Ashland Farmers Market: Kicking Its Addiction to Plastic

ASHLAND, Mass. - June 4, 2015 - PRLog -- Ashland Farmers Market (AFM) and the Friends of the Ashland Library will host the film, Bag It: Is Your Life Too Plastic?, Tuesday, June 9, 7 to 9 p.m. at the Ashland Library, Community Room, 66 Front St. The program is free and open to the public.

Bag It is a fascinating, sometimes humorous, sometimes shocking documentary that follows “everyman” Jeb Berrier as he navigates our plastic world.

According to the film, Americans use 60,000 plastic bags every five minutes, single-use disposable bags that are mindlessly thrown away. But where is ‘away?’ The film explores these questions: Where do the bags and other plastics end up, and at what cost to our environment, marine life and human health?

This season, AFM is launching a project called Got Baggage? to bring attention to the environmental problem caused by plastic shopping bags. AFM produce, meat and fish vendors will be using BioBags,® made from 100 percent biodegradable and compostable material.

AFM is encouraging shoppers to bring their own reusable bags. Shoppers without bags will be able to borrow a reusable tote bag, bring it home and return it the next time they are at the market. (Think “Take a Penny/Give a Penny.”) The program has wide support from AFM vendors.

Three artisans this year, Tobi Collage, Amaia Papaya, and L&A Designs, will feature reusable bags.

AFM produce vendors are also on board with the Got Baggage? initiative.

“We like Bio Bags but like it even more when people bring their own reusable bags,” Kevin Overshiner, who runs Medway Community Farm with his wife Brittany, said. “One of the biggest problems with single-use plastic bags is that a lot of energy goes into recycling them. The best thing is to not use plastic bags at all. I have seen plastic floating in the oceans . . . it’s heinous.”

Another AFM farm vendor, Laura Davis from Long Life Farm in Hopkinton said she is very excited about the Bio Bag/bring your own bag program and glad that AFM is being proactive. “We’ve been using bio-degradable bags at the farm for years. Though, I like when people bring their own bags. I think the program will help to bring about awareness of the plastic bag problem.”

For more information, visit http://www.ashlandfarmersmarket.org or email info@ashlandfarmersmarket.org.