Day without a Bag event spreads in SoCal
Publisher’s note: The South Lake Tahoe Sustainability Commission is contemplating a Day without a Bag event.
By Barbara Henry, North County Times
A city-sponsored Environmental Commission that has explored the idea of banning plastic bags in Encinitas hasn’t achieved that goal yet, but reports growing success with its once-a-year, bag-free day.
“It gets bigger every year,” commission Chairwoman Elizabeth Taylor told the City Council on Wednesday night.
In fact, the “Day Without a Bag” event, which occurs during the holiday shopping season, has proved so popular that it’s about to go countywide, she added.
The commission held its first plastic bag-free day in December 2008. During that event, about nine participating merchants handed out free, reusable bags and encouraged shoppers to keep using them in future store visits.
A year later, a dozen participating merchants handed out a total of 4,000 reusable bags.
This year’s event is set for Dec. 16, and the commission expects to have 100 participating businesses from across the county, Taylor said.
Environmental organizations, including the Surfrider Foundation, have long sought a ban on plastic bags. They stress that such bags are hazardous to wildlife and a huge trash headache for communities.
However, the bag-ban movement faced some setbacks this year, Taylor and others said. A state proposal to ban single-use plastic bags made it partway through the legislative process but failed to win approval in the state Senate.