Turtle Bags – organic cotton

With London Climate Action Week 2024 and Plastic Free July around the corner, I felt it timely to chat to Beth Williams and her organic cotton plastic free Turtle Bags and the gorgeous natural vegetable dyes they use.

Beth writes:

Eighteen years ago, when plastic bags were ubiquitous at British supermarket checkouts, I became acutely aware of the plastic entering our marine food chain. Even then, scientists had detected plastic fragments in everything from large mammals to tiny invertebrates in our oceans, but the issue remained largely invisible to the public.

I founded Turtle Bags to raise awareness of this hidden problem. Using the turtle: an animal that visits UK waters and often ingests plastic bags, as our symbol, I began sourcing sustainable and ethical plastic-free alternatives to the plastic carrier bags.

Over the years, Turtle Bags has grown organically. This gradual growth has allowed us to establish long-term relationships with our Fairtrade producers and develop innovative materials and products.

In 2018, Turtle Bags was highlighted as a case study in the UN report “Exploring Alternative Materials to Reduce Plastic Pollution.” This recognition marked the beginning of our relationship with the UN Science Policy Business Forum, which supports businesses by fostering alliances and enabling sustainable innovation.

Being part of this group has been transformative and empowering for Turtle Bags. Attending the 2019 UN Environment Programme meetings allowed us to forge new partnerships and strengthened our commitment to promoting sustainable living.

With this mission in mind, I traveled to India in late 2019 to create a documentary about the benefits of organic cotton. The resulting mini-documentary, “Cottoning On…,” explores how organic cotton contributes to soil health and enhances climate resilience. (see below)

Vegetable dyes

Natural dyes are biodegradable, non-toxic and non-allergenic

The process of using vegetable dyes uses less water and creates less pollution than synthetic dyes.  The water that is used in the dying can be recycled and put back on the land as it is rich in nutrients.

Water discharged by textile mills with synthetic dyes contained chemicals including formaldehyde, chlorine, lead, and mercury

While the Indias mills have made progress and work is under way to reduce their chemical footprint, rinse water from the dying process is still blamed for contaminating many of India’s rivers.

On average, dyeing accounts for 15%-20% of all the waste water flow in textile production. Most of these chemicals end up in water effluent. According to the World Bank, almost 20% of global industrial water pollution comes from dyeing and treatment of textiles and ‘Some 72 toxic chemicals reach our water supply from textile dyeing’.

Ali writes: I’ve been taking these plastic free string bags with me wherever I go, so easy to pop in a pocket if you find yourself in a shop without a bag… the are WHICH? tested to hold up to 40kg. And you can squeeze a LOT into them! watch here

Useful LINKS:

London Climate Action Week 2024. Ali Clifford will be speaking about the Incredibusy Salvaged Speed Loom at the Knowledge Hub in June. https://www.londonclimateactionweek.org/event/future-fabrics-expo-2024/

These repair looms are available to purchase here and are in their own incredibusy branded GOTS (Global Organic Textiles) organic cotton task bag from Turtle Bags.

Use reusable or recyclable shopping bags. Check out Turtlebags and their amazing range of organic and fairtrade bags as an alternative.