The Live Lightly Podcast

Jessica (00:00)
Hello and welcome to the Live Lightly podcast. I'm your host, Jessica Franklin. in today's episode, we're going to talk about one of my very favorite kitchen hacks for keeping food fresh, keeping it out of the landfill, and also reducing household dependence on plastic, single -use plastic especially. It's called Vejibag.

It's a vegetable crisper bag that's made of 100 % unbleached organic cotton French terry, and they keep vegetables fresh for up to two weeks without plastic. I'm joined today by Anne Wing, the Director of Communications And Stacey Erickson, the Director of Operations. Welcome, Anne and Stacey. Thank you for joining me today.

Ann Wing (00:43)
Thanks, Jessica, for having us.

Jessica (00:45)
we have a lot to talk about, but I'd love to just start with the story behind Vejibag and how it was originally started. And then also, of course, how both of you became involved with your current roles, because I know that you have stepped in for the founder, who is no longer, she's retired, correct?

Ann Wing (01:08)
Yes, Vejibag was started in 2013 by my mother -in -law Sally, she was living in a small town called Eastport, Maine, and she had a greenhouse, and she was selling greens to the local co -op, and wanted to figure out how to transport these organic greens to her customers without using plastic.

she got on the internet, she did a bunch of research and found that people had historically used kitchen towels to wrap their greens in. So Sally went to her local thrift store, found some used washcloths and started sewing them together and packing her greens in them and sending them out to people. And it worked. They kept everything fresh.

Maybe six months later, she showed up to my house with this bag that she had sewn together and said, Hey, you've got to start using this to keep your greens fresh. And I kind of looked at her. I was like, really? I tried it. And sure enough, they actually worked. I actually joined the company in 2016. So between 2013 and 2016, I kept.

Jessica (02:06)
I'm sorry.

Ann Wing (02:17)
hearing updates from Sally about what the company was doing. I kept thinking, this is so cool. I really want to be a part of it someday. And finally in 2016, the time was right for everybody. so from 2013 to 2016, the bags were actually made by women out of different recycled materials, either

washcloths from the thrift store, then it turned into t -shirts from the thrift store that they would then screen print, but it was all made by women in their homes to provide them with work while they were at home. So it seems very serendipitous that then I ended up coming to work for the company in 2016 when she relocated from Maine to North Carolina.

Jessica (03:05)
that is so cool. I love it. It's literally grassroots But Anne, let's hear a little bit from you. And then and then I definitely want to dive into like.

the progression of how she went from that to what they are today.

Ann Wing (03:18)
Awesome, yeah, so I met Stacey in 2013 when all of this was starting for Sally. amidst this, her first grandchild was born, Stacey's older son. And that's what brought me and Stacey together. We became friends in 2013 because we both had...

babies and we started spending time together. And so we haven't really spent a whole lot of time apart from each other since then. I remember hearing Stacey talk about getting involved with Vejibag , and then I started using Veggie Bags myself I would, leave a playdate with Stacey and she'd be going off to ship Veggie Bags.

Jessica (03:44)
Mm -hmm.

Ann Wing (04:10)
So the company was still really small and family was making it work and just, like you said, very grassroots. But production shifted to North Carolina since I think Sally wanted to be closer to her grandson and family. So I actually...

have known the family for some years and have always marveled at Sally's commitment to sustainable practices. And so it was really interesting. She found a way to start producing vejibag at a higher volume by partnering with some companies out of North Carolina, which is where we're based.

Jessica (04:56)
Mm.

Ann Wing (04:58)
She found 100 % organic cotton that was being grown in Texas actually, through a cooperative there and being brought to North Carolina to be spun into thread, which was then made into the fabric we use by a company out of Asheville, North Carolina called Spiritex. So she...

Jessica (05:22)
Mm -hmm.

Ann Wing (05:25)
Through that, she also developed a relationship with a small worker -owned facility in Western North Carolina as well called Opportunity Threads. And that's where vejibag are cut and sewn. So all of that came together. And still being a very grassroots company,

took production to another level. And then in 2020, I got involved with the company. It was a good time to have somebody come and help out a little bit more given the success of the small.

Jessica (05:51)
Mm -hmm.

Ann Wing (06:09)
family -run company. So I just kind of stepped into a role to help out wherever I could and things have just kind of evolved from there. Eventually, like Stacey said, Sally decided to take a back seat and she's on to other really cool endeavors

Jessica (06:16)
Mm -hmm.

