Heat Pumps NOW Loves Bags Not

Ever wondered where the infamous “plastic bag” came from?

It all started in 1960, when Swedish company Celloplast filed for a US patent for “tubing for packaging purposes”. Designed by a three employees, the idea was to create a tube of plastic that would be laid flat with the bottom sealed and the top left open to put in whatever needs to be packed. Gustaf Thulin Sten, one of the team members, had the idea to seal the bottom but punch out the other end to create handles. The rest is history.
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It was obvious for businesses back then to use the plastic bag because they could carry more than the average paper bag and they could cut back on the cost. Although the first reason was also a benefit for consumers, time would only tell what serious repercussions plastic bags would bring to the environment.

Heat Pumps NOW is supporting the Bags Not movement in an effort to spread the word in refusing to use plastic bags. The Bags Not movement is promoting their 5 Easy Ways to Say “Bags Not” which is Refuse, Replace, Recycle, Reuse, and Restore.

But helping the environment should not stop in just joining the Bags Not movement. There are plenty of ways to be eco-friendly while saving a few bucks for yourself. Here are some of them:

​1.       B.Y.O.M. = Bring Your Own Mug.

​If you often go to coffee shops, you can easily cut back on waste by bringing your own container. Some of the bigger coffee chains even offer discounts when you bring your own mug.

​2.    Buying Bulk

​Bulking up should not only be a goal at the gym but also a practice when shopping at the grocery. A big bag of rice uses less plastic when you compare it to buying a small bag every week. Make sure that when you do start buying bulk, you store these products properly so it won’t easily go bad.

​3.    Bake it in Metal

​Whether you are a professional baker or you just whip up a batch of cookies every now and then, consider buying a metal or even a ceramic baking pan that you can reuse every time you bake. Buying disposable aluminum tins isn’t a great thing to do when you want to cut back on food packaging waste.

4.       Go Naked

​The next time you’re in the grocery, try to look for produce or products with little to no packaging. For produce, it means choosing to buy loose fruit and vegetables instead of the packaged ones. For the products, it could mean buying cereal that’s in a bag and not in a bag and a box. You can also check a product’s label if they have their goods packaged in recycled materials.

​5.       Reuse, Reuse, Reuse

Of course we all want a neat and tidy kitchen, that’s why it’s so tempting to throw away those glass bottles and containers. Use them as containers! Remember tip no.2? Buying Bulk? This is where these containers come to the rescue. Store leftovers or bulk items in your newly-washed jars.

For the past decade, there have been tons of research made about the effects plastic (and not just plastic bags) on the environment. And kiwis aren’t just the only ones fighting to change this practice. It’s been a year since the state of California banned single-use plastic bags, with critics and naysayers saying that using reusable bags would result to an epidemic of food-borne illnesses. The result was a 72 percent drop in plastic bag litter, and to quote the LA Times, “the world didn’t end”.