When exhibiting at an expo or trade show, it is important that prospective buyers know who you are and something about your product or service before they approach your stand. To do this, it is helpful to have staff dressed in distinctive and brand-coloured clothing. Not only does this attract attention from a distance, it helps attendees know who to approach if they have questions. The business logo should be clearly and obviously displayed. Hanging banners are particularly effective because
Read More

A creative ad agency has blended technology with psychology to create an irresistible promotional product for female shoppers. Customers at a Spanish shopping centre were treated to a handsome male spouting compliments when their the bags were brought to life via the QR code printed on the man’s mouth. According to Trendhunter, the team at JWT, the advertising agency behind the bags, had noticed that some women went shopping in order to boost their self-esteem and just took that thought
Read More

Branded promotional bags are a useful advertising tool and should still be viewed as relevant in the digital age. As such, its use should be considered by all industries. Promotional bags are generally used long after the event at which they are acquired, generating ongoing publicity for the organisation displayed on the bag. This prolonged use and subsequent brand awareness, can effectively pay for the initial cost of the bag to the business. Consumers enjoy getting something for free, which
Read More

A University of Queensland study has shown that sea turtles, specifically the leatherback and green turtle species, are eating more plastic than ever before, up to twice as much as they did just twenty five years ago. Plastic becomes ocean debris and in turn, becomes part of the young ocean-going turtles’ diets. Strangely enough, turtles that live near heavily populated areas eat the least amount of plastic, while all the turtles that live near undeveloped areas in southern Brazil were
Read More

Over ten million plastic shopping bags are used in Australia everyday. The co-founder of Tangaroa Blue and managing director, Heidi Taylor, is disappointed that a ban wasn't instituted by the Queensland Government to eliminate these environmentally hazardous bags. Plastic bags are the most common item picked up during Clean Up Australia Day. They are considered a single use plastic item even though some advocates say they are reused as trash bin liners. There is a request in from Toby Hutcheon,
Read More

Australia is home to 2,000 supermarkets, three times as many as there are in the UK. Australians visit their supermarkets on average at least twice a week. Matt Preston provided some tips he learned about how to make the most from each visit. He recommended bringing numerous reusable grocery bags because people tend to underestimate how many to bring. Preston has them in the car as well as at home in order to have a stash close at hand. He
Read More

Rod Maher, owner of Thirroul Newsagency, has decided to ban plastic bags in his store. He had previously been handing out around 2,000 of them each year. It has been four years since the ban was implemented and now customers regularly bring in their own bags. Ban the Bag Illawarra is a movement that is also trying to get that same message across. They are trying to change the laws that prevent the NSW councils from instituting bans on plastic
Read More

In the town of Salem, 25 local businesses have thrown their support behind a campaign against using plastic bags for shopping. The campaign began in a unique way with a visit from the "Bag Monster". This monster wears 500 plastic bags to represent the amount of plastic bags that one person uses in a year. A petition with 800 signatures asked the council to pass an ordinance that no longer allows plastic to be used for shopping bags in the
Read More

The University of Arizona and Loma Linda University recently conducted a survey on the cleanliness of reusable grocery bags. The researchers stopped shoppers heading into grocery stores and asked them how often, if at all, did they wash their bags? The statistics were astounding. About 97% of shoppers said they seldom if ever washed their reusable bags. Those shoppers admitted to putting all food items in the bags together. They also use those same bags for other non-food related errands.
Read More

Environment Minister Andrew Powell said he was considering a ban on plastic shopping bags, according to The Courier Mail, and then a day later, he changed his mind. The reason for the change is due to the cost associated with the ban. The government doesn't want to issue measures that increase the cost of living for its residents. This is not the end of the story on environmental concerns. According to Powell, the government is consulting with industry groups to
Read More

It’s a fact that disposable plastic bags create problems for the environment, and re-usable shopping bags are the way to go. However, there are plenty of disposable plastic bags already in circulation, and people need to know what to do with them. Obviously it’s not a good idea to put disposable bags into a general waste bin, because they will end up in landfill. The best way to handle disposable plastic bags is by recycling and reusing them. Grocery stores,
Read More

Human society thrives on progress, developing newer and more efficient methods to perform our necessary functions. New methods develop when there is an obvious problem with an old method. People used to carry their groceries home from the supermarket in disposable plastic bags - this was the old way. Now people are taking up re-usable shopping bags as the new method for carrying groceries. Here is a five-point summary of why disposable plastic bags are a problem, and re-usable shopping
Read More

Major cities across the United States, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, are enacting bans against disposable plastic shopping bags. Retailers that disobey the ordinance against plastic bags run the risk of serious fines. Customers around the world should bring their own re-usable shopping bags with them when buying products from retailers, as it’s a great way to care for the environment. Here are a few reasons why. Plastic bags take over one thousand years to naturally disintegrate. Over that
Read More

