New this year, Go Green Wilmette is sponsoring a Community Bag Sharing station at the French Market on Saturdays.
Normally, each item you buy at the Market gets placed in a single-use plastic bag, which has significant environmental impact associated with its production and disposal. According to Beyond Plastics, single-use plastic bags are used for an average of 12 minutes before being discarded yet can persist in the environment for more that 500 years. Worse, plastic bags are among the top 5 items found during beach and river clean-ups.
Instead of accepting a plastic bag at every stall you visit, bring some bags and containers from home to reuse, or stop by the new bag share station on your way into the north end of the market and grab a reusable bag for your purchases. The station includes large bags to hold all of your purchases plus smaller ones for individual items.
Go Green Wilmette volunteers will staff the station beginning on May 20th. Bags are cleaned and in good condition before sharing.
Help us reduce plastic at the market by donating your extra reusable bags for the bag swap and/or by taking a two-hour shift at the bag share station. Contact us to volunteer!
(email Linda at linkurtz66@gmail.com)
Resources: Beyond Plastics
