The City of Hamilton is giving away 1000 reusable festive shopping bags in an effort to reduce the amount of plastic bags that are distributed with purchases this Christmas season. Hamilton retailers have been approached to offer incentives to any shoppers that come through their doors with the ‘big, red bags’ and to indicate what days their incentives will be available.

City Communications Manager, Zoë Mulholland, said of the initiative, “We have had great feedback and response to our outreach so far. We’re living in a time when we are becoming more and more mindful of the waste we create and around every corner is another reminder that we need to do something to be more responsible. These shopping bags have a multitude of benefits - they will help to drive more foot traffic into those City retailers that are participating, they encourage the community to Buy Bermuda, they will hopefully reduce the amount of plastic during the holiday season and they serve as a tool so we can teach our kids about what it is to conserve and be proactive for the sake of our environment.”

The City shopping bags are free and will be available for collection from the City of Hamilton offices in City Hall as of Friday, November 23rd - Black Friday - the official kick-off to the holiday shopping season. Consumers will be asked for their email address when they collect the bags so that they can be sent the list of retailer incentives and reminders, keeping the initiative paperless and ‘green’. Incentives received so far include varying discounts and gifts with purchase. Retailers participating have been asked to not provide a plastic bag with purchase to anyone shopping with the reusable City bag.

Any retailers who still wish to participate in the campaign are more than welcome to and should send an email to the City of Hamilton at info@cityhall.bm. The campaign will end on December 24th.

Incentives will also be listed and updated on the City’s website page at www.cityofhamilton.bm.

• Press release from the City of Hamilton