July 23rd, 2009

From Green Right Now Reports

Satchels, messenger bags and lunch containers seem to be magnets for green innovation these days. We’ve seen them made of PET plastic, gum wrappers, vegan materials and adorned with solar collectors. Why not fashion them from rice bags?

A group of women in sustainable coops in the Philippines thinks these colorful receptacles should get a second life (and we agree). The women recycle large rice bags, and other post-consumer materials, weaving them into shoulder purses, carry-alls, messenger bags and lunch boxes. A stateside retailer, A Healthy Green Home, sells the bags and donates some of the proceeds to the Lymphoma & Leukemia Society, in honor of Ray Molina, husband to Rebecca Molina, a leader of one of the coops.

The “Magnolia” purse (shown at left; $48) has a certain panache. It’s slick surface wipes down easily and the bag is foldable for travel.

Also offered: A rice sack lunch bag ($12.50) and a juice-wrapper tote ($58; below).

A Healthy Green Home describes itself as “a multi-platform licensing and entertainment portal dedicated to the design and manufacture of accessible and affordable green products”. HGH brings designers and manufacturers together to “ensure that our customers are purchasing quality products that are value oriented and environmentally friendly”.

We like the recycled credentials of these bags, and that they support Philippo artisans. Value-oriented? You’ll have to be the judge.

The online retailer is a subsidiary of Danger Management & Media Inc., a branding and media think tank based in Miami.