Choose To Reuse

Boise Students Partner with Albertsons to Reduce Plastic Waste

Students from local high schools and BSU join forces with Albertsons to help customers reduce plastic use and save.

In honor of Earth Day, several Treasure Valley High Schools, Boise State University, Albertsons, and Idaho Business for the Outdoors are coming together to launch the “Choose to Reuse” campaign, a plastic bag reduction project to address the devastating environmental impact of single-use plastics. Students from Timberline High School, Boise High School, Centennial High School, Bishop Kelly High School, Capital High School and Borah High School collaborated on a custom design for reusable shopping bags. For a few hours after school during Earth Month, students will host a table outside of each of the participating stores, distributing reusable bags and educating customers about the impact of plastic bags.

“One of our objectives is to reduce the usage of single-use plastics, notably plastic bags,” said Jisong Ryu and Sashsa Truax, two students who helped organize the campaign. “We believe that the people of Boise will be energized by seeing young people and a major Idaho business come together to protect the environment that we all love.”

Starting Monday, April 22nd, these bags will be available for purchase until May 10th at the following Albertsons’ locations:

  • Broadway Albertsons | 1219 S Broadway Ave | Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 4-6 PM 

  • Parkcenter Albertsons | 909 E Parkcenter Blvd | Monday, Tuesday, Thursday from 6-8 PM

  • 16/State Albertsons | 1650 W State St | Monday and Thursday from 6-8 PM 

As part of this campaign, Albertsons will give a 10-cent discount every time you shop with one of these branded reusable bags from now until October 31st , 2024.

The goal of this campaign is to raise awareness of reusable alternatives for grocery shopping, to inspire youth across Boise to get involved in Earth Month community projects, and to educate the public about the importance of reducing plastic waste.

Here are a few important points these students would like the community to know about plastic bags:

In the United States, it is not uncommon for a medium-sized grocery store to use tens of thousands of plastic bags per month. Larger stores in busy urban areas may use hundreds of thousands.

  • According to Penn State, approximately only 1-3% of plastic bags are recycled every year and millions of dollars per state are spent to properly recycle or dispose of plastic bags.

  • According to Earth-Policy.org, currently 100 billion plastic bags pass through the hands of U.S. consumers every year—almost one bag per person each day.

  • According to The World Counts, it takes up to 1,000 years for a plastic bag to break down. On average, a plastic shopping bag is used for just 12 minutes.

  • According to Litterfreeva.org, the 100 billion plastic shopping bags in use each year in the U.S. are made from the estimated equivalent of 439 million gallons of oil, and they cost retailers an estimated $4 billion.

  • The United States is the world leader in generating plastic waste, producing an annual 42 million metric tons of plastic waste.

Idaho Business for the Outdoors is proud to partner with the business community and local students to bring awareness to this new campaign. By encouraging reusable bags, we can all help reduce plastic waste and create a healthier planet.

Ashton Caldwell