Ann Wing (06:27)
and is just so passionate about the company. But yeah, these days Stacey and I are the people behind the scenes with Vejibag

Jessica (06:37)
it seems like growth has happened pretty fast.

to inspire people who have ideas for sustainably made products that can help reduce plastic use in homes and just in the world in general. And so do you know kind of a little bit about what that journey looked like for her to go from such a small scale to what it is now? How did she start growing? Did she just start with local stores or was it online mostly or a little bit combination of both? And.

If there were any like struggles or challenges along the way that she met with the growth of her company, either with sourcing or with production, those kinds of little nuggets I think are always fun and interesting for people to hear because, it kind of helps to create the picture of what possibilities are available for people who have a passion and something that,

that they have an idea to do and that it might, start small, but it can grow.

Ann Wing (07:40)
Yeah, in 2013, she was mostly just using materials she could find at the local thrift store. And then in 2014, she found out about cloth waste at hospitals. So she started actually picking up

Jessica (07:47)
Mm -hmm.

Hmm.

Ann Wing (08:00)
the what they're called, Huk towels. They're used like wrap up medical instruments before surgery surgeries. So they're completely sterile through the whole process. So she found out about those and was like, this is a great waste stream. So she, for a while vejibag were made out of Huk towels until she realized.

Jessica (08:02)
huh.

Yeah.

huh.

Okay. That's really creative. I mean, that's just the ingenuity and the creativity that I love to hear about because it's so resourceful and she's saving waste from the landfill. I mean, I'm guessing they only use those once. my gosh.

Ann Wing (08:40)
They do. Yeah.

So from there, she started hiring more and more women to make these. So then she also felt like she needed to make sure she was able to provide a stable income stream for these women and realized that by...

Jessica (08:59)
Mm -hmm.

Ann Wing (09:02)
trying to make each one, each one was such an individual piece that it just wasn't really scalable because at that time she was actually cutting and screen printing all the labels herself. She was cutting manila folders that she was getting at the thrift store to turn them into tags for the vejibag.

Jessica (09:10)
Mm -hmm.

Love that.

Ann Wing (09:26)
So while it was saving a lot of things from the landfill, it just wasn't really a scalable way to do business. And people were learning about it.

Jessica (09:30)
Mm -hmm.

Mm -hmm.

Ann Wing (09:40)
First it started off in the small town and then some of the local shops found out and business just very organically grew.

So she realized I've got to do something different. And that's when she was like, well, if I'm going to do this, I want to do it in the most ethical way I possibly can. And I don't want to be poisoning people while I'm doing it So the only solution then was to find organic cotton, unbleached material. And she found that the terry worked really, really well. And she was able to find.

Jessica (10:12)
Mm -hmm.

Ann Wing (10:17)
a source in the US because she didn't want to be transporting it across the ocean and found that luckily there's the Texas Cotton Cooperative growing organic cotton and that there was a person in Asheville actually making the fabric that she was looking for.

Jessica (10:19)
Mm -hmm.

Hmm.

Yeah, and that keeps it sustainable too when you know your growers and you know your manufacturers. It keeps it ethical for, the pay and how the workers are treated. and that seems to be kind of a theme that I hear from all of my guests so far who are founders of their products and their companies is that they started from day one.

with sustainability as a number one priority. to keep everything clean and put good out into the world with their products They are obviously thinking about people and the planet before profits, which is.

rare and hard to find and it takes some time. And I know that I actually, this is not a product that I found myself, which is unusual because usually I'm the one digging through the internet and trying to find things that are made with this kind of mindset. And with all the greenwashing out there, there's now a lot more choices than seven years ago when I started this process of trying to reduce.

my plastic use. But now there's so much and it's harder to sift through the green washing. But luckily, this is a product that was brought to me several years ago. My in -laws who live East Coast in New York City, they found Vejibag as a solution to keeping their produce fresh.

for a week or week and a half, however long it would be between their trips to Whole Foods. And so they brought me some because they were like, my gosh, you're going to love this.

