A tote with a mission - Vermont Foodbank

May 11, 2009

A tote with a mission

Audra Brown with a couple of her free THINCbean tote bags in downtown Montpelier. Photo by JEB WALLACE-BRODEUR/TIMES ARGUS

Times Argus
By Sarah Hinckley Times Argus Staff - Published: May 11, 2009

MONTPELIER – What better way to get people to stop using plastic shopping bags than to give the alternative – canvas bags – away.

Audra Brown and Carl Campbell have figured out a way to eventually take plastic bags out of the waste stream, which includes landfills, blowing down the street or clogging up space in homes. Through their innovative venture – Tomorrow's Human Interests Necessitate Change – THINC Like a Human Bean – the pair are asking area businesses to buy advertising space on a large, canvas tote and handing them out for free.

"We won't let anybody sell this bag, they have to give them away," said Brown, of Montpelier, sitting next to a sample sack. "Each run is 1,000 bags. If somebody buys one ad, it goes on 1,000 bags… This ad's going to walk around on peoples' shoulders for years."

There are 24 possible spots for advertising on the totes, and advertisers have a choice of four different sizes for different prices. One spot is not up for grabs: in their effort to create awareness, supporting a local cause or being more socially or environmentally conscious, Brown and Campbell are designating a slot for advertising to feature a local organization.

Vermont Food Bank gets the first shot in an effort to bring awareness to the issue of hunger, according to Campbell. There is no criteria for which causes or organizations will be featured in the future: Whoever gets the spot for free, all other advertisers are, in a sense, supporting that cause as well.

"Bags will be offered first to the people (businesses) who bought them," said Brown, who Campbell refers to as the sustainability expert.

Not only are local establishments buying into promoting their business, they are also buying into the concept of reducing a community's carbon footprint. Brown and Campbell were inspired while on a drive around the state, burning gasoline at $4-plus a gallon.

"In June of last year we went on a search for seed potatoes," said Brown, who works for the city of Montpelier. "We couldn't find any locally so we headed north… We were formulating this idea when we were driving around looking for a garden center."

While the pair knows canvas or cloth bags can be found in most markets, they realized one reason people balk at using them is they are an extra purchase that costs money.

"How can you get people to think about not using plastic bags," said Campbell, of Wilder, who has a background in startup companies and advertising. "The whole thing evolved into think like a human bean (versus being)… I see there being a market for THINC Like a Human Bean. That's kind of what we're getting people to do, not just think about your bag, but think about humanity."

Campbell was sporting THINC Like a Human Bean wear on Tuesday. The logo is a bean with eyes and a thought bubble coming off its top with an Earth being the bubble. Examples can be found all over the sample bags Brown carries around.

"I figured the Bean guy is going to be on 1,000 bags a shot," said Campbell about the sack, which is large enough to hold the equivalent of a full-size paper grocery bag. "You can pack that thing full of canned goods and it's not going to break."

Constructed with organic cotton that is grown and produced in the U.S.A, the bags are durable, washable and wearable. It is also a zero-waste product: not only does it use 100 percent of the cut of fabric, Campbell and Brown will take them back when their lifespan ends.

"Fabric comes this wide and our bag uses all virtually all of it," said Campbell. "Handles on the bag are not made with webbing. They're made with the same material."

Advertising for the first run of THINC bags has been sold and the pair is expecting to circulate the first round of bags by June 1. They are already collecting ads for the next run and establishing distributors in other communities who are interested in the product.

Businesses in Brattleboro, Springfield and eventually Burlington, are signing up for advertising on canvas bags to be distributed in their communities.

It is likely many of the totes will leave their areas of origination and become something communities throughout the country get behind, point out Brown and Campbell.

"People see them and ask, 'can I get one of those?'" Said Campbell, who, like Brown, is a single parent with a full-time job in addition to the launching of THINC Like a Human Bean. "It's been just under a year since the human bean was conceived."

For more information, call 223-6747 or email
www.thinclikeahumanbean@gmail.com.

The website, THINCbean.com is under construction but expected to be running by June 1.

Contact Sarah Hinckley at sarah.hinckley@timesargus.com.

May 11, 2009

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