Storm protection firm has eco-friendly in the bag

EVAN WILLIAMS/FLORIDA WEEKLY Brian Rist, president of Storm Smart Industries, decided to recycle cuttings from hurricane protection screens to make tote bags. Storm Smart Industries used to discard tons of polypropylene waste each year, after using the material to make popular hurricane protection screens.

But after Tropical Storm Fay, the Fort Myers-based company decided to pick up the leftover scraps off the factory floor, and use them to make "green" tote bags, like the ones found in grocery stores.

"We have the responsibility not to throw away tons and tons of this product that will out-live diapers in a landfill," said Trent Dunn, director of marketing at Storm Smart. "We're readdressing how we process materials.

"The easiest thing would be to just throw it away and be done with it, but sometimes the easiest thing isn't the right thing."

Dunn's e-mail inbox has been flooded with requests for the bag, which the company is giving away for free.

Members of the Florida Bar Association, Boy Scout troops, summer camp leaders, and others e-mailed more than 1,600 orders for the so-called Smart Bags, in the 48 hours after a local news station aired a story about it Aug. 20.

Storm Smart is giving away the eco-friendly tote bags made from recycled material. At Pelican Elementary School in Cape Coral, teacher Pam Lambert requested 22 bags for her first-grade class, as part of her plans to teach them about being ecofriendly.

Some even find the bags fashionable. They are emblazoned with the Storm Smart logo and come in bone, beige, grey and white.

Sara McKelvey, a customer service rep at Storm Smart, said she might use it as a boat bag, or take it to the library.

"It'll work for school, too, to put your binders in" added rep Sarahi Santos.

The tote's heavy-duty polypropylene mesh, which naturally doesn't break down for thousands of years, makes it one tough bag.

"I don't know what the weight load on it is, but it's pretty tremendous," Dunn said. "If it can withstand a Category 5 hurricane, imagine what it can do for your groceries."

And the bag rush shows no sign of abating, with about 100 requests coming in every day — some for 100 bags or more.

"The response has been so insane," Dunn said. "I hope that it does become a problem,

that it's too much."

He asks that people be patient as they stitch up bags as fast as they can.

Don't worry about a shortage, though. The company is planning to produce the Smart Bag long-term and keep giving them away free. Company President Brian Rist hopes to place them in some local grocery stores and even hired six new seamstresses to help turn the useless scraps into useable totes.

"We're doing something in our own little way to give back to Southwest Florida," Rist said.

The Smart Bags are free if you ask for them on the company Web site, stormsmart. com.