and at first I was kind of like really it's going to keep my leafy greens fresh for two weeks I don't know about that, you know So I kind of had some hesitation and there's a little bit of a learning curve, but it's not bad And once I did it, I was like, wow, this is great I can actually go less often to the one store that I prefer or to the farmers market just kind of depends on the week and be able to

not have to make so many trips So that's how I stumbled upon Vejibag and I'm so glad that they're still making it today because I just think it's the most no -brainer resource to avoid plastic, you know, getting lettuce that's in those big plastic tubs and it just also it's supposed to keep it fresh longer, but it just doesn't.

keep it fresh for very long. And then also just putting it into like plastic bags to keep it fresh doesn't work for very many days either. So this is a great solution. And actually the other day, literally yesterday, I pulled some kale out of the fridge that had been in a Vejibag for three weeks. And I'd been keeping it moist because I just, I had bought two batches of kale at the farmer's market instead of one for whatever reason.

And I was like, well, because it will be fresh for two weeks. It's fine. And usually I just use one bunch worth in a week. And so I used the first one. And then the next week, I just didn't get around to using the second one. But I just kind of kept the bag moist like I do during that two week window. If I have something for that long, just kind of make sure that it doesn't dry out. And.

Last night I had the opportunity to use it and I was like, well, here's hoping, you know? And I opened it up and it was completely fresh and crisp and perfect. There was like two leaves in the middle that maybe weren't exposed to as much of the moisture that had a little bit of like yellowing starting around the edges. But I mean, I was like, this is amazing. And I think that it happened that way at perfect timing just for this interview because, it just kind of is a testament to how.

awesome these bags are. And just such a savings, I would have had to throw it away, right? Like that would have been not only kind of a mess to clean up in my drawer, but also two or $3, down the drain, in addition to the resources that are used to grow the kale.

But also I like to reference this. I found this information on the USDA website one time about how unsustainable food waste is.

on so many different levels and I just kind of want to read it really quick because when I read it I was like, it's kind of like you know inherently that it's wasteful. But when you read this or hear this, you're just like, wow, that's really a lot of resources. So it says, when food is wasted, so too is the land, water, labor, energy, and other inputs that are used in producing.

processing, transporting, preparing or packaging for sale and storing and disposing of the wasted discarded food. So when you really see the bigger picture, it adds up to a lot more than just a little bit of food into the landfill,

and that is creating some unfavorable things for our planet as well. So I love the resource so much for so many different reasons

And so it's an initial investment, but I think on the back end, the amount of money that you save from not having to throw foods away because they don't last forever and you know, life happens. We have kids, we're busy and planned meals sometimes don't always get executed on time. And so, you know, I think over time they pay for themselves like tenfold.

Ann Wing (16:36)
Definitely. Well, we love to hear your story about your three week old kale, Jessica. And I think just everything you are saying speaks to the fact that Vejibag are awesome because they're good at keeping your vegetables crisp. That's why we call them crisper bags. And they're also.

Jessica (16:55)
Mm -hmm.

Ann Wing (16:57)
plastic free. And we find that we have customers who are seeking just plastic free. They don't want to use plastic bags anymore. And that might lead them to trying a Vejibag. Or we have people that are really tired of slimy lettuce. And that might bring them to try a Vejibag. But either way, it's a win on both counts.

And I think it gives me the opportunity to say just a little bit more about how they actually work. That's a common question we get. So as you heard, the bags are made from 100 % organic cotton, which is very breathable. The material is a teary fabric. So it's kind of a thicker weave and it's great at.

retaining moisture, you actually dampen the bag and then you wring it out really well. And so it works kind of like a washcloth. You don't want it to be dripping wet, but you just want it to be nice and moist. And the reason this is effective is because vegetables like moisture.

so the bags are so effective because they work like the spritzer in the grocery store. You see spritzers constantly keeping the produce moist and a Vejibag works in the same way. It's, keeping a level of humidity that produce.

wants and needs in order not to become wilted. And at the same time, the bags are breathable, unlike plastic bags or plastic boxes, because most vegetables emit some amount of ethylene gas. And when that is trapped inside of plastic, it results in

Jessica (18:39)
Mm -hmm.

Ann Wing (18:51)
the vegetables going bad. It just increases the rate at which they decompose. So the bags allow your produce to breathe while also keeping your produce moist. Something that we would like to remind people is that, just like when you get cut flowers, you think of the flowers of being alive and that they need to go immediately into a vase with water.

