What is BPA and is it dangerous?

The ‘big 3’ in a customer driven organization is providing ‘quality, cost and on-time delivery’. The latter aside, perceived quality can be very different from the actual quality a consumer is receiving.  An online search for the term ‘reusable water bottles’ will bring up a wide array of companies, around 90% of which use the term “BPA free” concerning their reusable bottles.

Since a popular reusable bottle was linked to the chemical BPA (Bisphenol A), the term has been widely reported and has quickly escalated into mainstream media.

BPA is a chemical used to make polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resin. The plastic is used in some food and drink containers and the resin is used as lacquers to coat metal products such as food cans and metal water bottles. There are mixed reports as to the dangers of BPA but it is generally agreed that the chemical does transfer across to food and liquid in older food and beverage containers. The NTP (National Toxicology Program) released a report with their findings, in which they expressed concern with BPA’s effect on the human body, and in particular, on infants and children.  NTP Associate Director John Bucher Ph.D concluded that “the possibility that BPA may affect human development cannot be dismissed”.

So it is for good reason that consumers are turning towards products that state they are BPA Free.  Despite the fact that the published research is still rather inconclusive as to the detrimental effects of BPA, it is prudent to avoid the chemical wherever possible until a definitive conclusion has been made.

BPA and Water Bottles

When a new bottle is made, testing procedures are undertaken in laboratory conditions to ensure the beverage within the container will stay chemical free.  A reputable, certified testing lab will conduct a leaching test at 90C (194F) for 3 days in order to simulate usage and ageing.  These are extreme conditions for the bottle and cap.  After this time the contents of the bottle are tested for contaminates. It is at this crucial point where labs can differ in the results they present.

Different labs will have different limits as to what they can detect. For a given sample, one lab may not detect BPA due to their testing limits while another will detect BPA every time. Generally BPA is tested in parts per billion or parts per million (abbreviated ppb & ppm). A comparison of results from four major labs showed their testing limits varied greatly. Below is a table showing from top to bottom the most effective testing limits found to the least effective.

Company A is able to detect BPA if only 0.25 ppb is found, yet Company D would not be able to detect BPA if the chemical was found to be under 10,000 ppb.  These are two modern labs providing results used as certification on consumer goods, yet one is 40,000 times as accurate as the other.  It is scary to think that one “BPA Free” bottle could potentially have 40,000 times as much BPA in it as another marked as “BPA Free”, depending on which labs were used to do the testing.

Health Canada and the EFSA Europe have set the following Tolerable Daily Intake for BPA limits per kilogram of bodyweight.

Europe –  TDI of 0.05 milligram/kg body weight (eg 70kg person = 3.5mg TDI per day)

Canada –  TDI of 0.025 milligram/kg body weight

A 600ml bottle tested by Company D could theoretically leach up to 6 milligrams of BPA into the water over the testing period (enough to be in excess of the TDI for anyone weighing less than 120kg or 264lbs), and still be called “BPA Free” according to that lab’s standards.

Therefore, it is important when purchasing your bottle that you ask the company what limits they test down to.  The claim “BPA Free” is readily used as a marketing tool to imply the bottles do not contain any traces at all. On the contrary, the lab may not have been capable of testing down to the most sensitive limit.

Finally, it is worth noting that a number of bottle manufacturers claim that they are BPA free simply because the bottles are made from stainless steel and have no plastic liner.  It may be true that the bottle itself is BPA free, but the contaminates can come from the polycarbonate/polypropylene lids.  Whatever part of the bottle BPA may leach from, the hazard could still be there.

This article has been written to give the facts about the industry, which is still largely unregulated. Again it is left down to consumers to sift through the spin.  Anyone can claim to be “BPA Free” but unless the company is transparent with their certified testing results, as a careful consumer you should be wary of what you may be purchasing.

From New York to Sydney and everywhere in between, people are carrying reusable bags.

Not surprisingly, large corporations and retailers have jumped on the bandwagon, offering cheap or free reusable shopping bags as a badge of being green.

Unfortunately, these cheap reusable shopping bags are often more of a marketing ploy than a great choice for the environment.  To be effective in reducing waste, reusable bags must be able to be reused time and again, and therefore must be extremely durable. Polypropylene bags will decompose after exposure to UV light – below is an example of the affect UV light has on the tensile strength of a polypropylene bag when left in sunlight for 6 months.

Do not be fooled into thinking that polypropylene is an environmentally sound alternative. You may even find the term “biodegradable” on some of these bags (see below), but the standards for use of this term is that the bag must be biodegradable in a ‘commercially managed compost environment’. This unfortunately has little to do with the reality of biodegradability; in real world disposal scenarios, without the controlled conditions specified in these standards, the bags will not break down and biodegrade in a reasonable amount of time and will not decompose to organic material that can be put to use by other micro-organisms, as the term ‘biodegradable’ suggests.

