Plastic Crisis – So Many Reusable Bags

I have started sorting through the reusable bags I’ve gotten from conferences and as gifts after a donation…realizing that there are quite a few of them. One of my sisters did the same thing and I brought them back last time I went to Dallas. There are some that were brought to the last Master Naturalist meeting that I still need to retrieve from the person that collected them; they said there were quite a few. It is good to have a collection for our “BYOB (Bring your own bag)” campaign to reduce single-use plastic bags. Our plan is to hand them out to anyone wanting one when we are tabling at events and farmers markets.

While I was going through the bags, I realized how many were from birding events….they usually have the name of the event on the bag but not always the year. Sometimes the charities broadcast their name on the bags they send as gifts, other times it is just a pretty bag.

It will be interesting to see how people respond to the idea. I’ve been using my own bags for more than a decade but it’s obvious when I go to the store that most people have yet to make the transition.  To me -  it was one of the easiest ways to reduce single-use plastic entering my home! And it has long become habitual rather than something I think much about.