Sea Bags: Musings from Maine

In honor of Earth Day we thought we’d take a few minutes to educate all of you about how Sea Bags started and what we’re trying to accomplish.  Don’t forget to get involved today, even if it’s something small. And thanks to your support over the years we have been able to continually move forward with our mission to sustainability. Onwards!

Sea Bags Mission to Sustainability

• We make our product out of recycled sails
• We believe in fair-trade practices and all of our manufacturing is done locally at competitive wages
• We buy locally—US Made and Maine Made
• We use any material that would normally go to landfills
• We use recycled paper and our business cards and brochures are printed with earth friendly inks and recycled stock paper from printers that have environmental certification
• We recycle our sails: we give hardware back to sail makers, turn scrap to product, and donate sails we can’t use for shelter
• We look for recycled product or at least recycled content
• Our product hang-tags and envelopes are made of scraps from our manufacturing
• We negotiate less packaging materials with our customers
• We purchase scraps from other companies to use in our processes
• We use eco-friendly soaps and cleaning products
• We use hand-towels instead of paper
• We recycle our ink cartridges
• We keep our heat down and dress warmly for work
• Our displays, furniture and bins were recycled from a New England mill; our table goods recycled from a local restaurant
• We actively contribute to our community to sustaining Portland’s working waterfront

Sailed around the world, recycled in Maine.

Last week we hosted classes from Thornton Academy Middle School. The students have been learning about fair trade and ethical work practices in their social studies class along with repurposing materials in art class in preparation for their Trashion Show next week.  Classes stopped by the wharf to see first hand how Sea Bags recycles and how we make our product in Maine.

During their visit we revealed the winner of the Sea Bags Challenge! Taylor’s cool design won and was turned into a tote (shown above). She describes her design, “the ‘key’ is the key to recycling. We have to get the key to make the planet a better place.”

We are all very excited at Sea Bags for the young talent that will be showcased next Wednesday night at Thornton Academy’s Trashion Show! And congratulations Taylor!

Our Wine Bag has been popular for a few years now and we wanted to remind you that we still make them. Attending a cocktail party, Spring Fling, or even an Earth Month event? The Sea Bags Wine Bag is the gift.

The Wine Bag is made from white recycled sail material and features our signature white hand spliced rope handles, for a good grip. In keeping with the spirit of Earth Day, the Wine Bag features a TO – FROM label at the back to record the names of all the gifters and giftees on its way around the globe, eventually begging the question, “Where has your wine bag been?!”

What better way to celebrate the Earth than by giving a Sea Bags Wine Bag? It gets recycled again and again and priced at just $29.00, it makes the ultimate gift!

As we mentioned last week, this coming Thursday marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. That means that all this week we’ll be featuring things we’ve done for the environment and what we’ve recycled over the years.

For those of you who might be new fans of ours, you may not have heard Beth’s interview with Josh Dorfman, host of the national talk radio show The Lazy Environmentalist, a few years back. Beth talks about Sea Bags, the causes we support, and what it means to you when you purchase our products.

Visit the Radio Link to listen in.

Earth Day is a celebration of the environment designed to inspire awareness and concern for our planet. It’s celebrated on April 22nd of each year and next week happens to be the 40th anniversary! The tradition began in 1970 when U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin announced his idea for a nationwide teach-in day on the environment. Nelson believed that an “ecologically literate public would do far more than landmark legislation to assure a sustainable future.”

So what can you do to celebrate? Well, of course keep Sea Bags in mind when you come across those old sails in need of a new life. We would love to trade a bag for them or make a bag for you! Remember that we will also pay to have them shipped to us; or we will come by and pick them up ourselves.

There are many events going on in the Portland community as well as our great state. You’ll find celebrations, clean-ups, films, discussions, and festivals throughout southern and coastal Maine through these resources that we found to be helpful:

The Sunrise Guide
Earth Day Network
EPA

Take the time to check out some events and volunteer. And if you know of an event that isn’t listed, don’t hesitate to contact each network to have them add it to their list.

Image via EarthDay40th.com.