4. Skip Bags or Go Reusable

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Between shopping, skippers’ bags, lunches, and other giveaways, you can end up with a lot of containers at your event that are ultimately headed for landfill. Choosing reusable options or avoiding bags and other containers altogether can reduce waste. Did you know that single-use plastic bags are only used for a few minutes on average? They are extremely difficult to recycle, and often cause problems at material recovery facilities. Plastic bags are a common scourge on the environment; we see them everywhere, and they are often confused for food by marine life. For these reasons, municipalities, states, and even entire countries have started to ban single-use plastic bags. Solve this single-use problem by going reusable or skipping bags and containers altogether.

HOW TO DO IT

• Reevaluate whether you need to package materials in bags or other containers at all. Consider whether your attendees already have many tote bags and, if so, avoid bags altogether or deliver supplies in containers participants return at the end of the event.
• Use reusable bags while provisioning for your event. Take them with you while shopping for food and supplies.
• Provide reusable bags to competitors to hold event documents, lunches or anything else that might typically come in a plastic bag.
• Register your event and download the Clean Regattas Toolkit for more information!
  

If you would like to share how you've achieved this Best Practice, please share your solution below! If you're looking for help on this topic, you can use this forum to ask your question to our community of Clean Regatta Organizers.



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