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Surrender the Plastic! County Launches 'Brag About Your Bag'

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The Brag About Your Bag bag (via program's website)

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Los Angeles County wants residents to stop using plastic grocery bags, "or at least recycle them," which is what's behind their just-launched "Brag About Your Bag" program, according to CBS2. "Although single use plastic carryout bags are inexpensive and have some useful qualities, they can also be harmful to the environment when littered. Communities throughout the State and around the world are grappling with this issue, and searching for ways to reduce the impact of littered single use plastic bags on their quality of life," explains the LA County Department of Public Works.

To address this issue, and the staggering "six billion single use plastic carryout bags" we use in the county per year (that's "600 bags per person per year," guys!), shoppers can now swap 5 plastic bags for a reusable bag at participating stores now through December 17th ("A Day Without a Bag" day) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. More info about the 2009 campaign, participating stores, and the prizes available for kids and adults who make the trade is available from the Campaign's website.

Trade your plastic in, score a bag, and let that extra plastic junk be part of something other than a landfill: "Department of Public Works staffers plan to use the bags collected to build the world's biggest plastic bag ball." Then put your reusable bags to use, and say so long to plastic bags for good!

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