And that when you go to a store or a farmer's market to buy vegetables, those vegetables, even though they've been picked, are still alive. So it's the same concept as getting moisture to the vegetables to help keep them fresh longer.

Jessica (19:29)
Yeah, exactly. And it makes me wonder why everybody started putting things into plastic when you say it that way, Anne, and you explain that what it's releasing, the gases that it's releasing actually keeps those closer and is part of it.

of almost accelerating it, but I think that plastic was kind of used as a way to, keep it fresh but it's so prevalent. Even at our farmer's market, you'll find leafy lettuces that are put into the plastic bags. And I'm just like, why? I don't understand.

Ann Wing (20:09)
we've got some more resources on our website. We have a Q &A section of our website where we have a link to a table that kind of shows you the ideal temperatures and humidity levels for.

pretty much any produce you can think of. And a lot of our customers find that really helpful and interesting. Most people are surprised to find that produce actually prefers a pretty cold temperature, almost closer to freezing than you might guess. And that also is part of the kind of learning how to store your produce in a Vejibag, keeping your fridge cool enough.

keeping your bag moist. And once you get the hang of it, like you said, we get these stories all the time about people who are eating their two, three week salad or whatever, broccoli, cucumbers, you name it. So, yeah. One of my favorite stories I've heard was we sent samples to a store that was thinking about carrying Vejibag and she put carrots.

from her farmer's market in there and kind of forgot about them for a couple of weeks. And then she went to check it and the carrots had actually rooted, started to root in the Vejibag. And she took the carrots out and planted them in her garden.

Jessica (21:35)
my gosh. Yeah, you can use them for more than just leafy greens. Tell us a little bit about all of the different things you would recommend them for. I know it's on your website, but I just think it's good to hear. So it's like, start putting together like, yeah, I could use it for way more than just lettuce and kale.

Ann Wing (21:53)
Yeah, I love them for like yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, beets, chard, any of the leafy greens of root vegetables. I think a lot of folks don't realize they're super handy as well for cut.

Jessica (21:59)
Mm -hmm.

Ann Wing (22:12)
items. Stacey taught me this back in the day. But so say, you know, you only wanted half an apple and so throw that other half in your bag and it's not going to get shriveled and brown looking the way it would if you just left it sitting out. Or if you want to prep your cut vegetables in advance. We're fans of

you know, preparing basically a whole salad. I think refer to a salad in a bag sometimes, but like slicing up your cucumbers and peppers and whatever you want in your salad and just throwing it all into a Vejibag. you can literally, use it for food prep and have like your sliced stuff for your stir fry, your prepared salad for whatever night of the week. And then you just, you know, dump it out of your bag and.

Jessica (22:44)
Mm -hmm.

Ann Wing (23:08)
you're ready to go. So those are some other potential uses. I will add the sliced vegetables don't last as long as the, you know, beautiful leafy greens that you just brought home, but like the prepared salad, I've had it last no problems for four or five days.

Jessica (23:20)
Mm -hmm.

That is so helpful. I'm going to do that all the time now that's definitely something that I didn't know. the one thing that I will do when I come home from the farmer's market I will wash it in advance. And so it's already like ready for prep and then put them in washed.

so that at least that step is done, but you don't have to even do that. I mean, you can just throw them in there and then I just do that because I kind of feel like I'm already, putting away the groceries, you know, just one more step, wash everything before I put them in the bag. And now I'm going to even if I have the extra time prep things, if I know that I can use them within what like three or four days, that's cool because usually, you know, you're just like prepping.

the day of and sometimes that can become a little overwhelming or the reason you might be like, I don't have time for that. Let's just pick something up for dinner, you know, but like if it's already done, then that's half the battle to preparing your meal for the night. So that's really great little tip. Thank you for that.

So I'm curious, is there anything new coming down the pipes for Vejibag in the future?

