Envirosax | blog

How convenience is killing our planet

by Arte Ideas

Envirosax Kids’ Series won the PTPA award

We are proud to announce that Envirosax Kids Series is a “Parent Tested Parent Approved” award winner! PTPA’s professional panel of judges evaluate products based on functionality, quality, value and appeal. Receipt of this award is a statement that the product is “Parent Tested and Parent Approved.”

“Envirosax is thrilled to be recognized by PTPA, as our bags have earned the trust of busy parents both at home and on-the-go,” said Belinda Coker, Founder and Managing Director of Envirosax.

The Kids’ Series of reusable bags are designed to be fun and colorful, but also teach a valuable lesson about our responsibility to the planet. The idea behind our Kids’ Series is that educating children about reuse is our greatest chance of preserving nature for future generations.

PTPA is the leading product award with the largest parent-testing community and seal of approval recognized worldwide. The PTPA award provides consumers with a credible, third-parent resource that helps family-focused consumers discover award-winning products and services.

What PTPA’s reviewers had to say about the Envirosax Kids Series:

“I would recommend it. So far the bag has stood up to our testing and we have not had any problems with it. Seems strong even though very lightweight and thin.”

“The Envirosax bag is a great way to teach your child about protecting the environment while using a fun and stylish bag at the same time.”

“A great environmentally safe bag to make shopping easier thanks to the fabulous weight limit! It has fun prints and we love using this bag. Knowing that it’s been tested for heavy metals is important for me as well as when I am holding the bag, it’s nice to know my skin is not absorbing any harmful dyes or chemicals.”

“This is a wonderful, durable bag that looks great and makes you feel like you’re doing something good for the environment, while setting a good example for your kids!”

Check out the PTPA’s website for more information: Envirosax on PTPA

How to celebrate Earth Day?

On Sunday, April 22 we will celebrate Earth Day. Earth Day was first celebrated in 1970 in the United States. The idea for Earth day was the brainchild of Senator Gaylord Nelson, who was trying to find a way to “put the environment into the political ‘limelight’ once and for all”.  This year, more people than ever will celebrate Earth Day all around the world. But the question remains, how will I celebrate Earth Day?

Here are a few ideas what you can do to celebrate Earth Day:

Learn more about the environment!
Earth Day is the perfect time to make a commitment to learn more about the environment and how to protect it. More importantly, take the time to talk to your children about the meaning of Earth Day and the environment. Educating our children is one of the best chances for a greener future!

Make your lifestyle greener!
Try changing your lifestyle to a greener way! Change your shopping habits: Try to avoid items that come in unnecessary packaging; Support local growers and producers in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport; Use reusable water bottles and also buy your children reusable water bottles (drinking at least 2 liters of water every day is good for your health - having a water bottle by your side makes it easier); Recycle as many things as possible; Don’t waste food - store it in reusable container; Use a reusable shopping bag, like our Envirosax bags, in order to reduce unnecessary plastic waste.

Cook a special Earth Day meal!
Cook a delicious Earth Day meal using local products only. Keep in mind our 10 Steps to Waste Less Food! If you still have to buy products from the supermarket buy organic products only. Also, create recycled decoration yourself. It is fun and an activity for the whole family.

Clean up your neighborhood!
Another very good way to celebrate Earth Day is to gather friends and family and clean up a local space everyone can enjoy such as a park, a street, or a beach …. This is a very good way to create awareness and understand the impact of waste on our planet. Useful information on clean up days —> HERE

Ride your bike or walk!
Use your bike, walk or take the public transportation system in order to reduce your personal impact. It is good for the environment and it is even better for YOUR health!

Remember: Earth Day is EVERY DAY!
Think of the environment throughout the year and discuss your personal impact on the environment. Make sure you recycle and reduce waste every day. Don’t restrict yourself to just one day a year. Learn about how you can make a difference.

These are just a few ideas on how to celebrate Earth Day. There are a hundred different ways. Let us know how you celebrate Earth Day and contribute to a brighter future for us and for our children. If you already know what you are doing also consider joining the official Earth Day campaign A BILLION ACTS OF GREEN to show your support.