Vincent Cobb (founder of reusablebags.com) recently discussed the futility of reusable bags that aren’t made to last (here). When asked if the solution is becoming a part of the problem, he didn’t hesitate a moment – “Absolutely,” he said, explaining that some are made so cheaply they fall apart after a few uses. “They are becoming more of the junk.”

A cheap non-woven polypropylene bag must be made inexpensively. The construction and material of the bag are of poor quality and they have a tendency to give way after loading them with groceries only a handful of times.  Ironically, the ‘reusable’ bags themselves end up in the garbage can.

As a consumer, an additional concern is where and by whom are these bags being made?  For the retail price of a “reusable bag” to be $1, the labour and distribution costs must be extremely low.  At this price is it possible to ensure all employees and suppliers are treated fairly and in adherence to Fair Trade guidelines?

Using an alternative material such as polyester (which has far better tensile strength properties than polypropylene), printed with the process of sublimation, will yield a more durable bag in which the color will not fade.

Digging a little deeper reveals that many reusable bags are nothing more than another example of green-washing.

A high quality reusable bag eliminates hundreds of cheap reusable bags, and thousands of paper and plastic bags over its lifetime.

Hollywood – a jungle of fashion conscious women and men somewhat clawing their way into the limelight.

But two cool ladies that seem to effortlessly take all in their (regal?) stride are Jessica Alba and Queen Latifah.

Pictured below, the lovely actresses who with a collection of Golden Globes,Grammys, and World’s Sexiest Women awards between them, put their best fashion clad foot forward with the Retro Graphic and Oxford Bags.

Jessica Alba and Retro Graphic Bag 3

Queen Latifah Oxford Bag 2

We are delighted to launch our new range, La Boheme, which has been inspired by a fusion of the romanticism of Bohemia and the ideals of the Art Nouveau movement. It is about bringing art and beauty into every day life and a celebration of pushing conventional boundaries.

We would like you to help create a story for the new La Boheme range to give it depth and personality.

While our focus is on breathing new life into eco-friendly products with beautiful design, feel free to take this story anywhere you want it to go.

Comment as many times as you like, and any length. Get your creativity flowing. The story can go in any direction…however comments will be edited if necessary if the story goes beyond decency boundaries.

The blog will be ‘live’ for two weeks, at the end of this time the story will be posted across our sites permanently, so your words will be a part of the Envirosax La Boheme story.

To start you may find inspiration from this picture.

So we will begin the story…

Life was starting to get a little hectic for 20 year old Lorien with uni exams, boyfriend giving her grief and parents just not understanding the pressure she was under. She decided to have a break from study and go for a walk in the forest behind her house. She had always loved the quiet, stillness and imagined growing up that it was enchanted, just like in fairy tales. After walking for a while, slowly feeling more calm and peaceful, she came across this beautiful red bag. Her attraction to it was immense and she just sensed there was something special about this bag, something magical…

Fireworks, BBQ’s, parades and picnics – It’s Independence Day!

Even the stars are stocking up on their groceries – and as always making sure they do it in style.

JT shows his green side with Envirosax Flora Bag 5.

JT and Jessica Biel with their 4th of July groceries:

Fair Trade is an alternative approach to conventional trade that has become recognised as the standard for evaluating the rights of workers in developing nations who produce the products we consume.

The FTAANZ website provides an informative summary of Fair Trade, noting:

It focuses on helping farmers and producers in developing countries to move towards economic self-sufficiency and stability. By paying producers and their workers fair prices and helping them gain the skills and knowledge needed, allows them to have a greater stake hold in their own business, provide safer and ethical working environments and therefore play a wider role in international trade. Fair trade also encourages better environmental practices and the application of responsible methods of production.

It is about providing a fair go – not charity.

A Fair Trade Certified Company ensures that the supply chain down to the production of goods in factories has purchased all their manufactured components from producers and workers that have been treated ethically using the Fair Trade principles.

This covers:

• Banning child and slave labour
• Guaranteeing a safe workplace and the right to unionize
• Adherence to the United Nations charter of human rights

Horror stories are constantly emerging of employees losing limbs in factories, only to receive no compensation and without the ability to work, not being able to afford to go home. An Amnesty International report tells the moving tale of a Chinese woman who had been working 12-hour night shifts in an embroidery factory in Korea, who wrote this on her suicide note:

“Migrant workers are also human beings. Why don’t they pay me for my work? I cannot go home because I don’t have money. I have chosen to kill myself, as there is no other way.”

What you have to remember when purchasing a product from somewhere that states they are a Fair Trade Company is that anybody can claim they are a Fair Trade Company.

Do not be confused by such organizations as the Office of Fair Trading (UK) or the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC). Both of these organizations regulate economic competition law and policies amongst businesses, but have little to do with Fair Trade in the workers-rights sense of the word.

Their mandate is to provide consumer protection, not worker protection. The OFT slogan is to make “markets work well for consumers” and the KFTC website indicates that it’s primary focus is on anti-trust and consumer-protection cases, as does the KTFC’s own byline which refers only to competition laws, consumer protection, and boosting competition.

