ADAMS, Mass. — The Adams BagShare Project is not only making waves in town but across the region and the country.

 

Town Administrator Tony Mazzucco held a small meeting at Town Hall on Thursday to mark the first day of the town's plastic bag ban and to thank those involved in the project charged with creating 8,400 reusable grocery bags out of recycled material – one for each resident. 

 

"It is a positive step for Adams sand the Berkshire as we continue to make our communities more sustainable … We are moving the town to a green future," Mazzucco said.

 

"Adams is emerging as a shining star now that we have partnered with the BagShare Project." 

 

Mazzucco added that the project has grown beyond the town and groups throughout Western Mass are now participating such as Deerfield Academy and Northampton High School's Environmental Club.

 

He said news of the project has been printed in publications in Hartford, Conn., Portland, Maine, and even on SFGate.com, website of the San Francisco Chronicle.

 

"They are publishing what we are doing in Adams in San Francisco, which is a win for the community," Mazzucco said. "It’s further proof that the small town of Adams nestled at the base of Mount Greylock is letting the world know what we are doing to be sustainable."

 

The project began last year sometime after the annual town meeting passed bylaw banning the use of plastic shopping bags. The town partnered with Old Stone Mill owners Leni Fried and Mike Augspurger, who initiated the project in which plastic woven feed bags are combined with irrigation or maple syrup tubing to create tough, reusable shopping bags.

 

Mazzucco said businesses, schools, civic groups, and other organizations from throughout the region have each committed to making 120 bags. Big Y, the Williamstown Girl Scouts, the Youth Center, ProAdams, Bishop West Real Estate and even Town Hall have all signed up. 

 

He said currently the groups have committed to 3,000 bags.

 

"Each bag we create keeps 33 plastic grocery bags out of a landfill and with these bags, all of the materials are completely sustainable and the materials otherwise too would be in a landfill ... 120 bags total 39,000 plastic grocery bags and to date, with the commitment we have it is the equivalent of keeping 114,000 out of the landfill," he said.

 

Mazzucco said this number will more than double by Earth Day if they can hit the 8,400 mark.

 

Fried said 40 more groups are needed if they want to hit that mark or groups need to commit to more. She said the group Fillbo Baggins from River Hill Pottery have committed to 360 bags – three times the original pledge amount. 

 

Also, anyone can stop at the Fire House Café on Park Street and make a bag on the weekend. Drop-ins, also known as "Sand Baggers," are welcome.

 

Adams residents can pick up a bag at Town Hall, where there is a currently a cache of the recycled bags that will be replenished as more are made.