Local Green Groups Urge Shoppers to Re-Bag It

By Tammy Daniels
iBerkshires Staff
07:15PM / Thursday, November 06, 2008

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Doing some shopping on Saturday? Be prepared to bring your own bag.

Inspired by last year's "Reuseable Bag Day" in Massachusetts, a South County environmental group is partnering with more than 80 stores to promote a better way of bagging goods. Among the North County participants are Shima and Aubuchon's Hardware in North Adams and the Browns and Hart's Pharmacy in Williamstown.

"We knew we had to get the stores involved," said Stephanie Blumenthal of Green For A Change, which was formed in 2006 to advocate locally for environmental issues. "Knowing how retailers are hit up for everything ... we didn't know how they would respond but the response has been unbelievable."

The bulk of the stores are in Central and South County — 77 so far. To encourage customers to bring in their own bags (or to refuse a bag), the shops are offering chances in a raffle or free items based on purchases.

"I told them they could raffle anything," said the Sheffield resident, which prompted ideas from free lunches to gift certificates to giveaways. "They were so excited about this."

Green For A Change contacted the Berkshires' other local green group, the Williamstown Carbon-Lowering (COOL) Committee a few months ago about joining in, said committee member Wendy Penner. They thought it was a great idea but didn't really have the time to go door to door to wrangle in stores.

A call to the Thursday Night Club, a Williams College environmental club, recruited Em Perry, a Rhode Island freshman who spent last week signing up stores in Williamstown and North Adams.

That's how Timothy Lanfair of Dragonflii Clothing Co. on Eagle Street got involved. "A young lady came in last week about it," he said. "I thought it was a great idea." Dragonflii's offering a chance on a $25 gift certificate for participating customers.

At Persnickety Toys, Monique Suters is hoping her new "beautiful" canvas bags will be in by Saturday. Suters is raffling off a $50 gift certificate but she'll also be giving away the new bags if they come in — bring the bag back, and get 10 percent off your next purchase.

"A lot of my customers are bringing their own bags anyway," said Suters, who added she became more thoughtful about the environment after her children were born. "From that moment on, I started thinking about our impact on the Earth — like diapers."

The choice seems obvious too for Shima, which offers a wide range of eco-friendly baby and maternal products.

Blumenthal said regularly re-using a bag can eliminated up to 1,000 plastic bags, a statistic that inspired her to create a stark visual example using an elegant glass case the Mason Library in Great Barrington had offered her to use for a display.

One thousand bags were stuff into this case at the  Mason Library to show the impact of using plastic bags

"When I saw that statistic, I decided to stuff the case with 1,000 bags," she said. "You see this case with these disgusting plastic bags."

The bags, along with a card explaining what they mean, have been displayed in seven libraries and are now at the Berkshire Athenaeum in Pittsfield.

More than 500 billion plastic bags are used each year worldwide; less than 1 percent are recycled. They don't biodegrade; they litter parks and parking lots, release toxins into the ground and water, and injure and kill wildlife. In Massachusetts, a bill proposing fees on plastic grocery bags is in committee.

"We've always been focused on plastic bags," said Blumenthal, who pointed to Guido's Fresh Marketplace's adoption of reusable bags as Green For A Change's first success.

The group had considered applying for a grant and handing out reusable bags, but that seemed to miss the point, which was to encourage people to reuse or make their own bags. Yes, make their own. Green For A Change is holding a sew-in at the Bushnell-Sage Library in Sheffield on Saturday afternoon.

A group in Cummington has been doing sew-ins for awhile, but Green For A Change "couldn't quite figure out how to make that work," said Blumenthal. "Bring Your Own Bag Day" offered the opportunity to bring people together to do just that. It's prompted enough interest that there are only a few spaces left. (If you're interested in participating: greenforachange@gmail.com

Berkshire Bank in Great Barrington and Salisbury Bank in South Egremont will be giving away reusable bags, as will the Prime Outlets in Lee. There will also be information table near the post office in Great Barrington.

On Sunday, Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington will offer free film screenings at 9 and 11 a.m. on the subject of plastic bags. Sen. Benjamin B. Downing, D-Pittsfield, is expected to be there to present a citation acknowledging the importance of local efforts to decrease the use of these bags.

"That will really culminate the weekend but, hopefully, the momentum will continue," said Blumenthal.

The idea has been catching on — you can now easily buy reusable bags at supermarkets and department stores.

Lois Daunis of Papyri Books, which will raffle a gift certificate Saturday, said at least 70 percent of her customers decline bags.

"I try to go paperless as possible," said the bookseller. "We're a used bookstore. It's all about recycled paper."


Participating stores:

North Adams

Aubuchon Hardware, Shima, Persnickety Toys, Papyri Books, and Dragonflii Clothing.
 
Williamstown
 
Wild Oats, The Williams Shop, Hart’s Pharmacy, Toonerville Trolley CDs, The Cottage, Water Street Books, Ephorium,  the Browns and Where’d You Get That?

For a list Central and South County stores, click here.