How Do RitzLuxe Woven Purses Address the Environmental Hazards of Plastic Handbags?

How Do RitzLuxe Woven Purses Address the Environmental Hazards of Plastic Handbags?

By Julian Gehmane

In recent years, the fashion industry has witnessed a surge in demand for affordable and stylish accessories, particularly handbags. However, the rise in popularity of plastic handbags comes with a heavy environmental toll. In this blog post, we explore the alarming environmental hazards associated with the production, use and disposal of plastic handbags, shedding light on the hidden costs that consumers may not be aware of.  We also highlight how RitzLuxe is addressing sustainability with the materials used in RitzLuxe handbags and purses.

The Plastic Predicament

Plastic has become a staple material in handbags due to its affordability and versatility.  Many handbags sold by big box department stores and Amazon are made from plastic or plastic-like materials.  These materials include polyurethane (PU), nylon, polyester and PVC (polyvinyl chloride).  Marketers dress these up with less industrial sounding names like faux leather, PU leather, vegan leather, microfiber, and – my favorite – “manmade materials.”  I call them all plastic, although a chemist might beg to differ – some of these materials do not have the molecular formation of a true plastic.  But they’re all plastic or plastic-like.

I surveyed women’s handbags and purses from WalMart, Target and Amazon.  The websites for these stores identified the materials used in each purse or handbag. For some, different materials were used for the bag’s shell, lining or handle.  

What did I learn?  Purses for sale below $50 almost uniformly were made of plastic.  For example, WalMart sells a crossbody messenger handbag from Ecetana for $22.69.  From the photo it looks like it could be made of leather but the material listed is PU.  Even a snappy looking canvas beach tote from Lands End – which seemingly was a cotton canvas bag – turned out to be made from polyester and cotton.  This was one of the few bags I found for under $50 that had a material other than plastic.  The other exceptions were handsome leather cross body handbags by Estalon and Valenchi for sale on Amazon for $39.99.  But they were the exception – nearly all handbags and purses below $50 were made of plastic, and most were entirely plastic.

By contrast, most purses above $50 were made from natural leather or other non-plastic materials.  For example, WalMart listed a cute Kate Spade “New York women’s smile” cross-body purse for $80.91.  The material for this purse is said to be 100 per cent leather.  Not all $50 plus purses were leather.  Kmart sells a canvas Challenger tote for $59.99.  This tote was described as “Challenger women’s handbag made from upcycled canvas and full-grain leather accents.”  Some $50 plus bags had plastic.  An attractive Michael Kors tote was marketed as non-leather vegan.  Another classy tote from Kate Spade listed its materials as: “Material: 100% Italian Leather; PVC lining.”  A nice looking satchel from Vera Bradley for $130 at Target was made from polyester and marketed as “microfiber.”  Once again, these were the exceptions. Purses and handbags above $50 mostly were made of natural leather, a few were made of canvas, and fewer still of plastic but with more upscale marketing. 

We are discussing the mass market, so the higher end Saint Laurent, Christian Louboutin, Bottega Veneta, Prada, Hermes and other luxury brands were not surveyed.  The mass market matters for this blog post because the large volumes in landfills come from the mass market.

To generalize, purses and handbags below $50 mostly are plastic, while bags above $50 have much less plastic and mostly are made of real leather.  Of course, products with prices below $50 sell in greater volume.  Thus, plastic purses and handbags dominate the market, and the landfills.

Plastic Fantastic Pollution

The environmental repercussions of plastic production, use and disposal are far-reaching.  Environmental issues pop up all through the life cycle of plastic handbags and purses, from the extraction and processing of fossil fuels to produce plastics, to the production of handbags in factories, to the use of plastic handbags that generates microplastic pollution, and finally to the disposal of discarded plastic handbags. These are discussed below.

Fossil fuel as feed stock for plastic

The majority of plastic in use today is made from fossil fuels such as petroleum, natural gas and coal.  As is well known, the extraction and exploitation of these fossil fuels releases gases into the atmosphere that the fossils had sunk into the ground eons ago.  The greenhouse gas theory holds that this new release of gases into the environment harms planet earth.     

Plastic can be made from other, more eco-friendly  sources that replace fossil fuels.  This plastic, known as renewable plastic or bioplastic, is created from renewable  biomass such as terpenes, lignin, cellulose, vegetable gat,  bacteria, wood fibers, carbohydrates, recycled food waste,  etc.  Biodegradable plastic doesn’t contain the potential  dangerous chemical BPA and is likely to dissolve in a couple  of months. In addition, over its lifetime, bioplastic emits much  less greenhouse gas compared to ordinary plastic.

Unfortunately, bioplastics represent  just one per cent of global production of plastics.  I could not find any handbag brand using bioplastics.  

Pollution in Production of Plastics

Most plastic handbags sold in the United States are made in China. Although it recently tightened environmental regulation and enforcement, China has a long history of pollution. China’s choice of fuels and processes are inherently more polluting.  “China relies upon massive coal-fired plants, the ‘forever chemical’ PFAS, and toxic mercury catalysts to produce plastics.”  The discharge of these pollutants not only harms the immediate environment but also poses health risks to nearby communities.

Microplastic Menace

Microplastics are fragments of any type of plastic less then 5 mm (0.20 in) in length.  Microplastics can be generated by the breakdown of anything plastic, like a water bottle or a plastic purse.  In particular, washing textiles or plastic containers (like a plastic handbag) can cause these tiny fragments to break off and float in the air or go down the drain with the water.  They are almost impossible to eliminate from the environment.