Ann Wing (24:45)
Yeah, so we've got some really exciting developments which really tie back into part of our earlier conversation about just the company's commitment to sustainability and reducing food waste and plastic waste all around from the beginning. So.

through the entire time that vejibag have been produced in North Carolina out of the 100 % organic terry cotton with opportunity threads, we have been saving every scrap of material that's generated during the cutting and sewing of our bags. So Opportunity Threads has been just creating this big pile of

beautiful organic cotton. And they have partnered with a organization called Material Return, which is also out of Morganton, North Carolina. And Material Return is a really innovative company that is figuring out how to repurpose used material. That's another huge area of waste, as you heard a little bit about.

in the story of Sally's initial repurposing of textiles to make vejibag. So material return is doing a lot to figure out how to keep textile waste out of landfills. And they have figured out a process in which they are able to break down our organic cotton scraps and then...

spin that cotton in a combination with some virgin organic cotton that we already use into a thread and knit into the same exact fabric that we use, so the terry fabric. And as of April of this year, all of our Vejibags are now made of this fabric that is 30 %

recycled Vejibag fabric. So we have created a zero waste stream with our product where we don't generate any textile waste anymore in the making of our bags. So that's something we're very excited about and has inspired us to work towards some other product developments.

One of the things we're hoping to release this year are bulk refill bags. So if anybody goes to their local refillery to get beans or nuts or anything else you might buy in bulk, that they'll be able to take a 100 % organic bag with them, knowing that it was grown and sown in the US, completely ethically made and not have to wonder about, you know.

what's in their bag.

Jessica (27:47)
That is amazing. And again, just such a testament to being sustainable from the beginning to the end. And I just wish so many more companies out there would be doing business this way. I know it's not the easy way. It's the hard path. And it's just...

a new way of thinking that I hope starts to grow and expand across the board in every industry. And I'm excited to check out the bulk bags

And also I just wanted to touch base kind of circle back around to you said something that I think should be pointed out again, right?

Like this bag is made of organic cotton and that's important because anything that's touching our food that may not be made of materials that are, you know, as I'll just say it, like when plastic touches your food, it's made with a lot of chemicals such as PFAS, BPA.

phthalates. And all of those chemicals can leach into the food depending on the circumstances how it's been shipped and stored. And so this is how humans are now exposed to and taking in some of these chemicals that

are in plastics. And so I just wanted to reiterate why it's so important, not only for the sustainability factor of, growing organic cotton is more sustainable because you're not using pesticides. In addition to that, not being good for our environment, the soil, the farmers.

the bees and our air and people who live next to those farms, right? So there's a lot of different layers to look at from that perspective as well.

I just love all of the different layers of sustainability that are involved with the making of Vejibag.

Ann Wing (29:54)
Yeah, and one thing we didn't mention either is that of course the bags

are compostable because the cotton is completely, free of toxins or chemicals and even down to the ink that we use for our labels is also non -toxic. And yeah, so you can repurpose your very worn out bags to do other things with or you can compost them.

Jessica (30:20)
Mm -hmm.

I just love that you're also bringing it to the end of life because at some point they're going to have, an end of life, and they compost. So that's great because sometimes for me, I'm just always like, what do I do with this?

Where does this go? And I just don't like throwing things away that go into the landfill. So it's great. I want to be able to provide resources to connect with you for the listeners who are now ready to get their Vejibags And so I will say that your website is certainly a resource and they can go to that directly, which is what is the website?

Ann Wing (31:08)
It's just www .vejibag .com. And Vejibag is V -E -J -I -B -A -G.

Jessica (31:11)
Okay.

Yes, that is the one little thing tricky to know about the spelling for sure. And also if you want to pick up a link for a discount it's in my sustainable.

Wellness home guide which is a free resource for all my listeners. If you don't have it yet, you can get it on live lightly . ECO And it's under the tab for free guide.

and if you use the link that's in the guide you'll receive a discount on the bags and also I know you guys have an Instagram for people to connect with you there as well.

Ann Wing (31:57)
we're just @vejibag which again is V -E -J -I -B -A -G. And we'd love to hear from people about other products that you might like to see from us made out of, 100 % organic.

Jessica (32:00)
huh.

Ann Wing (32:14)
recycled cotton blend. And whether you're wanting to move away from using plastic or you're just really passionate about keeping your produce fresh, we always like to remind people that vejibag are one piece that we can all try in this whole puzzle of.

plastic and throwaway culture and we aren't perfect by any means but you know a lot of folks find that vejibag really work for them and it's one small way to to make change so.

Jessica (32:54)
Yeah, absolutely. I agree. And I think that it's a small change, but over time, it adds up.

it's just these little things that we can do collectively that do kind of add up and make a big difference. So thank you guys for joining me today. I really appreciate it. I know you're both busy moms and also working. So taking time out of your busy day and your schedule really is appreciated. Thank you.