The Better Bag Project is getting bigger. Headed up by Sustainable Springfield, Inc., and the Green Business Network, the Better Bag Project is a drive to get Springfield residents to use fewer plastic bags.
Started early this summer, the Better Bag project this fall joined forces with members of the area’s educational institutions to bring more attention to the cause.
Springfield School District 186, the University of Illinois Springfield and Lincoln Land Community College students are working to develop logos and find ways to involve retailers in the project. To kick off that endeavor, UIS students will hold a bake sale on Dec. 4 at the Sixth Street Wal-Mart to raise funds for future promotions. Students will also provide information about the environmental damage plastic bags can cause.
Joan Barenfanger, coordinator of the Better Bag Project, says involving students is key to changing social norms. “People pay more attention to students in a way because it’s theirs, the earth is, in a way,” she says.
Changing the community’s habits is the first step of the project, but eventually Barenfanger says the project might push the city to consider rebates or a plastic bag tax to help increase the use of durable bags and to increase the recycling rate of disposable plastic bags.
Started early this summer, the Better Bag project this fall joined forces with members of the area’s educational institutions to bring more attention to the cause.
Springfield School District 186, the University of Illinois Springfield and Lincoln Land Community College students are working to develop logos and find ways to involve retailers in the project. To kick off that endeavor, UIS students will hold a bake sale on Dec. 4 at the Sixth Street Wal-Mart to raise funds for future promotions. Students will also provide information about the environmental damage plastic bags can cause.
Joan Barenfanger, coordinator of the Better Bag Project, says involving students is key to changing social norms. “People pay more attention to students in a way because it’s theirs, the earth is, in a way,” she says.
Changing the community’s habits is the first step of the project, but eventually Barenfanger says the project might push the city to consider rebates or a plastic bag tax to help increase the use of durable bags and to increase the recycling rate of disposable plastic bags.
