Our Company

Today, the Los Angeles City Council approved a ban on plastic bags at grocery stores! The Los Angeles City Council voted 11-1 to ban plastic, single-use carryout bags at all stores that sell perishable food items, including supermarkets, some big-box chains, pharmacies and convenience stores. The ordinance also requires these establishments to charge customers 10 cents for each paper bag used.  Along with a coalition of environmental groups like Heal the Bay and the Surfrider Foundation, Earthwise joined in to support the ban and witnessed the City Council Meeting and final vote today!  It was a long time coming, and everyone who has supported this effort from the very beginning was very pleased to be a part of this triumphant victory.

And, today Los Angeles became the largest city in the state to adopt a plastic bag ban; Los Angeles County, Culver City, Santa Monica and several other cities in the county have previously adopted similar bans. All the previous repeated attempts to pass a statewide ban on plastic bags have failed due to opposition from business groups and plastic bag manufacturers, including Crown Poly, among others.  

The ordinance goes to a second council vote next week and then to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for his signature. After that, the ban will go into effect on January 1, 2014. The ban extends to smaller stores on July 1, 2014. Plastic bags used for produce items would be exempted from the ban.

For Star Education’s 13th Annual STAR Eco-Station’s Children’s Earth Day event, Earthwise was delighted to support this wonderful educational organization with a donation of 200 reusable bags for their VIP gift bags this year.

Star Education helps families have a fun and educational experience while celebrating the earth! The funds they raised at the event will help enable the STAR Eco Station to continue providing rescue and rehabilitation for illegal, abandoned, or abused exotic wildlife. The funds also make it possible for the Eco Station to continue its work to increase environmental awareness in the community through their accessible, affordable, and award-winning programs.

Congratulations Eco Station for another successful Earth Day Event and thank you for the heart-warming “Thank You” note!

Last Saturday, ShopRite announced the Williamstown resident who won their reusable bag design contest. They also revealed that they will be featuring her design on an environmentally-friendly reusable bag after she was proclaimed the winner at the local ShopRite.

The winner, Katrice Sylvester, a current senior at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, was thrilled that she won this contest.  She was awarded $2,500.00 for her winning entry in the “Designed to Fight Hunger” reusable bag design contest. Sylvester had entered the competition as part of a school assignment for her studies in graphic design. Her winning design, featuring a yellow ribbon made of a knife and fork, will be featured at all the 250 ShopRite locations.

(Photo Credit: South Jersey Times) Katrice Sylvester holds her winning design for a reusable bag contest held by the ShopRite grocery chain.

As part of ShopRite’s “Designed to Fight Hunger” program, they will match the $2,500.00 prize and donate another $2,500.00 to the Food Bank of South Jersey. ShopRite developed the contest to bring awareness to the fight against hunger while incorporating an earth-friendly issue to promote customers to use reusable bags. The grocery chain also invited emerging artists to come up with their own unique design to be featured on the bags, and ShopRite honored Kristin Stout, N.J., and Brittany Morris of Mouth Ephaim for their 2nd and 3rd place entries.

On Monday, at their kick-off event at the Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza, Eugene City Council Member Alan Zelenka announced a new program relating to Eugene’s new Plastic Bag Ban – Bring Your Bag – Start the Habit and Keep Eugene Clean & Beautiful. He announced that this new program will distribute free reusable shopping bags to low-income residents of Eugene.  Safeway and Fred Meyer have donated a total of 10,000 reusable grocery bags which will be distributed free through FOOD for Lane County (FFLC) service locations in Eugene. FFLC has 79 service locations in the city.  The free reusable grocery bags will be made available to their clients and other members of the public. 

Click here to download a complete list of FFLC service locations where the bags can be obtained.  The bags will be available beginning June 17th.

To help power its Ralphs/Food 4 Less distribution center in Compton, California, the Kroger Co. has unveiled a clean energy production system that will actually convert spoiled food that cannot be sold or donated into clean energy. The anaerobic conversion system will process more than 55,000 tons of organic food waste into renewable energy annually, providing power for the more than 650,000 square foot distribution center. By diverting the food waste – the equivalent of 150 tons per day – the system will also reduce area truck trips by more than 500,000 miles each year. The Kroger Recovery System uses a sophisticated process to convert the carbon in organic material into a renewable source of methane.

“We are committed to finding solutions for food waste and clean energy, and we believe this is a meaningful step forward,” said Rodney McMullen, president and COO of Kroger, which operates 2,424 supermarkets and multi-department stores in 31 states under two dozen local banners. “Investing in this project is a good business decision for Kroger and, most importantly, an extraordinary opportunity to benefit the environment. We want to thank Governor Brown and his team at CalRecycle and CalEPA, the City of Compton, the SCAQMD, and our partner at FEED for making this renewable energy project a reality.”

