BYOBag Lake County, Illinois
Donation protected
Hello! My name is Activist Abby. I’m a 17 yr. old working on a reusable bag campaign. It began when I was 12 and I noticed thousands of plastic bags blowing around and getting stuck on temporary fencing on windy days at my local landfill. I was so upset by this because I knew that these bags were not only an eyesore but a danger to animals.
Just as I was wondering what to do about these bags, a bill in the Illinois legislature was set to be made into a law that would have made it illegal for any town in Illinois to have a plastic bag ban! What could a 12 yr. old do about this? I used a Change.org petition to ask the Governor to veto this bill. I got over 170,000 signatures and convinced the Governor to veto the bill.
Since then I have been busy educating my community about the dangers of plastic bags. This past year I was able to get my Village of Grayslake, IL to proclaim September as BYObag month. I was also able to convince my Lake County Board to proclaim April as BYObag month. I am hoping to convince Governor Rauner to do the same for the state next year on Earth Day.
To go along with the proclamation idea, I would like to provide static clings for businesses in Lake County, IL. These clings would have a the BOYbag logo on them and would be placed either in the front window or door. I have been told by many people that they want to use their reusable bags, but they always forget them in their car. So people want to do the right thing and I know that if there was a friendly reminder at the door, they would go back and get their bags.
I am not a non-profit, so I cannot apply for grants to raise the money. The $500 would be used to purchase the clings and I plan to hand them out to big box retailers and the big grocery store chains in the county.
This logo and campaign is important to me because there is a simple solution to plastic bag pollution. All you have to do is BYOBag! It’s a little thing, I know, but it just might get people to rethink, reduce and reuse. Together let’s kick our addiction to this throw away culture. Just like me, be the change we want to see in the world.
Just as I was wondering what to do about these bags, a bill in the Illinois legislature was set to be made into a law that would have made it illegal for any town in Illinois to have a plastic bag ban! What could a 12 yr. old do about this? I used a Change.org petition to ask the Governor to veto this bill. I got over 170,000 signatures and convinced the Governor to veto the bill.
Since then I have been busy educating my community about the dangers of plastic bags. This past year I was able to get my Village of Grayslake, IL to proclaim September as BYObag month. I was also able to convince my Lake County Board to proclaim April as BYObag month. I am hoping to convince Governor Rauner to do the same for the state next year on Earth Day.
To go along with the proclamation idea, I would like to provide static clings for businesses in Lake County, IL. These clings would have a the BOYbag logo on them and would be placed either in the front window or door. I have been told by many people that they want to use their reusable bags, but they always forget them in their car. So people want to do the right thing and I know that if there was a friendly reminder at the door, they would go back and get their bags.
I am not a non-profit, so I cannot apply for grants to raise the money. The $500 would be used to purchase the clings and I plan to hand them out to big box retailers and the big grocery store chains in the county.
This logo and campaign is important to me because there is a simple solution to plastic bag pollution. All you have to do is BYOBag! It’s a little thing, I know, but it just might get people to rethink, reduce and reuse. Together let’s kick our addiction to this throw away culture. Just like me, be the change we want to see in the world.
Organizer
abby goldberg
Organizer
Grayslake, IL
