Reusable Bag Campaign 
BETTER THAN EVER Same fun design with tips for being earth-friendly. Same handy dual handles. But now, Roots & Shoots Reusable Bags are made from recycled plastic bottles! Buy one or buy in bulk but get yours today!
NEW BAG AVAILABLE Resources for Health R&S group in Scottsdale, Arizona has been working hard to promote reusable bags. Now, they're selling their own cotton bags at a great price! Get the details.
FROM THE CAMPAIGN ORGANIZERS: We joined together with other Roots & Shoots homeschool leaders to start this campaign after discovering that our groups had done similar, yet unique, projects to promote the use of reusable bags. We've put together the set of tools you'll find on these pages. We hope you'll find them useful! Without any special skills, time commitment or radical lifestyle change, anybody can make a difference for our environment by using reusable bags in place of disposable ones. Let's join forces on a service-learning project that helps the environment, animals and people all at the same time—let's rid our communities and our world of plastic bags! Get involved.
Sincerely,
Anne Goldfeld
Resources for Health R&S, Arizona
Dawne Smith
Kid Power R&S, Nova Scotia
BAGS IN THE NEWS
San Francisco First U.S. City to Ban Plastic Bags British Retailer to Begin Charging Customers for Plastic Bags on May 6 China Plastic Bag Ban Begins June 1
FACTS ON DISPOSABLE BAGS - Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide.
- Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating discarded plastic bags mistaken for food.
- On land, many cows, goats and other animals suffer a similar fate to marine life when they accidentally ingest plastic bags while foraging for food.
- Plastic bags don't biodegrade, they photodegrade—breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways.
- In 1999, 14 million trees were cut to produce the 10 billion paper grocery bags used by Americans that year alone.
- When retailers give away free bags, their costs are passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.
- Each high-quality reusable bag you use has the potential to eliminate an average of 1,000 plastic bags over its lifetime. The bag will pay for itself if your grocery store offers a $.05 or $.10 (USD) credit per bag for bringing your own bags.
- Only one to three percent of plastic bags are recycled.
Check out some more options at ReusableBags.com and Olivesmart.com.
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