Doug Shields, Dok Harris, Others Accept Pittsburgh 'Tote Bag Challenge'

Ten local community leaders will give up disposable bags for one week to raise awareness about dependency of paper and plastic bags and to encourage the use of totes and other reusable bags by the general public.

Political and advocacy leaders, Doug Shields and Dok Harris, are among those who will spend April 15 through April 21 going about their daily activities without disposable bags.

The Pittsburgh Tote Bag Challenge is the brainstorm of The Pittsburgh Tote Bag Project, a local initiative that collects new and gently used tote bags for distribution to the region’s food pantries.  April 22, 2012 marks their one year anniversary. The challenge was organized to coincide with Earth Day.

“We were inspired by ‘food stamp’ challenges that raise awareness about hunger as people try to live off the equivalent of a food stamp allotment for one week. Given our dual mission to address hunger and protect the environment, this seemed like a natural extension of that experience," explains project founder, Sue Kerr. 

The project requires participants to forgo disposable bags when shopping or patronizing a restaurant.  Takeout bags, dry cleaning bags and reusing existing paper and plastic are forbidden. Participants may use their normal amount of plastic trash bags and activities related to their work lives are exempted.

"It's a very easy, simple, way to make a positive impact on our environment.  Plus, you get style points for using a cool tote bag.  Be a trend setter,” offers environmental advovate Doug Shields for his choice to accept the challenge. “Live beautiful - re-use and recycle."

Participants can seek “pledges” of tote bags to support their efforts. Corporate pledges from Leed’s, American Eagle, Chatham University, SEIU and the East End Food Co-op will generate over 250 bags for the project should all ten participants complete their full week.

“Success is completing the week, not necessarily achieving 100% avoidance of bags,” states Kerr. “We will use social media, including blog posts from the participants, to prompt the public to consider how many bags they use each week.”

While there is an increased demand for items made from recycled plastics, recycling rates for plastic bags alone hover between 3 and 6% of the 100 billion bags American use each year. Recycling rates for paper bags are slightly higher but still top off at 10% of the total bags used annually.

The full list of participants includes:  Jill Basel – Owner, Chunky Monkey Unlimited, Slippery Rock; Lauren Daley – Reporter, Pittsburgh City Paper, Pittsburgh; Monica Douglas Glowinski – Associated Builders & Contractors, Elizabeth; Jennah Ferrara - Fundación AIUNAU and Sustainable City News, Pittsburgh; Dok Harris – former candidate for Mayor of Pittsburgh/SuperBakery, Pittsburgh; Tori Managan - Sustainability Fellow at Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, Pittsburgh;Donna Mazza – Pennsylvania Resources Council, Pittsburgh; Doug Shields – former member of Pittsburgh City Council/environmental advocate, Pittsburgh; Becky Willis – blogger at Lil Burghers, Tarentum and Joe Wos – Executive Director at The Toonseum, Pittsburgh. 

The Pgh Tote Project works in collaboration with Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, the East End Food Co-operative and Pennsylvania Resources Council along with 15 other organizations to collect and make the bags available to over 300 pantries in 11 counties.  Since their founding on April 22, 2011, the project has collected more than 12,000 bags. Bags can be donated through a series of permanent drop-off spots, tote bag drives or through corporate donations of PR materials.

For more information about making a corporate pledge of tote bags or organizing a pledge tote bag drive, contact The Pittsburgh Tote Bag Project at tote4pgh@gmail.com or 412-228-0216.