A Bag’s Life is taking its “Don’t Treat Me Like Trash” awareness campaign to the Atlanta Dogwood Festival April 7-9 in Piedmont Park, inviting Eco-Village visitors to discover where and why to recycle their plastic bags in Georgia.  

"The Dogwood Festival is a fun environmental celebration and people visit the Eco-Village to see how they can take green practices home," said Gloria Hardegree, Executive Director of the Georgia Recycling Coalition. "It's a great fit for A Bag's Life to explain that by taking the simple step of bringing bags and wraps back to the store or to a local non-profit drop-off in their communities, they are giving that bag a second chance to be made into something else like outdoor decking, park benches, or even new bags."

Part of A Bag’s Life promotion of the 3R’s — reduce, reuse and recycle — includes school collection events. Ten North Fulton County schools participated in the Plastic Bag Challenge in 2015, collecting nearly 2,000 pounds of bags and wraps in celebration of America Recycle Day.

A Bag’s Life reminds people through social media, school collection competitions and other events nationwide to take their plastic bags and wraps to a favorite retailer who recycles instead of tossing them in their curbside bin. The public-private partnership includes a website app that locates 10,000 drop off sites by zip code. Atlanta’s own Center for Hard to Recycle Materials (CHaRM), supported by LiveThrive Atlanta, is one of the non-profit drop-off sites.

The A Bag’s Life program also educates people that other bags for dry cleaning, newspapers and bread, as well as wraps like those used on paper towels or bottled water, also should be recycled at retailers right along with plastic bags.