It's just another example of why we think our readers are the savviest around. A group of them spontaneously came together on the bulletin board to organize a nationwide eco-bag swap, trading reusable grocery bags.
The swap began when Cooking Light bulletin board member Bob (AKA Bobmark226), who lives in New York, pitched the idea on the boards.
Sixty-seven BB members signed up for the swap. That's when Eva (AKA Aggie94), an Arizona-based reader, took over. Eva matched the participants, pairing members from different regions of North America. Bags made their way from New York to Washington, Hawaii to British Columbia, and everywhere in between.
We say: Brilliant! Avoiding disposable grocery bags is one small act that adds up to big environmental impact over time. More than 380 billion plastic bags are used each year, less than one percent of which are recycled. The other 99 percent take about 1,000 years to decompose. (If Christopher Columbus had brought some grocery bags with him in 1492, they'd be only halfway back to the earth by now.)
This wasn't the first successful swap our BB members have orchestrated. Previous swaps have included a cookbook swap and the "Brownie Fairy" RAK (random act of kindness) franchise in which members mailed a surprise package of treats to a random BB member.
In this swap, many participants didn’t stop with the bags. One reader included notes explaining the history of the home town stores from which she bought the bags. Another member sent earrings made from recycled buttons.
Mary Kate (AKA MKSquared), a reader from Ohio, sent her partner a hand-made bag using a pattern she found online. The satchel is made from so-called "plarn" (plastic yarn, which she created by looping together strips of old grocery bags), and took her about a week to make. Check out her photos of the bag on Flickr.
"I used bags from three different stores to make the different colors," Mary Kate said. "My bags are now sorted by color and folded neatly so I can make yarn if I ever get the urge again."
Inspired? Send us your best go-green tips! Click here to leave them as a comment on our blog. If your suggestion is one of our five favorites, we’ll send you a reusable, recycled shopping bag from ChicoBag.
