PRESS RELEASE: Calgarians Rally to Help Others Ditch Plastic in Local Charity Bag Share Program
Posted on February 15, 2018
FEBRUARY 15, 2018 (CALGARY) – Calgarians have rallied together to help community members abandon single-use plastic bags. Organized by local charity Green Calgary, the Calgary Bag Share is a program designed to eliminate one of the economic barriers to being sustainable. “We generally receive a reusable bag in one of two ways in Calgary – either we shop in a high-end store that gives a reusable bag in exchange for a large purchase, or we need to pay upfront for a good quality bag,” says Conor Tapp, Executive Director at Green Calgary, “This is an economic barrier that prevents some environmentally conscious Calgarians from being able to reduce their dependence on single-use plastic bags.”
With a program goal of 100 bags donated by Calgarians, Green Calgary began reaching out to community members in mid-January. Since then, they have experienced a flood of support from all corners of the city. “We had people running collections at their office, their church, and in their own personal networks of friends and family,” Lex van der Raadt with Green Calgary explains, “It’s clear that this is something that Calgarians care deeply about.”
In total, Calgarians donated more than 400 bags to the Bag Share. Those bags are now available for pick-up, for free and with no questions asked, at Green Calgary. Anyone in need of a good quality reusable bag can come down and pick one or two from their location on the corner of 14 Street and 2 Ave NW, Monday to Saturday, until the end of February.
Globally, an estimated 1 Trillion single-use plastic bags will be produced and used in 2018. Only about 5.5% of those bags will be recycled, leaving 945 Billion bags, or 11 Billion pounds of plastic, in the waste stream. These bags end up landfills, incinerators, and waterways. Communities across the globe, such as the Municipality of Wood Buffalo, the City of Montreal, the State of California, and all of Morocco, have banned single-use plastic bags. Many more have implemented strict controls, levies, and other measures to reduce dependence on single-use plastic bags.
Green Calgary is a local charity that is celebrating 40 years of serving Calgarians this year. They offer a variety of programs to help Calgarians better understand their impact on the environment and climate, and then to take action on the things that matter the most to them.
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UPDATE [02/22/18]: As of February 22nd, Green Calgary has collected over 550 bags.
For more information, contact:
Conor Tapp
Executive Director
Green Calgary Association
T: 403-230-1443 ext. 229
C: 403-399-7538
#100-301 14th Street NW
Calgary, AB T2N 2A1
Green Calgary Association is a registered charity dedicated to helping Calgarians better understand their individual impact on the environment and climate, and providing solutions to change our individual and collective impacts. Please, support our work with a donation today.
