Really, One Bag Will Do
This post was written by Molly Steinkrauss, PR group manager for the Glad® brand.
We are a trash bag brand that wants to see less trash in the world. As the U.S. works to divert more to recycling and composting, we are also on a journey to reduce our own waste and help others do the same. We’ve introduced trash bags that use less plastic but are actually stronger, and offer a broader portfolio to help with recycling and composting.
While this idea of driving out waste has been core to our heritage — we have a 28-year partnership with Keep America Beautiful — we knew we could do more to make diversion mainstream and help people and communities reduce the amount of waste they send to landfill. And so, in 2011 we launched Glad® One Bag. The idea: encourage event and venue managers to embrace recycling and composting, with the ultimate goal of sending just one bag of trash to the landfill.
We launched during a parent’s weekend football game and tailgate at the University of Southern California (USC) where we provided waste stations and recruited campus volunteers to help educate tailgaters about reducing trash to landfill and increasing recycling and composting. The result: USC kept more than 2,600 pounds of waste from going to landfill.
Glad One Bag events began at a USC tailgate, where Glad team members and campus volunteers helped keep 2,600 pounds of waste out of landfill by diverting it to compost and recycling.
The Glad team also donated ClearStream waste stations and $50,000 to help USC implement an EnviroRider™ handbook with the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum that outlines in-stadium sustainability practices for future football seasons.
We also partnered with Keep America Beautiful (KAB) to bring the One Bag campaign to other college campuses through a grant program and KAB’s America Recycles Day efforts.
Batter up
This year, with baseball season officially back in swing, we’ve partnered with Target to bring Glad’s One Bag waste diversion program to Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins. There will be recycling and composting at every home game this season, and two sections will go “one bag” all season, producing just one bag of landfill-bound trash per game.
And it’s not just sporting events. The Glad team helped make last year’s annual Sustainable Brands Conference a One Bag event. More than 1,300 attendees at the four-day conference generated just one bag of landfill trash each day. The rest of the waste was diverted to compost or recycling.
We’ve also held Glad One-bag challenges in our corporate offices, with the goal to divert 90 percent of our waste from landfill, and during our sales meetings. We even had a bride plan her wedding so that it ended up being a one-landfill-bag event.
Most importantly, One Bag is a concept everyone can embrace at their own events, no matter the size. We provide inspiration, tips and tools to help anyone reduce the waste they produce at their own gatherings, with the hope they also apply this ideas to everyday waste reduction.
For more information about some of the other things we’re doing to reduce landfill waste and to learn how to make your next get together a One Bag event, please visit Glad.com.
Molly Steinkrauss is group manager of Public Relations, Digital and Social Media at Clorox, working on the Glad® and Soy Vay® business. Outside of work, you can find Molly enjoying San Francisco’s outdoor activities by day and restaurant scene by night.