We all know how annoying it can be 

Be Keen To Be Green With Eco Party Bags!

   

 BIODEGRADABLE TREATS INSTEAD OF SQUASHED CAKE AND PLASTIC.... AS REPORTED IN THE WESTERN DAILY PRESS 5th FEBRUARY 2008    

NOW EVEN KIDS' PARTY BAGS GET ECO-MAKEOVER           

BY TRISTAN CORKT.CORK@BEPP.CO.UK

08:00 - 05 February 2008

It all started with recycled loo roll and re-using jam jars. Soon afterwards, almost all aspects of our life had an environmentally-friendly alternative.

But there is one thing that is still about as non-green as Jeremy Clarkson driving a 4x4 through a rainforest - the humble children's party bag.

They are made from plastic and filled with squashed cake, scarily coloured sweets and tiny plastic toys shipped over from China that, as every parent knows, are destined to be played with for five minutes in the car home before being lost forever down the gap in the back seat.

But now one West mum has set about a tiny green revolution of her own.

For while eco-warriors board whaling ships and climate change campaigners camp outside Heathrow, Nia Blake is quietly changing the environmental impact of that little bag of goodies designed to say "thank you for coming to my party".

The mum-of-three worked for more than a decade as a childminder, so has enough experience of party bags to last a lifetime.

Mrs Blake said: "As a family, we try to be green generally, but it's not always easy. One of the things I absolutely hated about children's birthdays was the party bags. I thought 'there has to be another way of doing this'.

"There's the party bag itself, which is plastic and will be around for hundreds of years. Then there's what's in it. The kids take the sweets out and eat them, the cake always ends up mashed to pieces and the toys inside are plastic, rubbishy things that never get played with and don't last - apart from in landfill.

"I've never been a fan of party bags anyway. There's the whole snob thing where parents have to have the best party bags.

"I was looking for something to do that didn't involve looking after children, and realised that if I was sick of party bags which were not environmentally-friendly, then there must be loads of parents out there who felt the same.

"It just seemed so unnecessary. You can get things that don't have to end up in landfill."

So Mrs Blake embarked on the business - www.ecopartybags.co.uk - and already it is going from strength to strength. The bags are made of 100 percent recycled paper, without bleach of course, and the toys inside do not cost the Earth.

"There are quality, affordable toys out there. Things like a wooden popgun or a cup and ball - little things that will last, the children want to play with and that are completely biodegradable," she explained.

"The traditional wooden toys are really popular, and we've also got pens, pencils and crayons made from recycled materials.

"The balloons are made from latex, which biodegrades at the same rate as an oak leaf, and comes from a sustainable source. And we try to source the products from Britain so they don't have to come halfway across the world to get here."

Mrs Blake is looking into more eco-party items including, possibly, plates and cups made from tapioca.

She said: "There is a market out there I've tapped into. People are coming back asking for everything at their child's party to be eco-friendly.

"It's really good because it gets the children used to this at a young age."  




Daily Telegraph - 6.3.08 - TO GUARANTEE A HAPPY BIRTHDAY, YOU MUST FOLLOW THE PARTY LINE
(note:  the 10 party bags for £2.90 are not pre-filled, they are fair trade newspaper bags)