A grassroots environmental group is asking Central New Yorkers to help the area earn a Guinness World Record title on Friday. The goal is to distribute the most reusable shopping bags in 24 hours. Mainstream Green founder and president Dana Johnston says they hope to give away 5,100 of the bags at Destiny USA during one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
"We came up with the idea of the Guinness World Record title after I found out there are two titles held for plastic bags. One is the most ubiquitous consumer item on Earth. And the other is the greatest ocean pollutant. So I thought if plastic bags can have a world record, why can reusable bags?"
Johnston says they’re trying to promote habits that cut waste, prevent pollution and minimize fossil fuel use. She says many don’t make connection between plastic bags and their impact on the environment.
"Plastic bags are made from petroleum. It's production involves expending carbon. It's shipping involves expending carbon. We use 720,000 plastic bags every minute in America."
Johnston says they get caught in trees, get carried into waterways, and harm wildlife. In order to establish the reusable bag record, she says Guinness wants documentation. Every bag will be numbered when it’s assigned to a person, and each person will have to sign a release.
"Also, we have to take a picture of the person with their bag. So, we'll be taking over 5,000 pictures of people with their bags and their numbers. It's all part of proving we achieved that record."
Onondaga County’s new Block Litter program is one of several partners. Chair of the legislature’s environmental protection committee Mike Plochocki knows the record could easily be broken…and that’s okay.
"Frankly, by handing out a little over 5,000 bags, that's not an insurmountable number to be handed out at another mall somewhere in America. So if other municipalities or another malls were to soon jump to immediately try to break this, and another entity were to try to break that record, etc., that's exactly what we want. This is more about starting something than having a final record."
Covanta and Trader Joe’s are also on board with the effort. The reusable bags will be handed out Friday starting at 9:00 a.m. in Destiny's Commons level behind Santa.
