“Green” gift bags made from limestone
Paper gift bags may not carry a high price tag for consumers, but they can have a major one for the planet in terms of water-borne waste, air pollutants and electricity consumption.

That’s why Joy Harding (Sarasota, FL) developed the Earth Balance Bag, a line of tree-free “paper” bags. The proprietary bagstock (www.earthbalancebag.com) uses inorganic mineral powder from pulverized limestone combined with a small amount of HDPE as a binder. Graphics are offset-printed with vegetable-based inks. For every ton of tree-free “paper” produced, Harding says 20 trees are saved, 42 lb of water-borne waste is eliminated, 236 lb of atmospheric emissions are eliminated, 16,000 gal of water are conserved and 36,000 BTUs of energy are saved.