The children that make up the Pro-Eco Pela’os program were busy in June 2013 working on a campaign to reduce the number of plastic bags used by customers of local stores in Pedasí. For three weeks the Pro-Eco Pela’os group visited 3 different stores in Pedasí on Wednesday afternoons and wrote down the number of people that took plastic bags from the store along with the number of people that brought their own bags for their purchases.
Out of the 98 people that visited the stores during the 3 weeks of the Pro-Eco Pela’os´ study no customers came in with their own reusable bag. About 44% of the people that visited the store did not use a plastic bag for their purchase. Conversely, slightly more than half of the customers who visited the stores during the Pro-Eco Pela’os visits took a plastic bag from the store.
Leo Mena, organizer of the Pro-Eco Pela´os Program, discussed with the children why it is important to reduce plastic bag use at local markets. Many of the Pro-Eco Pela’os commented that it is important to take fewer plastic bags from the store so that they do not end up littered on the street or worse, eaten by a sea turtle that thinks that the plastic bag is a jellyfish.
The members of Pro-Eco Pela’os designed posters which can be seen in stores urging customers to ask themselves, “Do you need that plastic bag?” The Pro-Eco Pela’os program is hopeful that these flyers will make the customers think about their actions before taking a bag in the future.
