In an effort to get half of its shoppers to use reusable bags, Wilton Go Green has set up kiosks to distribute free bags to shoppers.
Two thousand reusable grocery bags will be given away over the next several weeks from kiosks spread around the Connecticut town. The bags are adorned with a town image and designs by young Wilton artists, who won a recycling and conservation contest.
Earth Day is April 22, and it’s not unusual for retailers to offer special incentives to encourage their customers to think about the environment. As usual, we love to hear about reusable grocery bags as vehicles for these promotions!
Here are a few Earth Day-related promos that have hit our radar.
Chicago: Big Bowl restaurants are handing out free “Earth Matters” grocery totes on April 22 with every takeout order. Every time you reuse the bag to pick up food, receive $0.50 off for the life of the reusable bag.
Texas: H-E-B is giving away 250,000 custom printed reusable shopping bags on Saturday, April 16, from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Customers who bring in five or more plastic bags for recycling will receive a coupon for one free reusable H-E-B shopping bag. Last year, H-E-B and its customers recycled 3.87 million pounds of plastic bags across the state!
The Lantern, Ohio State University’s campus newspaper, reports that OSU Campus Dining Services joined the campus-wide effort to go green this fall by making the switch from plastic bags to reusable polyester bags. Prior to the start of the 2011-2012 school year, plastic bags alone were available at most campus dining locations for students to carry their meals home in.
Last fall, more than 10,000 reusable grocery bags were distributed to students—at no cost—in an effort to eliminate plastic bags. OSU has been toying with printed reusable grocery bags since last year, when orange reusable bags could be purchased in residence dining halls.
The orange bags were purchased with Campus Dining Services money, as were the black reusable grocery bags. Sustainability committees are reimbursing the money as part of campus’s sustainability project.
Remember our blog back in 2009 about Colorado ski towns Telluride and Aspen? The residents battled to see who would hold bragging rights over using the most reusable bags for shopping—and earn new solar panels for its high school. That original competition resulted in the 2009 Colorado Association of Ski Towns (CAST) Reusable Bag Challenge.
Why are we writing about this two years later? The town that won the Reusable Bag Challenge just debuted a new $50,000 solar power system at its middle school—a system that was created because of the town’s victory back in 2009.
Here’s a new spin on a reduce, reuse, and recycle contest. Coles Supermarkets in Australia is giving primary schools the chance to win furniture—while encouraging children to be environmentally friendly.
Coles Supermarkets are collecting old and unwanted reusable shopping bags for recycling as part of a two-week bag drive. The chain will accept any polypropylene bags—including shopping bags from other retailers and give-away bags from conferences and exhibitions.
The collected bags will be recycled into outdoor furniture. Primary schools can enter to win the unique furniture by describing what the school is doing to help the environment. The best 100 examples of school recycling and reuse will receive outdoor furniture made from reusable grocery bags.
This initiative is a way to avoid creating more landfill rubbish. By recovering the plastic and turning it into outdoor furniture for primary schools, supporters are hoping future generations of youth will see the benefits of recycling first hand.
We love the idea of program and would love to see something similar in the US. Our only question is…why is the program only two weeks long? It should be an ongoing, never ending initiative—worldwide.
Bulletin Bags offered for free tomorrow. Limited edition Bulletin Bags will be available for free on June 14th at two Shaw’s locations in Southern Maine. The bags will feature the winning design from the first ever Nurture Nature Design Contest.
Bags will be available at Shaw’s in Biddeford from 10 am to 12 pm and at Shaw’s in Scarborough from 1pm to 3pm. Children involved in the contest will distribute the free bags!
Jim Kanak, a writer for the York County Coast Star, writes about the winner of the Nurture Nature Design Contest.
Over 400 free Bulletin Bags have been sent to all entrants of the first ever state-wide reusable bag design contest. Participants can expect their bags to arrive in the US Mail. Please contact us if you have not yet received your bag.
Suzette Bergeron (Owner of Bulletin Bag [.com]), Commissioner David Littell (Maine Department of Environmental Protection), Ted Koffman (D-Bar Harbor, Co-Chair Maine Natural Resources Committee), Yana Farrally-Plourde (Ateso Design) and Fred Abaroa (Marketer, Costa Vida Fresh Mexican Grill) will gather today to choose the winning design for the Nurture Nature Design Contest. Over 400 Maine students from York to Mt. Desert Island submitted designs for the contest. Free bags will be sent to the contest participants and several hundred will be available to Shaw’s shoppers. The Nurture Nature Reusable Bag Drawing Contest was made possible by corporate sponsors Shaw’s, Dole Food Company, Gorton’s Seafood, Celestial Seasonings.
![judging[a]](https://www.bulletinbag.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/judginga.jpg)
Bulletin Bag [.com] is proud to announce that Oakhurst Dairy has signed on as a Newsworthy Sponsor in the Nurture Nature Design contest — our first ever reusable bag logo design contest.
Oakhurst joins Shaw’s Supermarkets, Dole Food Company, Gorton’s seafood and Celestial Seasonings as sponsors of the event. Sponsor logos will be printed on one side of the bag – with the winning artwork featured on the other side. Free bags will be distributed to participants in the contest and given away at special events at select Shaw’s stores.
Thank you Oakhurst Dairy for supporting reusable bags!!
