FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Julie Cummins                                                    

Tel: (415) 291-3276 x 106

Email: julie@cuesa.org

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Ferry Plaza Farmers Market Goes Plastic Bag Free

A million fewer plastic bags each year
Kickoff events May 23 and 26

San Francisco, CA (May 7, 2009) – San Francisco’s preeminent farmers’ market is thinking outside the bag. Beginning on Saturday, May 23, the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market is doing away with single-use plastic bags and stepping up educational efforts to encourage bag reuse.  Thanks to a new rule in the works from CUESA (the nonprofit educational organization that manages the market), farmers and artisans will only offer compostable BioBags® and paper bags.

The new policy kicks off with activities at the markets on Saturday, May 23 from 9-1 and Tuesday, May 26 from 11-2. Visitors can win waste-wise prizes, get photos taken with a plastic bag monster, stop by interactive displays for shopping and food storage tips, learn about home green waste collection from SF Environment, and visit the Bay vs. the Bag booth (a Save the Bay project).

The new compostable and recyclable bags cost more than their cheap, fossil fuel-derived counterparts. Each market seller will decide how to best recover this cost. Shoppers will be encouraged to bring their own bags or to be prepared to buy one if they forget.

Plastic bags are one of the most ubiquitous products in the world, and over a million of them leave the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market each year. What’s more, they are made of non-renewable fossil fuels; it takes 12 million barrels of oil to make a one-year supply of plastic bags for Americans. And only 1 to 4% of bags in the US are recycled.

“Our mission is to help create a sustainable food system, and that includes more than just food,” says Dave Stockdale, CUESA’s Executive Director. “Reducing the number of plastic bags used to carry that food home is essential to realizing our vision of an ecologically sound region.” 

The policy to eliminate plastic bags from the market is the second phase of CUESA’s comprehensive waste reduction program and education campaign. The first phase brought custom-made Waste Wise stations and volunteer educators to the market, resulting in a 90% reduction of waste sent to the landfill.

CUESA is not the first market to do away with plastic bags, but it may be the most high-profile. The Berkeley Farmers Market, the Old Monterey Market in Monterey, and the Fairfax market in Marin are also early adopters. 

CUESA is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1994 and dedicated to promoting a sustainable food system through the operation of the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market and its educational programs.

 

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