The Kroger Recovery System turns organic food, and on site food-processing effluent, into renewable biogas, which is then turned into power for the on site operations.  The process is carried out in an enclosed, oxygen-free environment, which means the process takes up less space and generates no odors. The system will provide enough renewable biogas to offset more than 20% of the energy demand of the Ralphs/Food 4 Less distribution center.

According to Kroger, combining the use of renewable energy power with more than 150 zero emission fuel cell forklifts, the Ralphs/Food 4 Less distribution center is now one of the greenest and most efficient which is advancing the City of Compton as a leading sustainable community.

Source: Green Retail Decisions

Redlands, California is celebrating its 125th anniversary.  And, Albertson’s has been added to the list of local businesses and community members promoting the city’s 125th anniversary.

New reusable bags (manufactured and supplied by Earthwise Bag Company) carrying the anniversary’s custom logo (created by Richard Pennington of Pennington Designs) were recently made available at Albertsons Redlands store on Redlands Boulevard and Cypress Avenue.

Store manager Mike Enright said the bags celebrating the city’s anniversary were a natural fit for his store, which has previously sold bags featuring historic Redlands locations.  The first bags were released on December 1 and sold out within a number of weeks, Enright said.

“We sold 10,000 of the first design,” Enright said. “When those sold out, we had been considering what to do for a new design.”

Courtesy Photo: Redlands Mayor Pete Aguilar, left, and store manager Mike Enright display reusable grocery bags now for sale at the local Albertsons.

The new 125th Anniversary bags are available for $3.00 a pair. The idea for the bags stemmed from a conversation Mayor Pro Tem Paul Foster, who heads up the anniversary committee, had with Albertsons Store Manager Mike Enright. “He came in and showed us the new logo and said, ‘You have my permission to use (it),’” Enright said.

These new reusable bags also feature the logo for Hangar 24 Craft Brewery. They are the second custom Redlands bags purchased by the store and sold to customers.  The first bag showcased the city’s rich history by featuring on the historic nature of the city’s long-standing orange groves, the University of Redlands, the Redlands Bowl, Kimberly Crest and other city landmarks.  That bag design is know as Earthwise’s Hyper-Local Bag and every design is custom-made for each customer and created around the city in which their store does business. 

“We have always wanted to do a second edition of our bags, but we didn’t want to do the same thing we did before. So we were trying to find ideas to make it different and unique,” he said when asked about the new design. “The people of Redlands are so proud of their city… and they supported our first bag, which we didn’t expect to sell out as quickly as we did.”

Although Albertsons is a corporation, Enright says the store’s Redlands location wants to connect with its local community as much as they can. These unique bags are just one way the store continues to focus on its promise.

“The store has been here since the 1960s, so it’s been a part of Redlands for a long time, and Redlands has such a rich history,” he said. “We wanted to do something special to connect with the community, and that’s why we wanted to do another bag. ”

City officials say that the city’s 125th anniversary officially kicked off in December with the annual Redlands Christmas Parade, which was sponsored by the city and the Kiwanis Club of Redlands. All anniversary celebrations continue through November, also according to city officials.

Any group or individual interested in participating or serving as a sponsor of the anniversary celebration may contact Tommi Ng at tng@cityofredlands.org or 909-798-7514.

“We are just really excited and appreciate companies, local businesses and local outlets of larger businesses like Albertsons that are demonstrating a commitment to the community this way,” said Carl Baker, city spokesman. “Albertson’s is part of a chain, but their local store is operated by real people… and we appreciate Mike’s enthusiasm and the store for getting involved.

“And the same can be said… for all the other businesses who have joined in as well.”

Albertsons is at 450 E. Cypress Ave.

Earthwise Bag Company partners with organizations around the country under the belief that everyone has a responsibility to make a positive difference in this world. We are actively involved with a variety of environmental, health, and human interest groups to contribute to the overall well-being of the planet and each other. Upon its founding, the company’s initial motivation was to help mitigate the effects that plastic bags have on our environment and we have furthered that goal to include helping our community.

One of our partnerships is with Children’s Cancer Research Fund. Earthwise provides over 2,000 custom reusable bags for their annual Kids 4 Kids RUN/WALK. Children’s Cancer Research Fund (CCRF) Founder/President Matti Contopulos believes that kids possess a uniquely powerful spirit of hope and an untarnished belief that their wildest dreams can be accomplished, whether it’s becoming President of the United States, or finding a cure for cancer. She also believes that there’s a kid in all of us and created the annual Kids 4 Kids RUN/WALK.