These microplastics infiltrate soil, water, and even the air, entering the food chain and impacting both human and animal health. Microplastics have been found in human blood and lungs.  “Researchers found 39 microplastics in 11 of the 13 lung tissue samples and 12 different types of microplastics.” “Microplastic exposure has been shown to cause cell death, and DNA damage in laboratory animals and cell cultures.  There is concern that toxicity to human cells from inhaled microplastic fibers may depend on the type of plastic, level of exposure, particle shape, size, absorbed pollutants, and leach of additives present on plastics.”  Your plastic handbag could be bad for your health.

Waste Management Nightmare

When discarded, plastic handbags contribute to the ever-growing waste crisis.  Improper disposal and the lack of effective recycling systems result in vast quantities of plastic ending up in landfills, water bodies and oceans, posing a severe threat to ecosystems and wildlife.

The abstract of a paper on the biodegradability of plastics sums up this problem:

Plastics are one of the most widely used materials and, in most cases, they are designed to have long life times.  Thus,  plastics contain a complex blend of stabilizers that prevent  them from degrading too quickly.  Unfortunately, many of the most advantageous properties of plastics such as their chemical, physical and biological inertness and durability present challenges when plastic is released into the environment.  Common plastics such such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyethylene  terephthalate (PET) are extremely persistent in the  environment, where they undergo very slow fragmentation  (projected to take centuries) into small particles through  photo-, physical, and biological degradation processes.  The  fragmentation of the material into increasingly smaller pieces  is an unavoidable stage of the degradation process.  Ultimately, plastic materials degrade to micron-sized  particles (microplastics), which are persistent in the  environment and present a potential source of harm for  organisms.

In short, ordinary plastics take centuries to degrade in the environment, if ever.  A plastic handbag is the gift that keeps on giving.

Some brands are taking advantage of this persistence and making handbags out of recycled plastic.  This seems to be an upscale niche market for the environmentally conscious.  (R)evolution sells a  tote made of 13 plastic water bottles.  It was listed at $94, but the website said it was sold out when I checked.  Mafia sells its Deep Blue Bag, which it says was made in the USA from upcycled sails.  The Deep Blue Bag sells for $234 and was available for sale when I checked the website.  Not all handbags from recycled materials are expensive.  Kind Bag sells these bags at very reasonable prices.

Plastic handbags harm the environment and possibly are dangerous to your health.  However, talk is cheap – it’s easy to scold about environmental hazards.  The important thing is to provide a realistic solution.  Plastic handbags sell well because they are inexpensive, stylish and very useful.  To displace plastic handbags, one must provide equally inexpensive, stylish and useful handbags that are truly sustainable.  RitzLuxe sells woven purses and handbags that are eminently sustainable.  Some of the RizLuxe woven handbags are priced to compete with plastic handbags.

The RitzLuxe Solution

RitzLuxe offers stylish and sustainable woven handbags at affordable prices.  For example, our woven backpack sells for $18.99, woven casual tote for $29.99, woven backpack bag for $38.00 and our unique woven clutch purse sells for $38.99.  As can be seen from their photos, these bags have a stylish and unusual appearance.  Now, consumers can buy attractive, non-plastic and sustainable handbags for the same price as plastic handbags.  

These, and all other RitzLuxe woven handbags and purses, were hand crafted in the Philippines from abaca.  Abaca is the strongest natural fibre. For hundreds of years, abaca was the primary material for making rope because it is very strong and durable.  

Abaca is an eco-champion, in sharp contrast to plastic.  As a natural plant, abaca is biodegradable and compostable.  Abaca leaves are discarded in harvesting and quickly degrade into the ground, serving as organic fertilizer.  Abaca fibers found in RitzLuxe purses and other abaca products are biodegradable and return to the soil in a matter of months.  This compares favorably with plastic handbags, which persist in the environment for centuries.

Abaca is a renewable resource.  An abaca plant takes 18 to 24 months to reach maturity, after which it can be harvested every three to eight months.  During its initial growth, the abaca plant extends a network of runners or shootsalong the ground with roots going underground at each segment.  The roots sprout up growth of overlapping sheafs of leaf stalks,which can reach ten to 20 feet high and are harvested.  During harvesting, the leaf stalks above ground are cut off.  This leaves intact the runners and root networks, which then sprout new leaf stalks, which can be harvested again in three to eight months.  This way, Abaca renews itself after each harvesting.

Abaca benefits the land because its root structure retains water and holds soil in place.  Abaca is particularly helpful on steep hillsides, like the side of a volcano.  The Philippines receives monsoons and experiences deadly landslidesdue to extreme water runoff. However abaca plants hold the soil in place and prevent erosion on land.  It is also important to sea fishes and other littoral marine habitat.  Abaca plantings help to prevent soil from going into the ocean and crowding out sea fish breeding grounds in coastal areas.  

Abaca growers in the Philippines are uniformly small farmers, with the average farmer tending 1.6 hectares (about four acres) of abaca. Abaca growth and harvesting is labor intensive and mostly done by hand.  This helps to support rural employment.  The income from the abaca cash crop supports rural and indigenous communities in the Philippines.  Similarly, your purchase of RitzLuxe handbags supports the artisans in the Philippines who made these bags by hand.  We are helping to preserve a way of life and skills and traditions that have been handed down through generations of rural and indigenous Filipinos. 

Conclusion

The allure of affordable and trendy plastic handbags from China may be hard to resist.  Nevertheless, consumers should be informed about the environmental hazards associated with plastic handbags’ production, use and disposal.  By making conscious choices and supporting sustainable alternatives, we can collectively work towards a fashion industry that values both style and environmental responsibility. RitzLuxe offers attractive and sustainable woven purses at reasonable prices.  You can carry your RitzLuxe woven bag with pride knowing your purchase helps to support small size farms engaged in sustainable farming and native artisans who crafted your handbag from abaca.