Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina will host L.A. County’s final free canvas bag giveaway in L.A. County before a plastic bag ban takes effect on Friday, July 1st. Free carryout plastic bags will be history in all unincorporated area stores—and shoppers will need to bring a reusable bag with them to avoid a 10 cent charge per recyclable paper bag.
“To help make the transition easier for consumers, we’ve been giving away hundreds of free canvas bags at participating supermarkets across L.A. County through the month of June—and our final giveaway is in East L.A.,” Molina said. “It’s our way of encouraging everyone to do what’s right for the environment.”
Molina’s free canvas bag giveaway marks the conclusion of her two year-long Green Bag for a Clean Earth campaign to promote reusable bag use throughout the First Supervisorial District. It started in the Summer of 2009, when she enlisted over 1,450 Florence-Firestone students as “Earth Defenders” to reduce their families’ use of plastic bags—which notoriously pollute county waterways and overload landfills. Students received “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” prize cards. Those who amassed the most stickers on it over a two-month period each time they or their parent shopped with a canvas bag instead of a plastic bag at local participating stores received prizes—as did teachers representing classrooms with the top prize card utilization rate. By the end of the summer, Florence-Firestone students prevented approximately 4,000 plastic bags from heading straight to the garbage, landfills, and rivers. In the Fall of 2009, Molina then enlisted over 3,800 Valinda students as Earth Defenders. They saved close to 7,000 plastic bags from the trash. In the Spring of 2010, over 4,000 East L.A. students joined the cause and prevented over 7,500 from being used.
“I am so proud of our First District unincorporated youth for preventing more than 18,500 plastic bags from filling county landfills and clogging our waterways,” Molina said. “They understand the importance of protecting our environment and they’ve seen what a difference they can make.”
Photos of Molina’s “Green Bag for a Clean Earth” campaign launches in Florence-Firestone, Valinda, and East Los Angeles can be found on her website at molina.lacounty.gov. For more information on the plastic bag ban, visit www.aboutthebag.com or call (888) CLEANLA.