This has nothing to do with Fair Trade as it is commonly perceived.

To ensure that you are buying Fair Trade these are the only labels that are certified:

To read more about Fair Trade and where Envirosax stands in regards to these ethical principles, please read the full article.

For those of you interested in economics, you might like to know that ‘one use’ plastic bags are called a ‘market failure’. This is due to the fact that their pricing does not account for external factors such as the impact of litter on wildlife, or the monetary cost to the community to clean up plastic bag pollution.

In Australia alone, 30-35 million plastic bags end up as litter rather than in landfill every year, according to 2007 figures from a report on ‘the investigation of options to reduce the impacts of plastic bags‘.

Degradable and biodegradable plastic bags have been touted as the solution to this problem by a number of prominent supermarkets. However, there is limited evidence that they make a positive difference and more evidence to the contrary! The amount of time plastic bags remain in the environment as litter is unclear but the following facts give you some idea of their possible effects.

The most common degradable bags, oxo-degradable bags, have a ‘pro-degradent’ which causes fast break down into fragments. These then remain in the environment and may take a very long time to completely degrade. The impact of these bags as litter may thus be greater than for a normal plastic bag, which generally remains as one product, not fragments.

Biodegradable plastic bags are made from a mixture of polyethene and starch products and in the right conditions, will break down into elements like carbon dioxide, water and methane. To be considered degradable, these must compost within 12 weeks and fully biodegrade within 6 months. This means they survive long enough to pose a threat to animals if littered, as they may be mistaken for food.

If biodegradable bags are littered and caught in trees, like the plastic bags in the image below, they are unlikely to be exposed to soil microorganisms which assist breakdown and so pose the same problems as regular ‘one-use’ plastic bags.

Plastic Bag Tree in NYC

There are also questions raised about whether there is any benefit of degradable plastic bags even if they are properly disposed and end up in landfill. The Australian government published a report ‘The impact of degradable plastic bags in Australia’, which found that biodegradable plastics are unlikely to degrade in landfill as the microorganisms needed to help the break down, are not found in the dry anaerobic (oxygen deprived) conditions normally found in landfill.

The same report concluded that reusable bags have a lower environmental impact and gave better overall performance than either conventional or degradable ‘one-use’ bags, regardless of the degradability.

So the message is clear – reuse is the better option for the environment.

Bruno Tonioli

Bruno Tonioli at the 2009 GLAAD Awards with Envirosax Candy Bag 3. Bruno has become widely known for his jubilant comments and critiques after couples’ performances on the hit TV show Dancing With The Stars. Looks like Envirosax won’t be voted off any time soon!

Did you know that April 22, 2009 is the 39th Earth Day?

Founded by Senator Gaylord Nelson in 1969, the first Earth Day was held in 1970 and led by 20 million students around America. At the time, The New York Times wrote an article reporting on the astonishing rise of environmental activism – “rising concern about the environmental crisis is sweeping the nations campuses with an intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing student discontent over the war in Vietnam”.

Earth Day has grown to be a worldwide campaign with events being held all around the world, see http://earthday.envirolink.org/calendar.html , http://earthday.net/search/location and http://www.deepdalefarm.co.uk/earthday/ for examples.

While Earth Day is a great way to increase awareness worldwide of environmental issues, every little action that millions of people take on a regular basis is what really helps to protect our planet. There are many small ways we can help, as simple as turning out lights when we are not in the room or walking instead of using the car.

Users of Envirosax designer reusable bags should be congratulated for helping to green the planet every day. In its lifetime, each Envirosax bag saves the planet from approximately 6000 ‘one-use’ plastic bags from clogging waterways, killing wildlife and floating in the ocean for thousands of years. This one action of 3.5 million people using Envirosax reusable bags around the world is having an enormous environmental impact. Congratulations and thank you for making a difference to our planet!

Trees are the lifeline of the earth, yet we continue to cut them down for unnecessary convenience such as ‘one use’ paper grocery bags. In the USA alone, 14 million trees are are cut down every year to support this market.

For each tree we cut down, we rob the earth of its positive contribution towards to reducing climate change. On average each tree absorbs 20kg of carbon dioxide per year, removes other pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide at the rate of 1kg per year and adds about 52kg of oxygen to the atmosphere per year. There is also an eco system of flora & fauna that trees protect along with preserving top soil and soil integrity.

Envirosax’s founders have in the past, rejuvenated a 17 acre property back to its former natural beauty in Northern NSW. They now live a sustainable lifestyle on a 10 acre pristine rainforest property in Currumbin, where planting has continued to preserve the area.

The property features a forest of over fifteen hundred, fifteen-year-old Hoop Pine trees, each absorbing 44lbs of carbon dioxide per year. These and the 5,000+ other trees on the property, significantly reduce the company’s carbon footprint.