Eco-Bags Products Founder & CEO Sharon Rowe, visiting our factory in India.

We are so happy to announce that we have been re-certified as a B Corporation. We so strongly believe in for-profit businesses as a force for good, and our ability as social and environmental change makers. It is a community that we are proud to be a part of and celebrate.

We have been a certified B Corp since 2010 – but we have been sourcing our labor and product ethically & sustainably since our inception in 1989, before it was the “cool” thing to do, before “social responsibility” was a buzzword.

Eco-Bags Products was  a B Corp Best for the Environment honoree in 2014 & 2015, and this past year – 2016 – we were recognized as a B Corp Best for the World Overall. We are happy to see B Corporation growing as more and more businesses join each year – and love to meet new friends, and see the old, at their annual retreats. As B Corp has grown it has had to change and adapt to the plethora of different businesses that are certified each year.

During our re-certification we learned that B Corp has changed the way it assesses businesses to better represent the growing number of for-profit companies that are seeking B Corporation certification that are social ventures whose sole purpose of existence is to employ those who are refugees or disenfranchised; companies like Greyston Bakery, whose practices (& baked goods) we so wholeheartedly believe in and support.

We are constantly looking for ways to improve in a way that benefits both the environment as well as the people and animals living on it, and our proud of our score of 111 on the B Corp impact assessment, from the B Corp website:

Any score higher than 0 points is a good score, as a positive score indicates that the company is doing something positive for society and the environment. The Assessment rewards practices that go beyond standard business practice; therefore, every point earned on the Assessment reflects incremental, positive impact.

Most companies score between 40 and 100 points out of the 200 points available.

Our factory  is both third party fair wage and fair labor certified, and the farm where we source our cotton uses revenue to fund a school for the children of their workers. Our cotton is GOTS certified organic. We have our SA 8000 certification, which is a social accountability standard. Our bags are made of either recycled cotton or organic cotton. We employ members of our local community and to lessen our carbon impact most of us walk to work or drive less than 3 miles, and one of us commutes by foot & ferry. We are a group of people committed to and with a strong belief in our companies values & mission.

We have made a commitment, and will continue to make that commitment, to support sustainability for the environment, and to make sure everyone in our supply chain works in a safe environ
ment, and makes a living wage.

Written by: Mollie Mac, ECOBAGS® very own marketing maven. Mollie is an adventurer and a green living advocate. If you have any tips or tricks for her she’d love to hear from you, email her at: mollie(at)ecobags(dot)com