The 'Lotus Trolley Bag' Combines Style With Eco-Friendly Function
The Lotus Trolley Bag is a sustainable, reusable grocery bag system that is easy to use, washable, and built to last.
Updated May 28 2019, 5:58 p.m. ET
When California voted to ban plastic grocery bags last year, San Diego-based husband-and-wife duo Farzan and Jen Dehmoubed decided it was time the world got a sturdy, sustainable and hard-to-forget shopping bag to further the environmental mission of the reusable bag craze.
"We wanted to eliminate the need for earth-damaging, animal-hurting plastic bags and tree-killing paper bags," the founders told Green Matters. "We were also determined to create a bag that was practical, based on comfort, using soothing colors, and lets shoppers get in and out of the store faster."
No stranger to reusable shopping bags, the couple knew they wanted something different that would last longer and provide more than a sack for the groceries. So they invented the Lotus Trolley Bag, a reimagined and redesigned shopping bag made to last and improve your shopping experience.
The bag system consists of four heavy-duty and reusable sacks that hang accordion-style inside a shopping cart. The base of the bag is made from a strong recycled plastic that is transformed into a non-woven fabric. Two of the sacks are mesh on the bottom for easy cleanups from spills while the other two are solid all the way down—one is a freezer bag and the other has slotted spaces for the safe transport of wine bottles and egg cartons. When the shopping is done, the four-in-one bag can be folded up in a 2-pound over-the-shoulder carrier for easy transport, much like a yoga mat.
To make things even easier, the Lotus Trolley Bag system is washable and is sewn with durable double stitching. Each bag can hold over 70 pounds thanks to the canvas-like, sustainable material, which is manufactured to be stronger than your regular bag—while most reusable bags are made of 60-75-grams-per-square-meter non-woven material, the Lotus bags are composed of 120-grams-per-square-meter non-woven material, ensuring they will last even longer.
"They can be used hundreds of times and save the average family 1500 plastic bags every year," the Dehmoubeds told Green Matters.
Saving this many bags per year is a huge relief to the environment. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year. These bags are used for an average of 12 minutes, but they remain in our landfills, oceans, parks, and beaches for thousands of years.
Additionally, manufacturing plastic and paper bags requires huge amounts of natural resources, water, and energy. Plastic bags are made from fossil fuels, and it requires 2.2 billion pounds of fossil fuel and 3.9 billion gallons of fresh water to produce the 100 billion plastic bags the US consumes each year.
The manufacturing of these bags produces a billion pounds of solid waste and 2.7 million tons of CO2 per year. Manufacturing and shipping paper bags require even more energy and water—and, surprisingly, create more pollution—than plastic bags. Producing the paper bags used in the U.S. each year requires 14 million trees.
The Lotus Trolley Bag system take care of all of this waste. Additionally, a portion of all sales will benefit three environmental organizations to further protect the planet: 1% For the Planet, Surfrider Foundation and the Plastic Pollution Coalition.
