Spinsheet

These Two Have a Lot of (Reusable) Baggage

If you’ve ever felt strange taking you Whole Foods reusable shopping bag into Trader Joe’s or found your self not even thinking about taking a reusable grocery bag with you while shopping at West Marine, two Annapolis sailors have come up with a solution for you.
Kate and Chris Charbonneau recommend easily stowable Joey Totes. Working much like windbreakers that are stowable in their own pockets, the lightweight bags come in two sizes (a large can fit four shoeboxes in it; a small, two shoeboxes). Both sizes can hold a couple of totes so that lugginf three reusable bags around only requires one scrunch-able pouch about as long as a dollar bill. With the annoyance of “loud’ logos on grocery bags in mind, the Charbonneaus designed the bags in a quiet slate gray with a small logo.
“Our message is less about convincing people to use reusbale bags and more about getting people who already use them to quit forgetting them,” says Chris, who admits the idea was spawned by the couple going to the grocery store and often leaving their trove of reusabale bags at home. The neutral color and logo should make the bags easier to take in to a clothing or marine store to further cut down plastic bag use.
Joey Totes are made of rip-stop nylon, common in outdoor apparel, durable enough to carry more than 35 pounds each. The rugged material will last for years, ensuring the replacement of thousands of plastic bags in each bag’s lifetime.