good answer to this question.
@ Matt – About the backpack groceries – I’m not saying it is a good excuse, but can you see people that are image conscious enough to wear suits and jewelry to the grocery store wearing backpacks? I don’t mind it and obviously school age people wouldn’t mind it, but many people wouldn’t do that. For example, when we went on family trips, my dad would not let the family go from the hotel from the car with any plastic bags because he thought we’d look trashy. He had us stuff everything into our nice luggage set to make the trip to the car. Once again, I’m not saying it is a good excuse, but many people are too vain for many “green” solutions. If image wasn’t a problem and everyone wanted to be green, we’d all quit taking showers, wear only thrift store shirts, drive beaters, and quit landscaping and superficial house remodels.
Another problem with telling people to use backpacks is some stores will not allow you to bring them inside due to shoplifting problems.
Some pretty ugly designs for the bags btw.
Name one grocery store in Northwest Arkansas that won’t let you bring a backpack inside.
Okay, isn’t the real problem the packaging that comes from the products that go inside of the paper, plastic, backpacks and trendy resuable bags?
I don’t see the manufacturing of the bags in China as a problem. According to an article in the NY Times that came out today, China’s landfills are so full that they have been using incinerators to get rid of their trash. Toxic emissions from these incinerators are harmful to both people and the environment. Just something to consider.
All great dialog. Just a few points to make. No one concept will solve every green issue. From what I saw and heard at the press conference, the habitotes completely erase their carbon footprint from just 4 trips to the grocery store. That’s great. The additional benefit of this initiative removing 240k+ plastic water bottles from current waste accumulation is also a good thing. Even if they are made in China. We live on a planet called Earth… not Fayetteville.
If you want to take your backpack to the g-store go nuts, that’s great. If you want to take one of the 300 Walmart plastic bags under your kitchen sink and reuse those, that’s great. If you want to stuff your cargo pants with banana’s, broccoli and 5 pounds of rice… even better.
I think the point of all this is that it takes more than one idea to change the way people approach even thinking about being more green. So… and I know this sounds crazy… do what works best for you and try not to shout down the people who think just as passionately if different that you do. I can’t see how someone actually using these totes hurts Fayetteville or the globe in any way.
About a year ago we bought two sturdy canvas bags with tote straps for $2.48 at Sam’s. These bags usually handle everything that a weekly trip to the grocer will produce, even though they can get a little heavy, the straps allow either hand-carrying or over the shoulder. The 12-20 plastic bags we used to bring home from Wally are now still at Wally. Multiply by 2-4 times per month times 12 months. Every little bit helps. Do it.
I think this is a great thing, but I’m going to need one of these if this whole bag thing catches on. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRNLauJRHxY
@argreg9 Yes, I am very aware of the cost of education. but at the U of A’s posted rates of $18,242 per year for tuition, books, room/board, $1,000 is about 1.4% of the cost of an education there. Don’t get me wrong, I think its cool they are helping, its just that I don’t really think it would be enough to “get someone on the band wagon”, you know? It just seems like a gimmick for publicity. I think the bags are a bad idea. Everyone has plenty.
How about, we recycle those soda bottles here in the US and employ a few people and cut out the two trans-pacific cargo vessel trips. Shipping something overseas and redering it into a new product and shipping it back, doesn’t do much for reducing carbon footprints.
I’m sure China’s population produces more than enough recycleable waste to provide us with all the crappy plastic trinkets they send over here. :)
Better yet, make the bags out of canvas (preferrably hemp!) so we can use them for the rest of our lives!
I originally posted this on the Fayettevillage Voice, and I’m compelled to reprint it here where the conversation that Lessie referenced originally occurred…
—–
Oh, and I should be a little clearer. I’m alarmed anyone thinks it fit to describe my comments as “blasting the plan,” but looking back, I guess that’s my own fault.
I don’t mean to imply that there is any deception taking place here. I think those involved have the best of intentions, but obviously we differ on our analysis of the benefits.
I’ll stop backpedaling now… ha
(hey, if you can’t laugh at yourself, what else do you have?)
——
I have to say I’m not a fan of toting around anything promoting Tyson. Sick, sick company in my opinion. There’s good and bad in a lot of businesses so I get what argreg9 is saying. But at the same time, I can’t see myself putting my vegetarian goodies into a bag with a Tyson logo on it.
Surely everyone has a dang reusable bag lying around in his or her house?
If this helps some people out…ya know those who don’t have a single thing they could reuse for a grocery bag???? Well then good, Go bags!
But for me: Not using plastic or paper bags for every trip you make to the store: WIN! Producing yet more crap and branding them with an inhumane company: Major FAIL.
“Australia [...] outlawed the use of plastic bags.” [Citation Needed]
South Australia has, but I can find no mention of the rest of the country following suit.
I think its the large scale thinking that I like here. Sure, everybody KINDA knows you can take a bag to the store with you, but this will no doubt get more people locally into the habit.
I wish we’d just go ahead and ban those plastic bags here. That would really turn some heads nationally. I hate seeing that crap blowing around and stuck in the streambeds along the trails.
[...] more context, see stories about the Habitotes from theFayetteville Flyer, The Morning News and The Fayettevilliage [...]
The habitotes bags I have seen around town do not have Tyson’s printed on them. Big deal if they did… so what? Just says “habitotes”. How can this be wrong if it prevents using more plastic bags, takes waste out of the waste stream and according to the information printed on the habitotes bag it is “fashionable!”? No one says these “fashionable” bags alone are going to save the world. Matthew Petty, you seem like such an arrogant no-fashion-sense know-it all. On the other hand, I could leave one of these habitotes chained on a bike rack for you to liberate (or what most would call steal) if that somehow seems more reasonable. Your way of thinking astonishes me on many levels. You post things (again, and again, and again, ad nauseum) and around here we simply laugh. Who knew our City Councilman could be so tragically amusing. I think I may need to throw my habitote over my shoulder, put on my matching green Prada pumps and head to Wal-mart for some of those tasty Tyson’s Pride chicken wings. Saving the world one bag at a time, looking good AND supporting the local economy!! That’s what I’m all about.
I’ve posted another poll dealing with this issue. It will open until Sunday evening for you to vote if you wish. It’s available here
I dunno about Mike, but I look so good in Habitotes I get all the single moms at Wal-Mart. It’s a miracle. They wouldn’t even look at me before Habitotes came along.
@Kool-Aid – You should try combining the Habitotes with a howling wolf t-shirt. I swear you can impregnate girls just by walking past them.
I guess this is a good idea. The intent is positive. They are getting the kids involved, which will get a lot of parents into the general reusable bag movement that maybe weren’t on board before.
Taking your backpack is sound advice. But I don’t think it really matters what kind of bag it is. It matters how much use you get out of it. Keep them in your car. Take them in the store. Put them back in your car. Repeat.
[...] Each bag bears the sponsor’s insignia. It appears that more than 20 logos adorn the bags. It’s a much more commercial-laden bag than the original version shown to city officials in August. [...]
[...] Sustainable Fayetteville Habitotes distribution is an initiative that was announced in August by the partners behind the project which include the City of Fayetteville, the Fayetteville Chamber [...]
[...] you missed the last distribution of reusable habitote bags in Fayetteville, you and 49,999 of your closest friends will have another [...]