Reusable shopping bags are an Earth Day step toward helping the environment

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Marilyn Buttjer would like to help do away with those “nasty” plastic grocery bags.

As a step in that direction, Buttjer, a retired Charles City teacher, spent part of her day Thursday — Earth Day — handing out free cloth reusable grocery bags to anyone who wanted one at the Fareway grocery store.

She’ll be at Hy-Vee today (Friday), doing the same thing.

“I’ve always felt negatively toward those nasty plastic bags,” she said. The former German teacher said she remembers accompanying class trips to Germany, where the practice is to charge for shopping bags, thus encouraging the use of reusable bags.

“Maybe if people had to pay for them here they’d use them less,” she said.

Buttjer donated $100 to each store to help pay for the bags, which cost $1 each. The Iowa Phi Chapter of Alpha Delta Kappa, an honorary organization of women educators, of which Buttjer is a member, donated $50 per store.

At Fareway the store matched the donations with an additional 150 bags, bringing the total Buttjer had to hand out Thursday to 300.

Attached to each bag was a short message from Buttjer, explaining who was donating the bags and including an Earth Day plea:

“You are invited to join me in using this reusable shopping bag in future grocery shopping visits in order to reduce the use of one-time plastic bags, thus protecting our environment,” it said. “Please continue making efforts to protect our world. Large results begin with small, individual steps.”