A Day Without a Plastic Bag

December 18th is officially A Day Without a Bag, but I’d like to clarify that that means without a plastic or paper bag.  This day is really about using your resuable bags in this season of extreme shopping and extreme waste.

If you live in San Francisco, stop by Union Square Thursday, 12/18 at lunch (12-2 pm) to receive a free reusable bag from Surfrider Foundation.  This day is a great way to raise awareness about the wastefulness of shopping bags.   The average American uses 500 bags a year!   BagMonster is a great picture to this massive problem.  It is a mascot created by Chico Bags (a brand of reusable bags): a man covered with 500 plastic bags, that same number of bags the average American uses annually.

Every retail, drug, grocery, etc store uses plastic or paper bags when giving you your products.  Of course, it is a convenient way to carry home your items.  But what do you do with that bag when you are done with it?  Maybe you reuse it once or twice, but eventually it goes into the trash and ends up in your gutters and your oceans.   To completely avoid this problem, grab a reusable bag.  Most are $1 – 5.   I have one (ACME bag brand) that folds up real small and I simply stick it in my purse so that I have it whenever I need it.  My friend Mad Grad enjoys Chico bags because they have key rings on the bags – easily attachable to your keys.  Luckily, you can find a variety of reusable bags almost anywhere nowadays from grocery stores to drug stores, they are a hot seller, and need I add – a great Holiday gift!

When you do your Christmas shopping, please think twice about accepting a plastic or paper shopping bag, and turn to your reusable bag instead!