Just Say No to Plastic Bags!

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One of our America Recycles Day activities at Carpenter Hill Elementary was collecting plastic shopping bags for recycling.  The PTA Environmental Committee placed a wire bin at the inside entrance of school from November 11th-November 15th.

A poster was placed in a centralized location promoting the use of reusable bags over plastic bags.  All 635 students were encouraged to participate.

Only 150 gallons of plastic shopping bags were collected during the week of America Recycles Day and they were then dropped off at our nearby HEB Plus for recycling.  This is the least we have collected in the four years that we have done this activity.  Last year we collected 220 gallons in just one morning before school started.  This could be due to the fact that our nearby city, Austin, has placed a ban on plastic bags and more people are in the routine of providing their own reusable shopping bags when making purchases.  If that is the case, we consider this a good thing and our efforts to promote reusable bags is working.