Organic cotton string bag vs. the
"pure"/"natural"/"100% natural" version

My take on 'Just-in-case Shopping'

Tote /Short Handle String Bags Best for supermarket grocery shopping, from £3.44 to £3.80. Details	Long Handled String Bags Recommended for 'just-in-case' shopping, from £3.94 to £4.30. Details	Cheaper by the Bundle (of five) Buy Bundles of five bags ranging from £17.20 to £19.70. Details

I ordered my stuff from organic-ally - so easy using Paypal - and my 5 bags arrived promptly within 2 days. And boy did I put those string bags to the test, with visits to the charity shop, supermarket and a boot sale. Three large, heavy books & a big fleecy went into one bag. Some awkward, bulky shopping with a carton of eggs went into another and some large and small items from the boot sale in another. NM - Herts

Care of String Bags  String bags stretch over time. When they start dragging on the ground, just wash them in your normal wash cycle (40°C) and they would return to their normal size.	Why only 60p 70P 80p 90p P&P?   (no thanks to Royal Mail price rises) when you want to buy just one bag ... and why we don't do colour string bags. Details	Special Schools Offer  If you wish to order a minimum of 50 bags for a school (or community) fundraising and/or environment- awareness project, please email shopkeeper for details.

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Why choose an organic cotton string bag?

Organic cotton grown without pesticides is ecologically better than such "pure", "natural" or even "100% natural", conventionally-grown cotton (here's why) as well as being economically more sustainable for the typical small-hold farmer in India.

The expandable string bag is often more practical to use than flat or gussetted cloth bags when it comes to packing in odd-shaped and bulky objects. They can even be put in a pocket (a big-ish pocket like a coat pocket, as a customer pointed out) unlike structured reusable bags which are heavy and bulky even when empty.

When it appears that the string bag has stretched and you find your shopping dragging on the ground, don't worry, just give it a wash.

When you've spilled any liquid onto the bag, don't worry, just give it a wash.

The organic●ally™ string bag had, for years, been sold without any additional cardboard/plastic packaging to reduce waste. However changes to Royal Mail pricing in 2013 means we now have to squash these bags down with cut-up plastic dry-cleaning bags that have been salvaged to keep postage affordable. The bags are only in natural colour to reduce the use of dyes and water in the dyeing process.

Is there any 'problem' at all with using a string bag? As we like being honest, we must say that we have found that you can't put loose marbles, nails, pens and stuff like that in them without the risk of losing them!

A long write-up on the paper bag/plastic bag/etc debate can be found in our sister Eco-Ethical site.

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Just-in-case shopping

In my mother’s generation nobody expected to go shopping empty-handed. My mum used to go to the market everyday (we did not have a refrigerator) to buy fresh produce and she carried a wicker basket. In the wicker basket were tiffin carriers or other containers for storing cooked food. Fish and vegetables were wrapped in newspapers.

Then we entered the throwaway plastic age. Except for those bags which have been burned (releasing harmful dioxins into the environment) every plastic bag that has been manufactured is still in existence, either in some landfill or clogging up some waterway, or being mistaken as food by animals.  

Now it’s time to get back to planning our shopping – a bit! These string bags can be rolled up really small. Stash one in every handbag of yours (like I do) and you would never have to use another plastic bag again. We hang a set near the door so we don't forget to take them with us when we go shopping. Fully washable, so it does not matter if there are spills.

Best of all: unlike the rigid shopping bags, you can pack your goods any which way because they 'fall all over' just like a plastic carrier bag.

But it's strong and can hold up to 33 pounds in weight. 

A small investment for the big difference you can make. 

No more plastic. Bring on the string bag!