The concept for Kids 4 Kids RUN/WALK evolved from important changes Matti has seen over the years in children’s awareness of cancer and the incredible generosity from kids of all ages wanting to help kids with cancer. “Countless times we’ve experienced amazing examples of hope and determination in children whether they were patients battling cancer or determined children who emptied their own piggy banks to make a donation to our organization,” said Matti. This is a spectacular Event as kids of ALL ages from throughout Southern California participate in a truly fun Event with a very special mission: to create a HAPPIER and HEALTHIER future for all children. With the monies raised, HAPPIER will be supplies for the arts and crafts programs at Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall Camps, and HEALTHIER will be the funding of new grants in clinical research in pediatric oncology. There is no RUN/WALK like this in the country and we feel it has become a national campaign with an incredible impact on pediatric cancer, having raised over $1.6 million in the first six years. For the doctors tackling research, for the children and families dealing with cancer, and for our Most Valuable Players (EVERYONE WHO WALKS OR RUNS) who are participating…the event always promises to be an incredible occasion for all. The 2013 Kids 4 Kids RUN/WALK was no exception.  

A handful of Earthwise employees participated in this year’s event to support Children’s Cancer Research, as we usually do.  It was a challenging event with much reward and sense of accomplishment for all who participated.  All of us here at Earthwise Bag Company are proud to sponsor and participate in such an amazing event and will continue to do so year after year.

Carmen Camonayan of Earthwise with Granddaughters Showing Off Earthwise Donated Goody Bags

Here are some of our employees who participated in this year’s Kids 4 Kids RUN/WALK -

Lisa Garcia of Earthwise with Daughter Alexandria at Finish Line

Lourdes Munoz & Carmen Camonayan of Earthwise with Camonayan Granddaughters Right Before Race Begins

Lisa Garcia of Earthwise Right Before Race Begins

Photo courtesy of GiantFoodStores.com

To mark Earth Day, Giant Foods has introduced a special green reusable bag that will be available for a limited time in all stores. And, each and every time a customer shops using one or more reusable bags now through May 30th, at checkout they will automatically be entered to win free groceries for an entire year.  Here are the details:

2 grand prize winners

will receive free groceries for a year ($7800 value)

10 first place winners

will receive $500 in free groceries

You’ll be automatically entered when you shop with reusable bags and your BONUSCARD between 4/21 and 6/1/13.  See Official Rules in store.

Giant has also announced that is has set a goal of reaching “zero waste” by 2020. Zero waste is defined by them as diverting 90 percent of waste going to landfills and incineration through the expansion of its organic recycling program and the creation of new opportunities for recycling cardboard and plastic.  Their new recycling program will include the increase of consumable food donations to food bands. Any food that cannot be donated is also being reused as livestock feed, composted or converted to electricity. At this time, all of Giant’s stores have the capability to recycle or reuse organic material.

That’s right, the art of a nine year old  Weymouth boy will soon be appearing on reusable bags available for purchase at Hannaford supermarkets across New England. Submitting one of the winning designs in the Hannaford chain’s annual Design a Reusable Bag contest, Brendan DiTullio found himself as one of the four winners among the hundreds of children who entered the Earth Day contest.

Brendan DiTullio’s design is at the lower left on this reusable Hannaford grocery bag. (Photo courtesy of PatriotLedger.com)

The contest posed this question, “What kind of superhero can help us learn to eat health foods?” Brendan’s answer, through his artwork, was simple…he drew fruits wearing capes.

Children from New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York submitted the other winning entries.  And, each contest winner received a $100 Hannaford gift card!  The designs will be on reusable bags available at the 181 stores in the Hannaford supermarket chain.

Guadalupe River Park Conservancy has received a wonderful donation of $1,172 from Robinson Oil Corporation, from its Rotten Robbie convenience stores and gas stations. The company collected $1,172 in 2012 selling paper bags at its Rotten Robbie convenience stores and gas stations to customers who did not bring their own reusable bags. San Jose’s single-use plastic bag ban requires stores to charge consumers 10 cents for a paper bag if they don’t bring their own reusable bags.

“Donating the fees from the San Jose bag ordinance was a way to help Guadalupe River Park Conservancy and also a way to let our customers know it was not a fee Rotten Robbie was attempting to benefit from,” said Tom Robinson, company CEO, in making the donation.

The conservancy has adopted the river from Coleman Avenue to Highway 880, and the donation will go toward ongoing volunteer efforts there.

“We really appreciate Rotten Robbie funds,” said Leslee Hamilton, executive director of the Conservancy.

“We do monthly river cleanups and have seen a huge reduction in the number of plastic bags since the ban went into effect. The river looks better and is a healthier habitat for birds, fish and other wildlife.”