The Grand BYOB Project ........ kick your bag habit

Community Reusable Bag Challenge
March 1 - September 1, 2009

Thirty mountain towns in the Western United States are collaborating on a voluntary initiative to reduce consumption of single-use, disposable shopping bags. Beginning March 1, participating towns will compete in the 2009 Colorado Association of Ski Towns (CAST) Reusable Bag Challenge sponsored by Alpine Bank and PCL Construction Services Inc., a friendly competition to determine which town can minimize their use of disposable bags the most. The competition will end on September 1, 2009.

Participating Colorado towns are Telluride, Aspen, Mountain Village, Snowmass, Basalt, Breckenridge, Silverthorne, Dillon, Frisco, Steamboat Springs, Grand Lake, Granby, Winter Park, Fraser, Estes Park, Crested Butte, Vail, Avon, Eagle, Gypsum, Mt. Crested Butte, Durango. Silverton, Carbondale and Gunnison. Jackson Hole, WY, Park City, UT, Sun Valley, Ketchum, and Hailey, ID will also take part in the 2009 CAST challenge.

Community organizers in competing towns have been working with their municipal governments, local businesses and grocery stores to prepare for the challenge.  Locally in Grand County, The Grand BYOB Project - representing Winter Park, Fraser and Granby - is working hard to organize the program and get local retailers, as well as the public, on board.  

During the competition, local participating stores will be responsible for tallying the use every reusable bag used or purchased by a customer at checkout. The ‘winner’ will be determined on a per capita basis by which community uses the most reusable bags during the six-month period.  As of July 10, The Grand BYOB Project has tallied over 90,000 bags that have been eliminated!!

Together, Alpine Bank and PCL will donate $10,000 toward a solar panel installation to the winning town. PCL also has over 3,000 reusable bags that they will distribute in the locally participating towns. The second place winner will receive a $1,000 grant, courtesy of Safeway.  In addition, Independent Power Systems of Boulder Colorado has generously offered to provide the parts and labor for the solar panel system at cost.

So, how do you get involved? 
• If you're a retailer and want to participate, contact one of the persons below, according to what town they represent.
• If you're a consumer, CLICK HERE to get a list of participating retailers.   Be sure to shop at these establishments with your reusable bag, and make sure the clerk checking you out tallies your bag.  Your reusable bag can be any form of bag, i.e. backpack, and old Macy's bag, or any bag you've used before, as long as you are NOT taking a bag from the store's supply.

Want more info?  Contact any of our project members:

Joyce Burford                                       jburford@playwinterpark.com

Winter Park:
Michele Murray Hedlund                          michele80482@gmail.com
Cat Petersen                                        cpetersen@wpgov.com

Fraser:
Martha Hut                                           csagemutt@gmail.com
Chiara Subhas                                       chiarasubhas@hotmail.com

Granby:
Tim Hodsdon                                         timh@munnarch.com
Liz McIntyre                                          mcinliz@aol.com

And thank you to the sponsors and partners who are supporting this project!