Stasher My 3 year update and Review.
Disclaimer: I am not sponsored by any company or brand, I buy all products with my own money unless otherwise specified. This is meant to be educational and informative.
The internet, especially the eco community has been a little buzzy recently with different Eco Friendly Small businesses that have “sold out” one of those brands recently has been Stasher bag, or at least it's come to light in the last year or two. So I'm late to this party. But having said that I wanted to see if I can still support: Stasher bag.
I’ve had Stashers for 3 years now and I now own at least 11 bags. I actually won my first one in a Earth Month and Plastic Free July Bingo on Instagram so I didn't pay a dime for my first one which just so happened to be a half gallon size bag and in that year we saved at least the price of one box of Gallon Size Zip Top Style Bag, so $35.49 for a 144 count box. This bag would normally be $21.99 for one single bag, so I acknowledge the start up price for stasher is a little steep when you are just buying one bag. My family has those 11 stasher bags plus 12 other reusable bags so my stashers alone cost me over $150 if I were to buy at this time (the bundles I did get were on some sales that no longer exists and I even got a few on clearance), If you are a single person and only need 4 or 6 total there are nice bundles under $100. This is a cost that makes up for itself later on.
Reusable Bags in use. Image by ThatMomMercedes
When we look at the Pros and Cons, you have the big ones of saving plastic waste as being a pro and a con as being that its silicone texture is something not everyone likes. I have a family member that cannot stand the feeling of the stasher when they are wet. I personally don't mind the feeling but I can respect that family members texture issue, as I cannot touch many things that are microfiber (another time I’ll tell you how I still use microfiber cloths) this family member doesn't mind the feeling of the Ello bags in comparison so she uses more of those. Another thing is that people say that stasher leaves a bad taste on their food, especially when frozen or Sous Vide in the bag which the company does have a how to guide, this was one of the selling features for me that the bag could be used in a hot water bath or even in the oven (on a baking sheet) for short periods of time without the taste being bad. I have to say when I tried cooking something in the stasher bag, I used the microwave and I tried Scrambled Microwave Eggs. I don’t think I should have tried this as I don’t enjoy eggs that are microwaved, so it tasted weird to me. On the flip side, I make my oatmeal at work in my Stasher Bowl all the time simply by adding in the oatmeal and hot water and letting it sit for a few minutes (sometimes around 20 because I put it together then I walk away and do what I need to do while that's “cooking” ) this I know taste just fine. Another unexpected but great pro is that you can use them as Ice or Heat packs, I freeze water in the bags and use them as ice packs for picnics and even for my knee. How do I make a heat pack with them? I simply warm a washcloth and put it in the bag, no wet clothes for littles that way. We also have used these as insulin ice packs, or to put the glass bottles in while on a road trip or going to the water park for insulin dependent family members.
Right now lets go beyond the pros and cons of the stasher in everyday life, I want to know the pros and cons of Stasher in an eco way. One Stasher bag can replace, according to their website at least “260 single use plastic bags, being made out of Food Grade FDA approved silicone”. And if you tear or rip the bag they have a partnership with Terracycle to recycle the bag at the end of its life, this is an amazing thing showing they want a circle economy since at one point they did advertise they worked with the recycled silicone to make new bags 100% recycled. I can't find any trace of them saying that where I am searching on the internet but it does say that terracycle will turn them into pebbles for playgrounds or other products from their store. There is a whole list of things you can do with your stasher if there is a hole or you no longer wish to use them for food, from packing away phone chargers and even use for arts and crafts supplies when they are no longer “food safe” or “leak proof.” They have a whole area on their blog about how to use stasher in your upcycle project, I have done some of these without them even telling me I could do that like taking our Toddlers Bib and Silverware to restaurants in our original stasher, it held everything perfect and kept it together in my diaper bag.
Cons, the materials used and waste made from production. Without the program with TerraCycle silicone is not widely recycled and can leave a chemical trail, plus silicone is like plastic with it being able to be recycled but not many places actually exist that does recycle silicone. When you search Recycle Silicon, TerraCycle is one of the top search results, but a handful are around in a few states. According to most of them, silicone-like plastic can only be recycled a handful of times, each time being weaker than the last. There seem to be some small YouTube channels that will do 3D projects with recycled Silicone Molds, I have just found these so you know I will be watching those as soon as I have a free moment.
So What Happened? In January 2018 the brand appeared on the show Shark Tank, and went on to sell to SC Johnson in 2019. That was before I even got my free bingo bag from them, so all the stats I've read over the years has been done while being in the SC Johnson family. Back in 2020 when I was first interested in them, nothing about them shouted “owned by major brand” so it confused me to all heck seeing them in stores like Target and later CVS, I knew some marketing cash was apart of that but them being apart of the SC Johnson family basically guaranteed them that shelf spot. In just a quick google search of how many brands or products they own or “parent” I got shown pictures of millions of products I both recognized and didn't recognize, but no clear answer. According to their website they are “committed to keeping single use plastics down and even out” when it comes to the use of plastics, since they make a lot of products in single use plastic bottles (shampoo, painkillers, etc.) It's a little weird that they would acquire this company that totes the use of their bags hundreds of times, this is a direct competition to their own product, Ziploc bags. We can go on for hours on SC Johnson and if we do look more into their Greenwashing or problems that would be within our members area, because I’ve only skimmed the surface and let me tell you it's hard to find evidence of both that and actual follow through on projects since so much exists by them. It's not hard to find evidence of the negative impact these companies have on millions, and I'd like to do that justice so It will take a while to do that, but if you want it I’ll do it.
So, knowing that information and just that little bit alone what do I believe and will I continue to use a stasher? Silicone on one hand, does still last longer than plastic, it has the power to survive for decades but also “The creation of silicone relies on hydrocarbons derived from petroleum, a non-renewable resource. This process is energy-intensive and contributes to carbon emissions” according to the source Green Match UK. Plastic on the other hand, has been well documented as “harmful to the environment” and microplastics have been found in human brain stem tissue, I'm not joking about that as it's a newer find. We know how bad plastic is and a moment has started spurring the invention of products like Stasher and Ello, but also reusable water bottles, canvas tote bags, and other ECO ALTERNATIVES. A lot of these products have popped up because it's the new “money grab” by some like TEMU and Shein, producing low quality potentially harmful products in the same Eco Friendly tag, some making it impossible to find out quality or even if a product is BPA FREE to be classified as Food Safe.
My final thoughts and verdict on the question of Will I Still Use Stasher Brand? I will continue to use the ones I have because it would be a bigger waste of resources than my continued use of single use plastic bags. I already have them and the materials have already been used so it's better for the planet to continue to use them. Rather than toss them and buy a different brand that also uses silicone. I will not be buying new stashers unless they were on sale at a local store (a lot of unsold sale and clearance items get tossed or go to discount marketplaces at the end of their season) or if I found some second hand at a yard sale. At the point where I am, I believe I have used them more than 260 times which means that they are now technically carbon neutral, or closer than they were when it was brand new. I still need to do some research but according to stasher one bag can replace 260 single use bags, that's impressive. According to their website they continue to do good, sponsoring non profits and keeping in their mission statement so only time will tell how the bond between them and their parent company will be. I chose to believe that they will fight to keep the real reason they started stasher brand going, to lessen plastic waste and show others that you can do your part.
What are your thoughts and have you tried a Stasher bag yourself? Will you be giving them a chance or are you going to find a competitor that is truly small and doing their best for the environment?
