Looking for ways bring your community together through a reusable bag promotion? Try engaging your community, city, county or state in an event like Heal the Bay’s A Day Without A Bag.
More than 50 locations throughout Los Angeles County are giving away nearly 20,000 reusable bags on December 17, 2009 as part of the third annual “A Day Without a Bag,” which urges consumers to forego environmentally harmful single-use plastic grocery bags and paper bags in favor of reusable totes.
The event, organized by environmental group Heal the Bay, is sponsored by the City and County of Los Angeles. Dozens of community groups will be conducting reusable bag giveaways and grassroots education for consumers and free reusable shopping bags will be available to patrons of high-profile retail centers throughout the region.
Los Angeles County’s “Brag About Your Bag ” campaign that launched in November was set to distribute more than 50,000 bags and has been holding numerous giveaways and contests for citizens leading up to the December 17 event.
Talk about pulling together–more than 70 of the county’s 88 cities have officially endorsed the “A Day Without a Bag” or “Brag About Your Bag” campaigns. California municipalities spend nearly $25 million each year just to collect and dispose of plastic bag waste. Less than 5% of plastic grocery bags are recycled each year in Los Angeles, so the remainder clogs precious landfill, litters public spaces and harms animal life when the bags infiltrate waterways.
The Los Angeles City Council has voted to ban plastic bags by Jan. 1, 2010 if a statewide user-fee on plastic or paper bags has not been established by that time and many local governments have already taken action or are exploring policies to curb the use of plastic bags. The cities of Santa Monica, Malibu and Manhattan Beach have adopted pending ordinances that prohibit retail establishments, restaurants and vendors from providing single-use plastic bags to customers.
Heal the Bay is an environmental nonprofit dedicated to making Southern California’s coastal waters and watersheds safe, healthy and clean.
