SunCorp

If you haven’t noticed it yet, reusable bags are making a comeback -- not only in supermarkets, but in bookstores and other shops.

The Bound Bookshop, put up by journalists on Scout Castor Street near busy Tomas Morato Avenue in Quezon City, has been offering cloth tote bags at P125 apiece to customers who don’t want to use plastic.

“Ten of every 15 of our customers refuse plastic bags. They’d rather carry the books in their own bags. For those who don’t have bags, we offer the cloth bags. It’s much better than [using] plastic bags,” says staffer Rosiedin “Diding” Lanao.

She is thrilled when she sees customers walk into the bookshop, lugging the same cloth bag, which they call the Hepburn bag because it bears the Hollywood actress’ likeness.

The Bound Bookshop is owned by journalists Carlos Conde, Inday Espina-Varona, May Rodriguez, Rowena Paraan and Bernadette Sembrano. It offers new and previously owned books on literature, journalism, politics, history, art, music, health and erotica, among other topics.

Too much plastic

Lanao, 31, can’t forget the day floodwaters and plastic bags swept into the bookshop after a heavy downpour years ago.

“There’s just too much plastic around. They clog the canals and waterways,” she says.

If she had her way, she would phase out plastic bags and go cloth bag all the way. Cloth bags, however, are more costly to produce.

Fortunately, there is a growing consciousness among entrepreneurs of the need to go green and to contribute less to the garbage problem in the metropolis, and in the larger context, to the warming of the climate.

Balik-‘bayong’

“Compared with two or three years ago, public awareness [on reusable bags] is more heightened now,” says Gigie Cruz, a member of EcoWaste Coalition.

Cruz herself has noticed a sea-change in the attitude of supermarket staff toward reusable bags.

There have been moves in the past to promote reusable bags in supermarkets and groceries, but these eventually sputtered partly because of the public’s lack of enthusiasm.

Now environmental groups, including EcoWaste, are reviving the “Balik-Bayong Campaign,” a move to encourage people to go back to the tradition of bringing their own bags when they go to market.

“We believe that single-use disposal plastic bags are big contributors to our garbage problem,” Cruz says.

SM, Rustan’s go reusable

Major rivers and tributaries in Metro Manila like the Pasig, Marikina and Tullahan rivers have been clogged with mixed waste, mostly plastic, according to the EcoWaste Coalition.

In the discard survey conducted by EcoWaste Coalition and Greenpeace of Manila Bay in 2006, 76 percent of the garbage collected was plastic. Of this, 51 percent were single-use disposable plastic bags.

Over the past several months, big-name supermarkets have been aggressively promoting the use of reusable bags with their customers.

SM Supermarket, for instance, came out with its own green bags, giving them away for free to customers who buy P500 worth of Unilever products.

Rustan’s Supermarket followed suit, but this time it sold reusable bags to customers, according to EcoWaste Coalition.

Surprised by initiative

The EcoWaste Coalition and other green groups met with the Philippine Retailers Association two years ago to broach the idea of giving away green bags to their customers, according to Cruz.

But the businessmen were worried about added costs, more shoplifting incidents and “minus points” for their advertisements, she says.

“That’s why we were surprised by the recent initiative,” Cruz says in an interview at the EcoWaste office, referring to the SM launch of its green bag made of polypropylene.