REPLACING PLASTICS – SIMPLE!

Like many of us, Jack and Brigid Chapman were happy to hear that the supermarkets around the globe were starting to support the move to get rid of single use plastic, including the thin plastic bags at the checkouts after hearing some of the following points that hit home about the massive devastation in our waterways and oceans from single use bags –

• Up to 80 per cent of ocean plastic pollution enters the ocean from land.
• At least 267 different species have been affected by plastic pollution in the ocean.
• 100,000 marine animals are killed by plastic bags, annually.
• Plastic bags are used for an average of 12 minutes.
• It takes 500 years for a plastic bag to degrade in a landfill – unfortunately the bags don’t break down completely but instead photo-degrade, becoming micro plastics that absorb toxins and continue to pollute the environment.

It’s time to stop using these bags FOR GOOD.

Living on North Coast of NSW and spending mornings walking on the beach, Jack and Brigid were impressed to hear that action was being taken. Being the cook of the house, Jack has been doing the shopping for many years, so it didn’t take long for him to become confused and frustrated with the local supermarkets attempts to phase out single use bags.

‘They are just replacing thin plastic with thick plastic but, it’s still bloody plastic!” he said.

“Where are the biodegradable bags? They have thick plastic, polyester, which is more plastic and nylon (plastic again) even those ‘green bags’ made out of, you guessed it, a form of plastic!”

These are questions many of us are asking, so Jack went looking for the answers.

The criteria was:

• PLASTIC FREE
• Biodegradable
• 100% natural fibres
• Light weight
• Scrunch up to fit a few in a handbag
• Fit on the existing shop infrastructure
• Strong enough to hold what the plastic bags held

The only thing that came close was jute or hessian bags but they were a bit big and bulky, so he went online to see if he could get something there. He found plenty of places promising “green” or “environmentally friendly” bags, but they were just reusable bags and generally more plastic. There was one saying it was made from ‘parachute silk” but this turned out to be made from Nylon – yep, you guessed it, plastic again.

After a trip to Vietnam, Brigid arrived home with an idea. She pulled her sewing machine out and made a prototype for a bag that ticked all of the boxes, then sent it off to a factory at Da Nang, run by a Buddhist lady, Anh Thi, who was keen to help the environment.

They called them Byron Eco Bags, and they were:

• PLASTIC FREE
• Biodegradable
• 100% natural fibres
• Lightweight – 46g / 1.6 oz
• Scrunched up to fit 5 in a handbag
• Fit on the existing shop infrastructure
• Strong – hold 8kg / 17lb 6 oz
• 50% Silk to make it compact and strong
• 50% cotton for affordability

“It just made sense that we should be using something like this but, instead, the supermarkets went from supplying cheap plastic bags, to making millions of dollars from thicker plastic bags and not helping to reduce plastic from our environment,” Brigid says.

“Seeing the number of sea birds that starve to death from eating large amounts of plastic, the effect on turtles eating plastic bags – it made sense that living by the sea, we should be using something that would break down in the ocean or if it was somehow ingested by animals.”

“Silk being a protein and cotton being plant based satisfies this issue. Our care label is cotton and the rubber hook used to hook on the shopping stands doubles as the secure wrap to hold the bag tightly in your hand bag,” she says.

They decided one more important feature would be to donate 10% of profits to The Ocean Cleanup. Their invention of a floating system which has been designed to capture plastics ranging from small pieces just millimetres in size, up to large debris, including massive discarded fishing nets which can be tens of meters wide, is predicting they could clean 50% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in just five years.

Learn more about Byron Eco Bags and the impact of plastic in our environment and what some great businesses are doing to solve these problems at

website: HealthyPlanetNow.com
facebook: Healthy Planet Now.