A message from company founder Kristen Brown:

My father, Gordon Dancy, introduced the plastic grocery bag to America in 1977. His invention helped coin the iconic question “Paper or plastic?”, which changed consumer behavior and revolutionized the grocery bag industry. As a high school student, I trained one of the first grocery stores to ever use plastic bags in my hometown of Middletown, Ohio.

Thirty-four years later, we are once again in need of behavior change at the supermarket. We now know that both paper and plastic disposable bags harm the environment. The manufacturing process for paper bags is energy-intensive and increases water and air pollution. Plastic bags litter our environment, waste our diminishing oil supply, and harm marine life. The average household uses 1,000 disposable bags per year. Clearly, it is time to make a change.

More about Kristen Brown…

Beginning in 1986, Brown worked for manufacturers of recycled packaging in both the United States and Europe. In 2000, she became vice president of Market Development for Phoenix Recycling, where she focused on residential waste reduction strategies for municipalities. She then served as a residential waste reduction consultant for the U.S. EPA in 2007. She has helped develop waste reduction strategies in major U.S. cities, including Philadelphia, Washing D.C., and Atlanta.

Brown is the EPA’s leading Pay-As-You-Throw expert. She conducts training in incentives-based municipal programs such as SMART waste management. Beginning in 2007, Brown led the EPA’s American Big Cities SMART campaign and also helped design the EPA SMART Benefit Evaluation Tool (BET). She is a regular contributor to the EPA news bulletin and other environmental publications.

In 2009, Governor Mark Sanford appointed Brown to South Carolina’s Recycling Market Development Advisory Council (RMDAC) as ambassador to the legislator. Her sustainability strategies are founded upon three core principles: education, incentives, and public–private partnerships.

Kristen Brown lives with her husband and two children in Pawleys Island, South Carolina.