🧵Swapping Plastic Produce Bags For Mesh Cotton Bags At Stores In New Hampshire🛍️

Cindy Heath of the Beyond Plastics Affiliate, New Hampshire Network Plastics Working Group (PWG), decided that it was time to do something about all the wasteful plastic produce bags she encountered while food shopping at her local co-op. Although her organization advocates for state level policy change, Cindy wanted to do something more local and immediate to spread awareness of the health hazards plastic presents. 

“I found a design for mesh produce bags on YouTube that I modified, and I made 25 of the bags using some organic cotton fabric,” said Heath, explaining the idea came to her while making gifts for members of the New Hampshire Network’s Plastics Working Group. “The night before the meeting where I was going to be distributing them, I had this brainstorm, ‘Oh my gosh, this is the answer to the co-op question.’

Mesh Bag Mamas Audrey Jacquier, Nancy Wightman, Judith Bush, Linda Coolidge and Joanne Clifford show off their organic cotton mesh produce bags, a great alternative to single-use plastic bags!

And just like that, the Mesh Bag Mamas Project was born! Cindy and her fellow craftivists from the Upper Valley and Monadnock regions, Cornish Quilters, and St. Paul’s Church sewed, sang, and delivered 1,000 handmade, reusable, 100% organic cotton, mesh produce bags to the Lebanon Co-op Food Store in October 2023, along with an eye-catching educational display. With support from Sustainable Lebanon, Cornish Community Initiative, Community Action Works, and Co-op Food Stores, the project gives customers the choice of using a hand-made reusable produce bag instead of single-use plastic bags. The bags were designed to include a loop and they hang on prominent displays in the store’s produce section. Building on the success of the installation at the Lebanon Co-Op, the group has installed their bags at two other stores in the area and the Monadnock Region Mesh Bag Mamas will also be distributed them at the Market Basket supermarket in Keene, NH.

Mandy Lape puts the sewing machine foot pedal to the metal to give shoppers a choice in co-ops in New Hampshire with her fellow Mesh Bag Mamas Katy Chaffee, Deb Evans, Linda Machalaba, Kathryn Brennan and Beth Neal ((left to right).

“We offered to make 1,000 organic mesh bags for the co-op to display alongside plastic bags so that customers would have the choice of a reusable option and not just a single-use option,” Heath said. The Co-op Food Stores recently implemented a series of Executive Limitations related to the environmental impact of its operations, and promoting environmentally sustainable choices for employees, customers, and vendors is now a part of the co-op’s operational practices.

This action is now part of a menu of engagement actions within the NH Network PWG’s Ten Towns, Ten Actions Toolkit, so that anyone can replicate it in their community. The Toolkit is a menu of concrete actions, ready-made templates, and technical support started by ten volunteers—many of whom have already been successful in creating change in their communities and all willing to help others rethink plastic. The goal is to inspire and guide community leaders, catalysts, champions, and others in accomplishing actions toward plastic waste reduction and zero waste strategies, as well as track and celebrate accomplishments publicly through regular, coordinated media announcements and events.

The Ten Towns campaign has grown swiftly since it was rolled out in early February 2022 from 10 participating municipalities to 44 that has reached more than 2,673 people directly and almost 10,000 indirectly! The toolkit includes “things like having conversations with your co-op about reducing single-use plastic bags, and getting involved with your students at school to use reusables in the cafeteria; there’s a whole list on the Ten Towns website,” Cindy shared. 

Not only can these women sew and slash single-use plastic usage, they can also write catchy songs and sing ‘em very well! 🎶 Check out (and sing along with) the premier performance of the Mesh Bag Mama theme song just inside the entrance to the Lebanon Co-Op.

“So if you want to join– and be a Mesh Bag Mama
Here’s what you need to do – there is no need for drama
Get, find or make some bags – to get that mesh bag Karma
You’ll see - when you’re done, you’ll get to feel fantastic
Our goal - is to leave, without any single use plastic!”

If you’re in New Hampshire and would like to get involved, please contact Cindy Heath at cindyheath.com, cheath58@gmail.com, or visit 10towns.org for more information. And if you’re not in New Hampshire but would like to replicate the Mesh Bag Mamas in your town or state, you should feel free to copy their approach and materials and reach out to Cindy for advice or guidance.

Bravo, Mesh Bag Mamas!!!👏👏👏