Happy Earth Day!
Your Envirosax Team  

10 Steps To Waste Less Food

Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve are just a few of many holidays were we cook and usually eat way too much! Too much food usually means more food and packaging waste. The Worldwatch Institute brainstormed 10 Easy Steps To Waste Less Food:

1. Be realistic: Due to the fear that we might not have enough food, we always cook unrealistic amounts of food no one can really eat. In order to be realistic, have a look at the Food Hate Waste organization’s “Perfect portions” planner to calculate the perfect meal size.
2. Plan ahead: Create a shopping list before heading to the shops. It will help to not buy unnecessary products. Grocery Gadgets for your Smartphone are very useful little helper.
3. Go small: You can always have a second (or third) serving. Therefore, start off with smaller portions in order to reduce the amount left on the plate (which usually becomes waste).
4. Encourage self-serve: Let your guests self-serve and therefore decide how much they would like to have on their plate and can eat. This reduces the amount of food left on plates.
5. Store leftovers safely: Store your leftovers in secure and reusable containers. Also separate your leftovers and store them in small individual containers. This reduces the risk of stored food being passed over and eventually wasted.
6. Compost food scraps: Compost vegetable peels, egg shells and other food scraps from meal preparation. Composting systems can be relatively easy and inexpensive, and provide quality input for gardens.
7. Create new meals: Have a look at Love Food Hate Waste’s creative recipes to see if your food scraps can be used for new meals.
8. Donate excess: Donate canned and dried foods you didn’t need for your holiday meal to food banks and shelters. Have a look at the Feeding America’s Food Bank Locator or search for it on the web for your country.
9. Support food-recovery programs: In some cases, food-recovery systems will come to you to collect your excess. For instance, in New York City the world’s first food-rescue organization, collects approximately 28 million pounds of food each year.
10. Give gifts with thought: When giving food as a gift, avoid highly perishable items and make an effort to select foods that you know the recipient will enjoy rather than waste.

If you have any other tips on how to reduce food waste let us know! Enjoy your holiday season! Your Envirosax-Team

Source: Worldwatch Institute

*photo compliments of Vancouver retailer Lavish & Lime.

Surfrider Artist Interview - Robb Havassy

Our final Surfrider artist interview is the wonderful Robb Havassy.

1. Tell us about yourself and your art.
My art is a reflection of my lifestyle, passions and inspirations, which like myself are varied and multilayered.  My art takes many forms:  Drawing, painting, sculpture, food and drink, books, apparel, music, film.  To me being an “artist” means that you are a creator of many things that inspire others, which is how my life has evolved.

2. How did you get involved with Surfrider?
My association with Surfrider began early on in 90’s before I began creating art.  Around 1996 when I first started painting, I was asked to donate art for a benefit for Surfrider …Of course I did and from there is seemed a great organization to support with the art I was creating.  When I began making my Surf Art calendar in 2003 I partnered with SRF to benefit them primarily.  Since then my donations and collaborations with them have raised close to $50,000.

3. Can you tell us about your art featured on the bag? What were your inspirations behind the piece?
As I mentioned my art comes in many forms and styles.  I have always love painting expressionistic abstract paintings.  Many of them have been on surfboards.  The piece of art for this bag was done on a RUSTY surfboard(one of six) that I did for a collaboration between myself, SRF and Bloomingdales in 2010.  This is a detail from that board’s art.

4. Why did you decide to become involved with the Surfrider Series by Envirosax supporting the Rise Above Plastics Campaign?
Because every little step toward limiting the use of plastics helps…I’m proud to help give people an environmentally friendly choice.

Surfrider Artist Interview - Ned Evans

Our next Surfrider artist being featured is Ned Evans.

1. Tell us about yourself and your art.
Born in Burbank, California in 1950, I’ve spent my entire life in or near the water. Now living in Venice, California, my surf-inspired paintings tend to be emotive rather than purely visual. They’re evocative of the ocean, but aren’t depictions so much as a collective of physical and sensory reinterpretations of the surf - from the beach’s sand to aerial overviews, from absolute immersion to riding the wave and sitting on a board looking back to the land’s horizon. Derived from dream and memory and the ephemeral experience the ocean can give to those who love it, After nearly five decades of surfing and painting, a natural symbiosis seems to evolve between the two.

