Nearly two years after founding her business, Ms. Lazar is looking forward to the day when she pops into a grocery store and finds someone carrying broccoli or apples in one of her reusable produce sacks.
For now – despite thousands of sales and a growing movement toward being environmentally responsible – most shoppers in Canada still use the free plastic bags in the produce aisle.
“You know you’re selling lots of bags, but it would be nice to see people actually using them,” says Ms. Lazar, who has sold more than 30,000 produce bags since they hit stores in July of 2008.
She probably won’t have to wait much longer. Ms. Lazar launched her business, Credo Bags, at a time when the slogan “buy green” began to resonate in the minds of consumers. Whether it’s recycling, composting food scraps, or walking instead of driving, more people are taking small steps to become greener.
Indeed, that’s how inspiration struck Ms. Lazar. The apparel industry veteran was looking for an opportunity to re-enter the business world after taking off 12 years to raise her children. When grocery stores in Quebec introduced reusable bags a few years back, Ms. Lazar was a quick convert. However, she soon discovered another chance to go green was being wasted at the supermarket.
“I realized it didn’t make sense to put your fruits and vegetables into those filmy, plastic produce bags and then put them in your [reusable]grocery bag,” Ms. Lazar explains.
