Sustainable Princeton celebrated the opening of its new BYOBag campaign in Hinds Plaza on Thursday. The campaign hopes to encourage customers to embrace environmentally friendly habits through the use of reusable shopping bags and to increase their awareness of the harmful effects of plastic and paper bags.
BYOBag started with a bang, as the launch party featured a DJ, the local circus and a screening of the documentary "Bag It" in the Princeton Public Library.
The average American uses 500 single-use bags per year, of which only 3 percent are recycled. However, Councilman Daniel Harris said he hoped that environmentally conscious residents would "rise to the occasion" and join the "regional, national and international movement" against single-use bags.
Through BYOBag, Sustainable Princeton hopes to both decrease the number of single-use bags used as well as increase the percentage recycled, he said.
Harris, who is also a member of the BYOBag steering committee, added that he hopes all local businesses will eventually take part in the campaign by hanging signs in stores and encouraging their patrons to use reusable bags. "It will have to be a collaborative effort between merchants and residents," he said.
Already, 29 local stores have showed support for the BYOBag initiative, including Bent Spoon, Hoagie Haven, Labyrinth, Olive's and Small World Coffee.
Jon Lambert, the general manager of the participating Princeton Record Exchange, voiced his approval of the "spirit of conserving and recycling products." He said the Record Exchange currently sells heavy-duty reusable canvas bags to hold their larger records, but that it also encourages customers to bring their own bags.
The new campaign will complement the Record Exchange's current mission of recycling old LP's, CD's and DVD's, he added
BYOBag operates under the motto "Change a habit and change the world." In lessening plastic bag use, Princeton organizers said, the community hopes to make a small start in at least influencing local sustainability efforts.
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