Reusable shopping bags roundup

Been wasting some time here and there some days when I've nothing better to do...

These days with the various green initiatives going on in the country, some places have stopped giving people plastic bags and would charge per if you asked for one, like IKEA. Carrefour started giving out reusable bags with every RM50 purchase. Mum's got a few of these now and she insists on not bringing them back to be reused and keeps bringing home new ones. I bet if the hypermarkets were to give some monetary reward for reusing them she might do it.

Then there's the reusable nylon (?) tote bags you get for free for some reason or other, those are not exactly the prettiest things you would want to carry around.

Anyhow - I got myself an Envirosax at Parkson some weeks ago, which I paid RM14.90 for (used the RM10 voucher I got from buying I-forgot-what, haha). While I like the compactness, but the prints available locally don't really appeal to me. So I leave it in one of the other bags for those "just in case" situations. Or when the situation doesn't allow for handbags, backpacks, etc - you know what I mean :P

That's the low range one; and then there are RuMe (or Reuse Me) and Roototes, which cost a little more (under RM100) each, but these things are supposed to last. These are the ones that I'm wasting time looking around for - scouring LYN forums for cheaper ones than the ones I saw on Tiny Tapir, the local outfit who specialises in selling eco-friendly products in KL.

I thought the RuMe bags aren't too bad as they also have them in solid colours, but I don't feel like paying Tiny Tapir the shipping costs for something like that (they start from RM29 for the smallest one). I like the Roototes' three inner pockets as well as the extra side pockets for the essentials, but as they're a Japanese product, the designs on them are also pretty Japanese-y with the Engrish and what not.

My favourite one so far that I've seen online are the flip and tumble bags, which has a stretch pouch and storing it is like rolling up a pair of socks, and turns into a small ball. Unfortunately they don't seem to ship to Malaysia in the drop down menu. WTF lah. You can also check out Baggu, which comes in a tiny pouch, but the international flat rate shipping is $10 O_o Painful if you're getting one, better if you're sharing with other people.

Then there are the uber high end designer ones, the infamous one being Anya Hindmarch's I'm Not a Plastic Bag totes which caused a stir and a riot in some places. I know that £5 is cheap for a designer bag, but with so many fakes around... I don't know. It's not real pretty for a designer thing, you know? Come to think of it, I've not seen them a lot lately, either, which kind of defeats the purpose of the bags to begin with. I think whoever bought them are just stashing them in their cupboards, never again to see the day of light. Then there are also these, which cost £55. Eep. I don't think you can get me to fork out the money for that.