2. How did you get involved with Surfrider?
I knew the founder of Surfrider, Glen Henning, from Malibu. I was asked, very early on, to participate in a fundraiser and I’ve done many since.

3. Can you tell us about your art featured on the bag? What were your inspirations behind the piece?
This piece was based on a painting from 2004-2005. It’s heavily influenced by water and its everchanging blues. For me, it feels as if it’s flickering, like the surface of a swimming pool.

4. Why did you decide to become involved with the Surfrider Series by Envirosax supporting the Rise Above Plastics Campaign?
Because I make a conscious effort not to use plastic bags. I’m so bummed about the plastic floating in the ocean, it can keep me awake at night. I feel like whatever little bit one can do can have an impact. I’m an avid supporter of small changes making a huge difference.

Surfrider Artist Interview - Melinda Morey

We had the pleasure of interviewing all three artists who participated in the Surfrider Foundation Series bags.

Today’s focus is on Melinda Morey.

1. Tell us about yourself and your art.
I grew up near the ocean, on Kauai, and though I have lived far and wide, I continue to draw from it as from a well, for my spiritual, mental and physical wellbeing. It is also the source of inspiration for my work, as a metaphor and a medium.

2. How did you get involved with Surfrider?
I can’t remember. I am embarrassed to say I’m not much of an activist, but I believe 100% in what they are doing and had been aware of Surfrider for years. When I lived in NY (2000-02) I went to some meetings and was a member. I think through that someone invited me to participate in the NY art auction, and I have been involved with the foundation since then.  I was stoked to be able to contribute in some way to protecting what I love so dearly.

3. Can you tell us about your art featured on the bag? What were your inspirations behind the piece?
I have tried in the past to do representational paintings of the ocean, and, in my mind, failed miserably. The method I use for painting now is all about fluidity and chance, a sort of controlled experiment. When the process works, it gives me the same feeling of awe that watching the ocean does. This image was part of a diptych. The other painting was of a guy falling – no background. Together they speak about that suspended moment that occurs when you are completely immersed in the present.

4. Why did you decide to become involved with the Surfrider Series by Envirosax supporting the Rise Above Plastics Campaign?
Hawaii recently outlawed plastic bags and I was ecstatic! On our small islands, the amount of waste generated is horrendous and recycling is not prioritized because of the expense of it. At some point all this stuff ends up in landfill or the ocean. This law sort of enforced some raised awareness! Now I see all manner of shoppers with their cloth bags and smile inside.  So when Envirosax approached me, I leaped onboard. It was a great idea on a great product. Envirosax bags are lightweight, easy to stash in your purse (instead of bulky canvas that gets left in the car), attractive and reasonably priced.

5. Any other additional comments?
Thanks for including me in your project! I’m honored and stoked to be a part of it.

Visit Envirosax to purchase the Surfrider Foundation Series.

Recent Celebrity Envirosax Sightings!

Envirosax has been seen swinging in the hands of some famous celebs! Check out the most recent ones below:

Sarah Jessica Parker with Kids Series bag EK.B12

Naomi Watts with Sesame St bag ST.B3

Malia Obama and Kids Series bag EK.B2

An Interview with Tim Silverwood

We had the pleasure of interviewing Tim Silverwood, a passionate surfer and advocate of the environment. In July he traveled across the Pacific Ocean from Honolulu to Vancouver, visiting the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch has been compared to a ‘floating island of trash’, and is spread over an area twice the size of France in the North Pacific Ocean. Four oceanic currents converge there, causing floating plastic debris from Asia, North America and the South Pacific to accumulate in a swirling vortex that’s rumoured to be doubling in size every 10 years. The islands of Hawaii lie in the centre of the Gyre and suffer from massive levels of plastic pollution.

The voyage was coordinated by the premier organisation researching the impact of plastics on the oceans, the Algalita Marine Research Foundation. Their team plans to do research that will shed light on the global distribution and biological consequences of marine debris. Tim will also be taking photos and filming it for an upcoming documentary.

