A Day Without a Bag 2012

• Store PromotionsRetail partners supporting A Day Without a Bag through generous in-store offers.
• Youth Training SummitFree, half-day tutorial teaching students how to get their own community to break the addiction to plastic bags.
• Giveaway Locations
  Map of bag giveaways and promotions in L.A. County.
• Wrap-Up Book
  A downloadable PDF recap of 2011's A Day Without a Bag.

On Dec. 20, Heal the Bay handed out 15,000 free reusable bags at nearly 60 locations throughout Los Angeles County. That means to date, Heal the Bay has given 100,000 free reusable bags over six years. Check out more photos and learn more information about this year's A Day Without a Bag.

Our holiday gift to the environment

A Day Without a Bag is an education and grassroots event coordinated by Heal the Bay that involves community groups, businesses and individuals throughout the state of California. This year's A Day Without a Bag is set for Dec. 20, 2012, and will include "Bag-Free Blocks" where businesses come together to go reusable.

Held the third Thursday in December, Heal the Bay’s annual A Day Without a Bag gives Southland shoppers an early holiday present, courtesy of a reusable bag giveaway at locations throughout Los Angeles County.

On this day we ask holiday shoppers and retailers to forgo single-use, plastic shopping bags in favor of reusable bags. It’s our hope that this one day of action will encourage people to go plastic bag-free throughout the year.

Over 4 million residents in California now live in communities that have banned plastic bags and an additional 5 million live in cities actively working on bag ban ordinances. When these ordinances pass, nearly 1 in 3 Californians will have embraced reusable bags.

Win Gift Cards

Green Santa will hand out reusable bags on Olvera Street in historic Los Angeles. A few lucky bags will contain “golden tickets” that can be redeemed for $25 Vons gift cards. In addition, throughout Los Angeles, Albertsons will host $100 gift card drawings for customers who bring their reusable bags to shop.

Rock Your Reusables

This year, Heal the Bay wants YOU to Rock Your Reusables!  Take a picture of you, your friends, or a stranger (with their permission, of course) using their reusable bags and you could win a $100 Vons gift card, an awesome T-Shirt  as well as other great prizes! Catch your friends in the act and post it to Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook with the hashtag #RockinReusables and tag @HealtheBay to enter. Everybody's doing it, even Brandon Boyd from Incubus! 

Education and Awareness

A unique coalition of major retailers, local governments and regional environmental groups forms annually to organize A Day Without a Bag, urging consumers to forego environmentally harmful single-use plastic or paper grocery bags in favor of reusable totes. By raising consumer awareness about personal choices, the event’s short-term goal is to educate Southland shoppers to adopt more sustainable practices during the holidays and coming year.

Caring For Your Reusable Bag

• Most cloth fabric bags can be machine washed; thick plastic bags should be wiped clean
• Allow bags to dry before folding and storing
• Use a separate bag for raw meat
• Clean and Reuse in Good Health! Learn more about care instructions. 

The event’s long-term goal is to reduce the use of single-use plastic bags throughout California by empowering shoppers, and the community at large, to take simple and direct actions to eliminate unsightly debris and save taxpayer dollars.

Dozens of community groups, from soccer clubs in Highland Park to Girl Scout troops in Agoura Hills, conduct bag giveaways and grassroots education for consumers throughout the region. The event, organized by Heal the Bay, is sponsored by the city and county of Los Angeles.

Each year Heal the Bay partners distribute free reusable bags to patrons throughout the region. A diverse mix of retailers including Ralphs and Union Bank also support the event through in-store promotions or giveaways at stores countywide.

Spurred by the success of previous Heal the Bay events, community groups throughout the state launched their own A Day Without a Bag campaigns.

California municipalities spend nearly $25 million each year just to collect and dispose of plastic bag waste. Less than 5% of plastic grocery bags are recycled annually in Los Angeles, so the remainder clog precious landfill, litter public spaces and harm animal life when the bags infiltrate waterways. Paper bags, while biodegradable, still require vast amounts of fossil fuels and water to produce, distribute and collect for disposal.

Heavy-duty reusable bags are convenient, environmentally-friendly alternatives that have been embraced by millions around the world. Ireland has been able to reduce its use of disposable grocery bags by 90% since 2001 via public programs.  We can do the same, starting with A Day Without a Bag.

Thank you Lars & Kathy Clutterham for your generous donation of bags.

Partners