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Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina is encouraging shoppers to take advantage of the county’s canvas bag giveaway throughout the month of June. “Starting July 1st, free carryout plastic bags will be history in all unincorporated area stores,” Molina said.  “To help make the transition easier for consumers, we’re giving away hundreds of free canvas bags at participating supermarkets across Los Angeles County on a first-come, first-served basis.  It’s our way of encouraging everyone to do what’s right for the environment.”

 Staff from the county’s Department of Public Works will be on-hand to disseminate canvas bags (and will be available for media interviews on-site) from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the following locations:

  •  Thurs., June 16:  Ralphs – 24975 Pico Canyon Rd., Stevenson Ranch, CA 91381
  •  Fri., June 24:  Albertsons – 23850 Copper Hill Rd., Saugus, CA 91354
  • Fri., June 24:  Albertsons – 26850 The Old Road, Stevenson Ranch, CA 91381

 Beginning on Fri., July 1, 2011, shoppers will need to bring reusable bags when they shop in unincorporated areas to avoid a 10 cent charge for paper bags.  For more information, visit www.aboutthebag.com or call (888) CLEANLA.

Molina’s free canvas bag giveaway marks the conclusion of her two year-long Green Bag for a Clean Earth campaign to promote reusable bag use throughout the First Supervisorial District.  It started in the Summer of 2009, when she enlisted over 1,450 Florence-Firestone students as “Earth Defenders” to reduce their families’ use of plastic bags—which notoriously pollute county waterways and overload landfills.  Students received “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” prize cards.  Those who amassed the most stickers on it over a two-month period each time they or their parent shopped with a canvas bag instead of a plastic bag at local participating stores received prizes—as did teachers representing classrooms with the top prize card utilization rate.  By the end of the summer, Florence-Firestone students prevented approximately 4,000 plastic bags from heading straight to the garbage, landfills, and rivers.

In the Fall of 2009, Molina then enlisted over 3,800 Valinda students as Earth Defenders.  They saved close to 7,000 plastic bags from the trash.  In the Spring of 2010, over 4,000 East L.A. students joined the cause and prevented 7,523 from being used.

“I am so proud of our First District unincorporated youth for preventing 18,523 plastic bags from filling county landfills and clogging our waterways,” Molina said.  “They understand the importance of protecting our environment and they’ve seen what a difference they can make.”