European Commission to publish paper about plastic bags

The European Commission is to publish proposals in the spring designed to reduce the number of plastic bags used in Europe each year. Most of the 15,000 people who took part in a public consultation favoured an outright ban - but what are the options?  For a full report go to the BBC News website

More material arrives at the factory

The light blue has arrived as well.  How exciting :-)

The cotton has been dyed

The first batch of cotton has arrived.  We selected the colours for the bags very carefully and went to great lengths to make sure that they were absolutely what we wanted.  The dying works dye batches of around 500 kgs at a time and it is really exciting to get the first batch of coloured material in.  AND, all of the dyes we use are environmentally friendly Azo free dyes.  Brilliant.

A few small changes

Going to India provided us with the opportunity to chose the right organic cotton for the product.  When we first produced the bag they were 150 gram but with quite a loose weave.   So the strength in the bags came from the design and a heavier thread.  What we have now done is reduce the weight of the thread by using finer cotton, but at the same time increase the weave to something a lot tighter.  The result is a thinner, lighter and softer bag, that retains all the design features and importantly is at least as strong as the original bag.  It has also enabled us to keep the capacity of the bags the same but we can fold them into an even smaller pocket which means they are even more convenient.

Production has started

We are pleased to say that we have placed an order for our first few thousand bags.  The company that we have chosen as our supplier are excellent and they have some excellent working practices.  Exactly what we needed.  So over the next few weeks you will see a few design changed, the material has also changed - for the better, dying will take place, all sorts of things.

Northern Ireland to impose plastic bag levy

A report in the Daily Mail states that Northern Ireland is to introduce a plastic bag levy next year - the levy will be 5 pence and will increase to 10 pence in 2014.  All the more reason to ensure that you get hold of a Whale Bag!  For more information go to Mail Online

A successful trip to India

We have just returned from India on our factory tours in Delhi and Kolkata.  It was a great trip and it gave us the opportunity to visit the factories and check out the working conditions, operating procedures and ethics, and quality of the products. Many thanks to all of the factories we visited for being so open - ensuring that the bags are made properly and in keeping with our whole philosophy at Whale Bags is essential and we could not have done it without your help.