Tote Handle String Bags Best for supermarket grocery shopping, from £3.44 to £3.80. Details

Long Handled Bags Recommended for 'just-in-case' shopping, from £3.94 to £4.30. Details

Low P&P  To speed you on your way to eco- shopping ... and why we don't do colour string bags. Details

(even) Cheaper by the (FIVE) Bundle Buy Bundles of five bags ranging from £17.20 to £19.50. Details

"Honey, I've shrunk the bags!" "About time, too."

Special Schools Offer Please email shopkeeper for details.

See customers' comments

Petica Watson has kindly given us permission to use her 10-minute film Plastic Planet: The Curse of the Carrier Bag here. I'm leaving it on this site even though it features a competitor! (Use 'Back Page' on browser to return to this page.)

Nostalgia, or read my take on 'Just-in-case Shopping'

Why choose an organic cotton string bag?

Since this site was launched, the "plastic-free" message is now being heard and understood by more and more. But which alternative to plastic is best?

The organic●ally™ string bag is a good viable, sustainable alternative.

Some people have questioned whether a "pure cotton" bag is really a good alternative when conventional cotton agriculture is wreaking so much havoc on farms, farmers, land, water and air.

Organic cotton grown without pesticides is ecologically better than such "pure", "natural" or even "100% natural", conventionally-grown cotton (here's why) as well a 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 (see below).

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

The organic●ally™ string bag comes "as is", without any additional cardboard packaging to reduce waste, and 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.

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!