Disposable plastic shopping bags are terrible for the environment, because they usually find their way into bodies of water and choke marine life. As well as this, plastic takes several thousand years to break down. Re-usable shopping bags are a great way for people to do their bit for the environment by keeping plastics out of waterways. As your collection of re-usable shopping bags grows, it’s a good idea to group them by size. Pick up a couple of baskets
Read More

The time has come for retail outlets to abandon the disposable plastic shopping bag. Not only do plastic shopping bags end up all over the streets of towns and cities, they end up in lakes, rivers, and the ocean, where they choke marine life and birds. Whatever the convenience offered by plastic shopping bags, their destructive impact is just too much. Re-usable shopping bags are now available from most retailers for a small fee, normally around $1 per bag. Buying
Read More

Los Angeles City is enacting a ban on all disposable plastic shopping bags for the retail sector. On 25 June 2013, City Council passed a vote approving the bill for a two-stage application. The bill applies to large retail stores from the first of January next year. For smaller retailers, the ban applies from June 2014. After applying the ban, shoppers will have to bring their own shopping bag or buy a paper shopping bag for ten cents. Quarterly reports
Read More

Australia is a land girt by sea, and it’s Australia’s job to make sure that our surrounding bodies of water are kept in the best shape possible. From east coast to west coast and everywhere in-between, Australia is teeming with beautiful wildlife. Protecting our wildlife is easy; just follow these ten simple tips. Avoid using white coloured lights on beaches at night during Sea Turle hatching period. White lights confuse them on their journey to the water, so use a
Read More

Despite the desire to behave in an environmentally-friendly way, it’s easy to feel restricted by the pressures of time, work and family commitments. Climate change, pollution and poverty are all issues that matter and are issues that many people feel helpless in regards to affecting change. However, there are simple ways to help the planet with little effort involved, according to Sarah Johnson, National Energy and Sustainability Programs Manager of the Australian Conservation Foundation. “People think they need to make
Read More

Despite the pressures and demands on time that characterise modern life, eco living should be given top priority. As energy costs increase and social awareness is piqued, now is the perfect time to make your home and lifestyle more environmentally sound. Furnishings and homewares that are green and sustainable are becoming widely available and frequently used. Antiques and green homeware options can make wonderful interior design choices and can help to create a rustic or natural feel. By planting herbs,
Read More

For many years, ‘disposable’ has been understood to mean ‘discarded after use’. Razors, nappies, utensils, cups, cameras and packaging have all been created and used in disposable forms. However, the popularity of ‘disposable’ as a marketing term is plummeting. The declining acceptability of ‘disposable’ is largely due to the fact that fossil fuels are used to make many disposable plastics, which often take centuries to decompose in landfill. As a result, initiatives to ban disposable shopping bags are gaining momentum.
Read More

In 2003, the town of Coles Bay in Tasmania banned the use of non-biodegradable plastic shopping bags. Now, the popular holiday town with a population of less than 300 citizens is calling on the federal government to institute a nationwide ban on the bags. Not-for-profit organisation DoSomething! estimates that at least 50 billion plastic bags have been used by Australians over the last decade. Although shoppers quickly adopted the use of green bags, politicians never put the promised national ban
Read More

50 schools across the Hunter region are participating in a Binless Playground Day campaign, where all playground bins will be removed. The purpose is to reduce the amount of waste children produce each day with their school meals. Reusable containers for lunch and snacks, along with reusable drink bottles, are being encouraged instead of disposable ones. That means no more juice poppas or sandwiches in cling wrap. Maitland Public School is just one of the schools participating in the campaign,
Read More

According to Mat Nott of Fraser Coast Chronicle, councillors who voted against proposed plans to ban plastic bags ‘need their heads read’. Nott expressed that the choice is a denial of the area’s environmental responsibility and that those councillors who voted against the idea are anti-environmental. Nott believes that councillors denied the proposal to ban plastic bags because it would cost local businesses too much. There were also arguments that it was too much change too close to the floods,
Read More

The Forbes Environmentally Concerned Community group (FECC) wants plastic bags gone from NSW. Members of the group have been circulating a petition that asks local residents to sign in support of ridding single-use plastic bags from NSW. Pip Perry, an active member of FECC said that the Lane Cove Sustainability Action Group have come on board with the project in order to collect more signatures for the petition. The petition will be collated at the end of the financial year
Read More

Orange’s City Council is planning to ban plastic bags in the hopes of making the city more environmentally friendly. The City Council is unable to enforce any legislation that bans plastic bags but is trying to sway individuals and businesses to be more eco-friendly with their choices, according to Councillor Neil Jones. The Council was pleased at some company’s choices, like Aldi and Bunnings who have adopted a no-plastic bags policy. They were urging other companies to follow suit but
Read More