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Bye Bye Boomerang Bags

Altona CAN 

Bye Bye Boomerang Bags


Boomerang Bags Altona will be wrapping up and saying goodbye. If you had not yet heard about the

Boomerang Bags program, it was a fleet of reusable cloth bags that were available in multiple retail

locations to borrow and bring back when one forgot their own bags. It was a great idea, in theory. 


The end of Boomerang Bags Altona is in part due to the pandemic as we don't anticipate a time in the

near future where the public will be ready to use shared items. However, truth be told, the fate of

Boomerang Bags was already in the works before the pandemic. The bags just simply weren't coming

back at a rate that was sustainable. We couldn't in good faith keep asking volunteers to sew bags that

were consistently disappearing, so COVID-19 just sped up what was inevitable.




We learned a lot from this project. The countless conversations we have had in the community around

plastic pollution are invaluable and ongoing. The community sewing bees allowed all kinds of folks to

rub shoulders and get to know each other while increasing awareness about plastic pollution. And at

the very least there are somewhere between 700-800 reusable bags floating around southern Manitoba

and our hope is that they will continue to be used.

While it might seem that plastic shopping bags are free, they have many hidden costs. Not only are they

a significant bill for store owners, but they cost a lot to dispose of as well. And who foots the bill on both

accounts? All of us pay, it’s just not spelled out on the receipt or the tax bill. Globally, 1 million bags are

used every minute and each bag is used for an average of 12 minutes before being tossed away. This is

not sustainable. So even in the absence of Boomerang Bags, we urge this community to continue to

refuse single use plastics of all kinds, even during a pandemic. 


Thanks to all of the faithful supporters of Boomerang Bags. We're so grateful that you joined us on this

little experiment. Thanks for donating and cutting fabric, ironing handles, screen printing patches and

sewing bags. Thanks for showing up to events and supporting this initiative. And we thank all the

businesses that allowed us to give this a try: Canadian Lumber, Sun Valley Co-op, Altona IGA, Hair

Ecstasy, O'Naturelle, Pembina Valley Pharmacy and the Altona library. Boomerang Bags was a

community effort and as a community we can continue to end our reliance on single use plastic.

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