Day Without A Bag Keeps Growing

Just four years ago, in an refreshing showing of  cooperation, a coalition of environmental groups, concerned citizens, retail stores and local governments banded together to brainstorm a solution to the plastic bag problem in L.A. The “urban tumbleweed” was becoming a ubiquitous sight. Bags were caught in trees, found on the freeway, floating in the river and the bay, clogging storm drains and entangling marine life. The average Californian was using about 500 single-use plastic bags a year and recycling efforts were a flop. There had to be a better way.

The coalition formed an event, “A Day Without a Bag.” The event aimed to educate shoppers about the environmental harms of wasteful plastic bags and give them another option — a free one at that. Sites popped up all over the county to give away free reusable bags. 

The day of action took off and has since been celebrated in many creative ways. Seen as L.A.’s holiday gift to the environment, A Day Without a Bag usually involves a “green Santa” giving away reusable bags, sometimes with a “plastic bag monster” in tow. One year, plastic trash zombies even danced to Michael Jackson’s Thriller downtown to raise awareness about plastic pollution in the Santa Monica Bay.

With statewide plastic bag legislation falling through earlier this year, local action ramped up, and recently we’ve seen plastic bag bans from the County of L.A., the City of Long Beach and San Jose. In addition to holding close to 200 giveaway sites last week all over southern California, a summit was also held by the coalition to guide local officials through the process of enacting their own bans. The summit materials are posted online. This year’s event was a huge success. In addition to green Santa doing his thing, Sherrif Lee Baca even stopped by to help Compton High School students hand out reusable bags.

Learn more about the 2010 Day Without a Bag.

So, in addition to your two turtle doves, your five golden rings and your partridge in a pear tree, hopefully you landed yourself a great new free reusable bag on us and our partners for the holidays.

Happy last minute shopping.