We took some time out to ask Tim some questions:

1. Tell us when your passion for the environment started. What struck you in your life experiences to become an advocate?
I have grown up with the ocean in my life like most Australians. I started with the sport of surfing and have been doing it now for over 20 years. However, surfing isn’t only a sport for me but much more. When you’re out in the ocean, you’re out in this incredible raw state of the environment. When you start to see things impacting on the health of the arena, you want to do something about it. So I started young and was focused on plastic pollution. I would pick up floating plastic while I was surfing and put them in my wetsuit.

I also traveled around India and Asia for 10 months and that’s when you really start to see the problems and I was just shocked. It was at that point I really started to think pro-actively and advocating the message for people to be the difference.

2. There are many people who don’t live near an ocean such as the middle of the United States and may not perceive this being too much of a problem. What would you say to them?
It’s really easy to say it doesn’t affect me because I am thousands of miles inland. However, once plastic gets into a drain or a stream it will eventually be dragged out to sea. Then sea life may mistake it for plastic and the fish you eat could contain toxins because of it. A lot of people out there, like and eat fish, so this something that is happening now that could affect everyone.

3. What’s the most surprising memory of your travels around India and Asia?
It’s not so much as a striking memory rather than just being shocked by what I’ve learned with the statistics.

I’ve learned that…

• We only reuse 5% of what we have.
• Every molecule of plastic that’s ever been created is still in existence. This use of plastic paints a bit of an alarming statistic for our future.
• From 2000-2010 our planet created and consumed more plastic than in the entire history of plastic before that.
• Plastic particles in our oceans kill approximately 100,000 marine mammals each year.
• 80% of marine debris is initially discarded on land and is blown, rolled, or washed out to sea via our beaches, rivers, streams and storm water drains.

4. What inspired you to embark on a voyage like this and what do you hope to achieve?
I have a natural passion for the environment and I hope to take this to a wider audience. It’s a unique opportunity to visit the Pacific Garbage Patch and by seeing it and making a documentary, my hope is that it will bring a higher level of understanding to this real issue that we have and encourage people to take small steps that lead to big changes.

I also hope to further develop ‘Take 3’, which is a nonprofit that I cofounded, that encourages anyone visiting the beach or going into the ocean to pick up three items of trash to help save the life of our marine animals.

5. Any other final thoughts?
The support I have received thus far is really humbling such as companies like Envirosax, which generously donated reusable bags to my Australian fundraising movie premiers of the movie, Bag It. Acts like these represent simple changes like start eliminating one-use plastic bags from your lifestyle. Just these small changes can make such a huge difference when we all start doing it. There’s power in numbers and it’s incredible what you can achieve.

STAY TUNED PEEPS! Envirosax will be doing a follow up story to hear how Tim’s voyage went…

Encourage Reuse for Earth Day

Earth Day on April 22 is the perfect time to encourage reuse. Did you know that each eco-friendly Envirosax potentially replaces 6,000 one-use plastic bags over its lifetime? Earth Day is about focusing on ways to conserve, so we thought we’d share our top 10 creative uses for Envirosax.

Top 10 creative uses for Envirosax designer reusable bags (other than shopping of course!) 

1. Travel companion – great to pack and/or use as a carry-on bag. It’s useful when grocery shopping at your exotic retreat and collecting souvenirs for friends and family
2. Hobby tote – carry items for surfing, yoga, tennis, gym, etc
3. Laundry bag – especially when travelling
4. Moving bags – instead of boxes use bags (note, I have tried this and it is sooo much easier than carrying boxes)
5. Beach tote – Envirosax is water resistant so it’s great for wet towels
6. Diaper bag – a fashionable way to carry
7. Brief case – use your favorite design instead of a brief case; mix and match with your outfits
8. Wrapping paper – use as reusable wrapping paper so there are two gifts in one; great for Mother’s Day, birthdays and the festive holiday season
9. Library book bag – carrying library books
10. Toy tote – carry toys for outings or use for storage when home

So, we’ve made a list of creative uses, but we want to hear from you. What other ways do you use your Envirosax? Share your ideas to promote the message of reuse especially to celebrate Earth Day!

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