The 3 Rs in Action

The Green Club students, most of whom will graduate from high school this spring, are actively working to leave their legacy in Greensburg. They are energized by the notion of significantly reducing the use of disposable shopping bags in town. They have done a lot of research about this issue and are working to inspire people in the community to join them in this initiative.

Many readers are familiar with the shocking statistics on plastic shopping bags: It's estimated that in the United States alone, we consume over 84 BILLION bags every year; worldwide the figure is calculated to be as many as a TRILLION annually. On average a bag is used for less than half an hour before being discarded, with fewer than 2% of them recycled. According to the Wall Street Journal, it takes 12 million barrels of oil to make the bags we use here in the U.S. each year. The plastic is said to take more than 1,000 years to degrade in the landfill. But many bags do not even make it to the landfill, and instead become a hazard for wildlife and marine animals, killing thousands of them every year when they ingest the plastic.

Paper bags have their own set of problems. Americans use over 10 billion paper bags annually. It takes about 14 million trees to produce this many bags, and most of these bags are created from virgin pulp (rather than recycled paper), as this is considered to be stronger. The paper production process requires hundreds of thousands of gallons of water and utilizes toxic chemicals, including sulfuric acid.

Working together with their GreenTown advisors, the students have begun the process of getting the community on board to help them achieve their vision of a Greensburg which models the 3 Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle). This has been a multi-step process. Once the shopping bag project was embraced by the Club members, each student undertook a piece of the research. They looked at the pros and cons of plastic vs. paper vs. compostable vs. reusable bags. They researched what other communities and countries throughout the world are doing to address this concern. They discussed whether incentives would be more effective than mandates, and surveyed local residents at a community gathering. They observed and recorded shoppers' bag preferences at the local grocery story one weekend.

After researching and discussing options at a series of Green Club meetings, students decided that phase one would be to encourage shoppers to take advantage of the rebate already offered at the local Dillons/Kwik Shop store, which is the busiest retail scene in town. The chain offers a nickel rebate for every bag brought in and reused. Students have created signage that will be used in the local store to remind people about the discount. The students spent time one weekend distributing free reusable bags to shoppers in the parking lot. And they continue to educate folks around town and encourage them to participate in this reusable bag initiative.

The Green Club has made a good start with this project. It has not only been about the bags, but also an opportunity to learn how to effect change within a community. Remembering to bring reusable bags to the store is a behavioral change that takes a little time and practice, and in Greensburg we're on our way to significantly addressing the disposable bag issue, thanks to the students.